News Dual citizenship continues to be banned in Japan

Last Friday, the Tokyo District Court ruled that a legal provision that effectively bans dual citizenship for Japanese nationals was constitutional. According to the judges, it would likely create friction between nations if an individual is allowed to have multiple citizenships. The plaintiffs contested a provision that strips people of their Japanese nationality if they obtain foreign citizenship.

Some 50 countries do not recognise dual or multiple citizenship:

01- Andorra
02- Azerbaijan
03- Bahamas
04- Bahrain
05- Belarus
06- Botswana
07- Bhutan
08- China
09- Cuba
10- Congo
11- Djibouti
12- Ethiopia
13- Haiti
14- India
15- Indonesia
16- Iran
17- Japan
18- Kazakhstan
19- Kuwait
20- Kyrgyzstan
21- Laos
22- Macau
23- Malaysia
24- Marshall Islands
25- Micronesia
26- Monaco
27- Mongolia
28- Mozambique
29- Myanmar
30- Nepal
31- North Korea
32- Oman
33- Papua New Guinea
34- Qatar
35- San Marino
36- Saudi Arabia
37- Singapore
38- Slovakia
39- Solomon Islands
40- Swaziland
41- Tajikistan
42- Thailand
43- Tonga
44- Turkmenistan
45- Ukraine
46- Uzbekistan
47- United Arab Emirates
48- Venezuela
49- Vietnam
50- Yemen
51- Zimbabwe

Japan gives a Japanese citizen until the age of 22 to decide their country of loyalty if they have obtained dual citizenship through a country that allows it.

According to the Japan Nationality Act: "If dual nationality is acquired between ages 20-22, the person must choose one nationality within two years. If one does not choose Japanese nationality within these periods, the Minister of Justice can require one to choose a nationality. Failure to comply within one month of this requirement will result in loss of Japanese citizenship."

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What if dual nationality is acquired before the age of 20?

You have to give up one nationality before the age of 22. In fact, this does not seem to be strictly enforced. I do know people who have have held passports of two nations beyond that age.

Well, maybe they will change the law by the time my oldest child reaches 22. Still a number of years to go.

Yesterday, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that a law that deprives people of their Japanese nationality if they obtain foreign citizenship is constitutional. Yuri Kondo, 76, an Arizona attorney seeking dual nationality, filed the lawsuit. Kondo was a Japanese national from Fukuoka Prefecture who became a U.S. citizen in 2004. In 2017, she was denied a Japanese passport because she was no longer a Japanese citizen.

Kondo argued in the lawsuit that the provision that automatically scraps Japanese nationality upon acquiring foreign citizenship is unconstitutional. But the court dismissed her arguments. "The law gives an opportunity to choose between Japanese nationality and foreign nationality when acquiring foreign citizenship," the court said. It ruled that the purpose and means of the law are reasonable and do not violate the Constitution's Article 13, which guarantees the right to self-determination, and other provisions. Kondo expressed frustration at a news conference after the ruling.

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thomas said:

Yesterday, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that a law that deprives people of their Japanese nationality if they obtain foreign citizenship is constitutional. Yuri Kondo, 76, an Arizona attorney seeking dual nationality, filed the lawsuit. Kondo was a Japanese national from Fukuoka Prefecture who became a U.S. citizen in 2004. In 2017, she was denied a Japanese passport because she was no longer a Japanese citizen.

Court rules denial of dual nationality constitutional | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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Dang.

thomas said:

Last Friday, the Tokyo District Court ruled that a legal provision that effectively bans dual citizenship for Japanese nationals was constitutional. According to the judges, it would likely create friction between nations if an individual is allowed to have multiple citizenships. The plaintiffs contested a provision that strips people of their Japanese nationality if they obtain foreign citizenship.

Some 50 countries do not recognise dual or multiple citizenship:

01- Andorra
02- Azerbaijan
03- Bahamas
04- Bahrain
05- Belarus
06- Botswana
07- Bhutan
08- China
09- Cuba
10- Congo
11- Djibouti
12- Ethiopia
13- Haiti
14- India
15- Indonesia
16- Iran
17- Japan
18- Kazakhstan
19- Kuwait
20- Kyrgyzstan
21- Laos
22- Macau
23- Malaysia
24- Marshall Islands
25- Micronesia
26- Monaco
27- Mongolia
28- Mozambique
29- Myanmar
30- Nepal
31- North Korea
32- Oman
33- Papua New Guinea
34- Qatar
35- San Marino
36- Saudi Arabia
37- Singapore
38- Slovakia
39- Solomon Islands
40- Swaziland
41- Tajikistan
42- Thailand
43- Tonga
44- Turkmenistan
45- Ukraine
46- Uzbekistan
47- United Arab Emirates
48- Venezuela
49- Vietnam
50- Yemen
51- Zimbabwe

Court: Ban on dual citizenship prevents friction between nations | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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A ruling based on the fallacious but dominant view that there's something unique about Japanese people, rather than evidence.

