Inclusion among the Japanese People
A Constitutional Perspective
Abstract
The article addresses an important and overarching problem related to inclusion in a changing context. This is the question of Japanese nationality, how it can be acquired and how exclusive this right is. The author focuses on the changes in Japan’s Nationality Act and the related 2008 Supreme Court Decision. The Act of 1950 stipulates jus sanguinis as its basic principle. The only other way to acquire Japanese nationality was through naturalization but the administration related to this procedure is complex and the outcome unpredictable. In 1984, however, a revision of the Nationality Act opened the path to acquisition of nationality by means of legitimation for a child born out of wedlock and acknowledged by the Japanese father only after birth. Then what about a child who was also born out of wedlock and acknowledged by the Japanese father only after birth, but whose parents remain unmarried? According to the Nationality Act, naturalization would have been the only way to acquire the Japanese nationality. In such a case, the Supreme court in 2008 decided that this is a violation of Article 14, para. 1 of the Constitution (non-discrimination). The Court acknowledged in its reasoning the changing realities of family life and the progressing internationalization of Japanese society. This leads to the question whether the recent jurisprudence related to Japan’s Nationality Act heralds a shift from an exclusive to an inclusive society.
(The Editors)
