News Golf club refuses naturalised Japanese on grounds of former nationality

The Korean Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Japan conducted a survey of 1,794 members-only golf clubs around Japan in 1994 to ascertain nationality clauses in membership requirements. Of the 821 respondents, 170 golf courses said they had certain restrictions, such as limiting eligibility to Japanese nationals. KCCI officials said no detailed figures are available on the current situation as a similar survey has not been carried out at least since 2010. An online search for information on golf club memberships shows that many clubs deny memberships to non-Japanese nationals. "A good number of golf courses still have nationality clauses, and some even restrict membership for naturalized citizens as well," a sales official of a Tokyo dealer of memberships told The Asahi Shimbun. "They still retain that exclusive mood."

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In March 1995, the Tokyo District Court ruled on a case concerning a Tokyo golf club operating company that denied membership to an ethnic Korean man on grounds of his nationality. The court found that doing so contravened the spirit of Article 14 of the Constitution, which says all people are equal under the law. "Golf clubs are deemed to be groups of a certain social nature, partly because golf is a leisure activity broadly practiced in Japan and partly because golf club memberships are circulating in the market," the decision said in part. "It is difficult to say they have total discretion over how they screen their memberships." In a separate lawsuit, the Tokyo District Court in May 2001 rejected the claims of an ethnic Korean plaintiff, saying, "It cannot be said that equality rights are violated beyond socially acceptable limits when a golf club, as a private corporation, restricts its membership requirements on grounds of nationality." That decision was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in 2002. But those "socially acceptable limits" are changing, say some industry insiders.

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"It is problematic that many golf clubs in Japan still have rules that deny memberships to non-Japanese nationals across the board," he said. "What is more, drawing a line among compatriots on grounds of whether they were non-Japanese in the past amounts to an obvious violation of human rights. The golf world needs to rectify that problem."

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