descent from E and F was finalized. G was no longer a child of E and F, and consequently not a child of a Japanese national. As in Case 9, G was considered to have lost his Japanese nationality retroactively and was rendered stateless. The Chinese Nationality Act contains a provision which enables a foundling found in China to acquire Chinese nationality. 177 However, in practice, it would be extremely difficult for G to undertake any procedure to confirm his Chinese nationality, such as by proving that he had previously been a foundling abandoned in China, as G had already been living in Japan. In this case, E and F had a desire to have G become a Japanese national again and continue to live in Japan as their child. E and F filed a petition with a family court to adopt G through the special adoption process178 and obtained the court’s approval, and G was subsequently granted special permission to stay by the Immigration Bureau. G, being an adopted child of a Japanese national, applied for facilitated naturalization (Article 8(ii), Japanese Nationality Act) and acquired Japanese nationality once again. 3. Possible size of Category E (1) The risk of retroactively losing Japanese nationality due to a change in personal status The subjects in Cases 9 and 10 both “lost” the Japanese nationality that they were considered to have previously possessed (i.e., they were deemed to have never possessed Japanese nationality since birth) because of having been denied such nationality retroactively due to a change in their personal status. In this sort of case, if a person has not acquired Japanese nationality, he or she can be rendered stateless. Even if the person is considered to possibly or theoretically possess another nationality, statelessness can arise due to a retroactive loss of Japanese nationality in cases, for example, where the person concerned has been based in Japan, and he or she has not contacted the authorities or the consulate of the relevant foreign country for many years.179 Furthermore, Case 9 poses two additional questions. The first regards the appropriateness of having Japanese nationality “lost” retroactively for a person who has been living as a Japanese until reaching the age of majority. In this case, a person who had been living as a Japanese national for more than 30 years was retroactively denied his Japanese nationality due to a change in his personal status, and he “lost” his nationality. A person being denied his or her nationality that he 177 Article 6 of the Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China provides that, “Any person born in China whose parents are stateless or of uncertain nationality and have settled in China shall have Chinese nationality”. “Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China”, in Nihon Kajo Shuppan Hourei Hensanshitsu, ed., Koseki Jitsumu Roppou (Heisei 29 Nenban) [Laws for Family Register Practice (2017 edition)]. 178 On Special Adoption, see supra note 89. 179 For a case that has fallen under similar circumstances, see note 202 below, Yokohama Family Court Adjudication, 18 September 2003, which is analyzed in Category G [Unknown or Stateless Parents]. 84