11 Allow Multiple Nationalities

Axiang is a third-grade high school student, born and raised in Japan. Her parents are Chinese nationals, and she is a Chinese national too. She speaks with her parents in Chinese, but finds speaking Japanese easier. She likes music and singing J-pop at Karaoke. When she turned 16 years old, she missed school to go to the Immigration Bureau with her parents and received her residence status card.

One of her classmates is Takashi, who was born in Korea. He used to live in Korea due to his parents’ work, and moved to Japan two years ago with his parents. Takashi and his parents are Japanese nationals. However, as a native speaker of Korean, Takashi only understands conversation-level Japanese and finds Kanji to be particularly difficult. When he turned 18 years old last month, his teacher told him, “You should exercise your right to vote in elections.”

Maria is another classmate of Axiang. Her mother is a Filipino national and her father is a Japanese national. As Maria was born in the Philippines, she was granted Filipino nationality at birth. After moving to Japan, she went through various procedures and eventually obtained Japanese nationality some months ago.

▶ Nationality is a man-made institution

Article 10 of the Japanese Constitution states that “the conditions necessary for being a citizen shall be determined by the law.” That law is the Nationality Act. Article 4 of the Nationality Act states, “A person who is not a Japanese citizen (hereinafter referred to as ‘foreign national’).” That means, under the Japanese legal system, Japanese citizens are defined as those with Japanese nationality and foreigners are those without Japanese nationality. Thus, Axiang, who was born in Japan and is a native Japanese speaker is a “foreigner”; Takashi, who was born in a foreign country and is a native speaker of a foreign language is a “Japanese citizen”; and Maria, who used to be a “foreigner,” is now a “Japanese citizen.” Although the person does not change, whether he or she is a citizen may change. This is because nationality is a man-made institution.

The Japanese Nationality Act stipulates that a child whose mother or father is a Japanese national shall be a Japanese national (Article 2). Such a nationality system is called jus sanguinis. Another system is called jus soli, in which a child born in the territory of a state is granted nationality. This system is practiced by states like the United States. If Japan followed the principle of jus soli, Axiang would be a Japanese national and be able to vote in elections like Takashi. As such, nationality laws vary significantly by state, and depending on the nationalities of the parents or the relevant laws of multiple states, can be very complex, causing various problems.

The lack of Japanese nationality brings about innumerable restrictions and obligations upon a person living in Japan, including the requirement of possessing a residence status, the possibility of deportation, the obligation to always carry one’s resident card, the collection of fingerprints and headshots upon immigration, restrictions in employment in many public servant positions, the lack of suffrage, etc.

▶ Suffering caused by nationality

Before the War, people from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan were forcefully turned into “Japanese nationals” due to the colonization by Japan. After the war, in 1952, they were turned into “foreigners” with the issuing of a single Ministry of Justice administrative notice. Also, until 1985, the Japanese nationality system was gender- discriminative, in which nationality was only passed down to a child through the father. These are examples of how the fact that nationality is subject to the arbitrary operations of the state can severely threaten people’s right to subsistence.

There are also people without a nationality. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) claims that there are over 12 million people affected by statelessness. In Japan, there are at least 674 people without a nationality (according to statistics of foreign nationals in Japan, as of June 2018). It is difficult for these stateless people to obtain a passport, and they experience even more dire conditions of rightlessness.

▶ For the self-determination of nationality: Allow multiple nationalities

For whom is nationality? Unfortunately, the answer has been “for the state” so far. However, it does not make sense that people living in the same community are divided by nationality and subject to differential treatment. The ideal answer to the question should be “for individuals.” To realize this, there is a need for a system in which a high degree of self-determination is ensured.

The first step in that direction to be taken by the Japanese government is to actively permit multiple nationalities. Presently, holding dual nationality is permitted for children born between a Japanese and foreign national, but the Nationality Act should be revised so that even people who acquire Japanese or foreign nationality are able to keep the other nationality he or she holds. As people living in Japan become more diverse in terms of country of origin, place of residence, and roots of parents, it is necessary to allow for multiple nationalities if this institution of nationality is to be maintained.

（Picture provided by：金明和）