Approved
Year
Applications
Total
Koreans
Chinese
Others
Rejected
1999
17,067
16,120
10,059
5,335
726
202
2000
14,936
15,812
9,842
5,245
725
215
2001
13,442
15,291
10,295
4,377
619
130
2002
13,344
14,339
9,188
4,442
709
107
2003
15,666
17,633
11,788
4,722
1,133
150
2004
16,790
16,336
11,031
4,122
1,183
148
2005
14,666
15,251
9,689
4,427
1,135
166
2006
15,340
14,108
8,531
4,347
1,230
255
2007
16,107
14,680
8,546
4,740
1,394
260
2008
15,440
13,218
7,412
4,322
1,484
269
Indicates number for calendar year
Un/Determination of Statelessness and Un/Registration of Birth
The Baby Andrew case cited above brought to light the serious problems in determining
nationality or statelessness in Japan. When Komoro City referred the decision to the
Legal Affairs Bureau, Andrew was issued an alien registration card as a Philippine
national. However, this was based on ambiguous remarks from people who were
involved, and the decision was later reversed.107
According to the Residence Status in Alien Registration According to Nationality, 1,525
persons were registered in Japan as stateless as of the end of 2008.108 “Non-Japanese
nationals are treated as stateless persons in the application of the Alien Registration Law
when their nationalities cannot be confirmed with passports or other documents.”109
However, “one can predict from the Baby Andrew case that Japanese officials in charge
of registering aliens may have registered children as stateless temporarily because their
parents could not be identified. Alternatively, they might have done so for convenience
in cases when the nationality could not be confirmed. Thus the nationality stated in the
107
Okuda, supra note 87, pp.41
http://www/e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?lid=000001031723.
109
Justice Ministry Civil Affairs Bureau Director-General Itsuro Terada’s statement (supra note 105).
According to Ministry of Justice, the Ministry registers as stateless “those who cannot confirm their
nationality with their passports or other equal identification documents”(interviews with the Immigration
Bureau of the Ministry of Justice conducted on April 30, 2009).
108
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