Well, google tells me there are 195 countries in the world, and the above list of 50 means about 25% of them must think their people are unique?

Yesterday, the Osaka District Court dismissed a case brought by a Japanese-born professor who lost her Japanese citizenship after obtaining Canadian nationality. She had argued that the Nationality Law breaches the Constitution, but the court held that the matter lies within the scope of legislative authority.

Speaking after the ruling, the plaintiff said she would not pursue an appeal. At the same time, she voiced frustration with the decision, remarking that although the world has become increasingly globalised, the court had failed to consider people's circumstances or fundamental rights.

The woman, now 60, was born in Tokyo and obtained Canadian citizenship in 2008 after marrying a Canadian national. Under Japan's Nationality Law, Article 11 states acquiring a foreign nationality automatically means the loss of citizenship. However, she only learned of the loss in 2018 when she tried to return to Japan at the request of her father who was battling cancer. It was during a consultation at the Japanese Consulate that she was informed she was no longer a Japanese citizen.

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This part doesn't make sense:
Since she cannot renew her passport in Japan, she is unable to travel abroad for work or visit Canada.
If she's a Canadian citizen she should be able to get back to Canada one way or another and get her Canadian passport renewed.

I came here to post the very same article! mdchachi - many people on Facebook commented on the same point. The British embassy can issue emergency passports/travel documents, and I assume the Canadian embassy can do the same thing.

Yes, this ruling is a real shame. The government is actively attempting to address the country's shrinking workforce by inviting skilled people from other Asian countries to work and giving them more options once they are here (rightly, in my opinion). Yet at the same time, many Japanese people are understandably concerned about the increasing number of people with very different cultures in Japan. You'd think that allowing people who are usually half- or fully ethnic Japanese and have an understanding of Japanese culture to retain their Japanese nationality would be the least 'painful' option.

The irony is that when ethnic Japanese people with foreign nationality are successful, such as the US Nobel Prize winner Shuji Nakamura and the British Nobel Prize winner Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (who left Japan when he was five), they are claimed as one of their own!

A guy at work gave up his Japanese citizenship for American years ago. But he knew what he was doing. His wife is Filipina. The ironic thing is that he's super Japanese in manner and temperament. Practices kendo. He even calls the American staff @@@-san. Like "Matt-san" instead of just "Matt." Truly a shame he can't maintain his nationality.

mdchachi said:

What if dual nationality is acquired before the age of 20?

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Not picking on you, since you probably already know, but dual nationality by birth (acquisition of that dual status without volitional/conscious intent) is allowed to continue indefinitely.

Yes, even for this smallish group there is worry or concern, or the suggestion or claim that "You have to choose by 20". (or is it 22?) But our kids are in their 30s now, and they still have--and have renewed--their j-passports and another, maybe even two j-passport renewals after turning 20. One of ours had a high school teacher that irked us a little by bringing up to this kid the 'necessity' of choosing more than it was their business to be doing so. (Not their business at all, really.)

One very strong suggestion: Don't lie about having a second citizenship/passport on the Japanese passport application or renewal form (a very official document, like a tax return or MyNa card application). There is a check box on the form (this info is dated, so it could have changed) that asks if you have a second citizenship. Lying could be grounds for revoking one's j-citizenship (or some other penalty). Be honest, and if they ask, just say you haven't decided yet. For folks like this the law is simply suggestive and fuzzy, something to the effect that you will "try" or endeavor" to relinquish one citizenship or the other, and not that you actually have to.

Separately, there are a few countries that do not allow a person to relinquish/drop citizenship. From past reading, Japan does accommodate these folks--allowing them to become Japanese, while making an allowance for the other country's citizenship laws.

My wife and I were in an airport in Shanghai, and someone was stopped in line when trying to check in his plane. Apparently it was someone who was originally a Chinese citizen who got another citizenship without notifying the Chinese authorities. I only know what my wife told me after the fact (language barrier), but it just underlies the fact that if one gambles with these laws, they can catch up to you at inopportune times.