in Japan whose legal father was unknown and whose mother was “without nationality”. There was no evidence to prove that the mother had the nationality of a relevant State, and there were no means to contact family members outside of Japan; therefore, the child was assumed to be “without nationality”. In other words, the court recognized the mother as a person “without nationality” under the circumstances where her nationality was difficult to prove, and as a result it recognized the applicability of Nationality Act Article 2(iii) to the child and granted permission for the creation of a family register. (2) Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (ICRRA) ICRRA includes provisions regarding statelessness in the deportation procedure where the country of destination must be decided and in the immigration procedure where a foreign resident requests permission to re-enter Japan. In addition, regardless of the existence of particular provisions such as these, the responsible immigration authorities make decisions on the nationality (or lack thereof) of individuals as a prerequisite for dispositions in procedures governed by the ICRRA. Article 53(1) of ICRRA provides for deportation in principle to the country of nationality by stating that “Any person subject to deportation shall be deported to a country of which he or she is a national or citizen.” Alternatively, Article 53(2) states that if the person cannot be deported to the country of which he or she is a national or citizen, such person shall be deported “pursuant to his or her wishes” to any of the countries provided, such as the country of residence prior to entry into Japan or the country where his or her place of birth is located. Thus, deportation of stateless persons is based on Article 53(2) because there is no country of nationality for such persons and they cannot be deported to the country of nationality. The means deciding the country of destination for deportation is fundamentally different for a stateless person, as it is decided according to his or her wishes among countries provided under Article 53(2). In cases of re-entry permission for a foreign national residing in Japan, Article 26(2) of ICRRA provides that, “The Minister of Justice shall … have an immigration inspector … issue a re-entry permit pursuant to the provisions of an ordinance of the Ministry of Justice if the foreign national does not have his or her passport and is unable to acquire one for reason of being without nationality or for any other reason.” This is a provision that makes it possible to issue a leaflet-style re-entry permit (Ordinance for Enforcement of ICRRA, Annex, Format No.42) to a person who does not possess a passport for reasons including being “without nationality” and for whom it is not possible to affix a seal of verification for re-entry in the passport, and who is not able to utilize the special re-entry permission. Moreover, the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice requires foreign individuals to claim their nationality in various procedures in relation to residence, such as acquiring a residence permit, extending a period of stay, and changing a status of residence. The foreigner residence card issued to mid- to long-term residents shows the 25