Japan opens nationality to kids born out of wedlock

[stevbo]

Japan opens nationality to kids born out of wedlock

Isabel Reynolds, AP, December 5, 2008

Japan on Friday passed a bill to grant citizenship to more children born out of wedlock to foreign women and Japanese men, in a change that has sparked calls from lawmakers for DNA testing to prevent fraud.

The fuss over the amendment, which could affect thousands of children, underscores Japan’s sensitivity over homogeneity, seen as a barrier to immigration that could help the country ease the problems of its aging population.

Under the new law, children of Japanese fathers and non-Japanese mothers may apply for nationality at any time before the age of 20, provided their father has acknowledged them, the Justice Ministry said.

Previously, the father had to claim the child before birth, or marry the mother before the child reached the age of 20, to enable him or her to become Japanese.

That rule was effectively overturned in June when the Supreme Court ruled in a case brought by 10 Japanese-Filipino children living in Japan that it was unconstitutional to limit nationality to those whose parents were married.

Since the late 1970s, thousands of Filipino women have moved to Japan to work as entertainers. Many have had children with Japanese men.

“If a law like this is misused, what will happen to the Japanese identity?” the English-language daily Japan Times quoted right-wing lawmaker Takeo Hiranuma as saying last month.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, about 130 children have applied for citizenship ahead of the passage of the bill. The Justice Ministry estimates the change could affect hundreds of children every year.

Japan did not grant nationality to children of Japanese women and foreign fathers until 1985, but this is now a matter of course.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...N-NATIONALITY/

...Wow, 130 children from Filipinos! The equivalent in the United States would be 500 children born to American men dating Russian women being denied US citizenship. Instead, America has 30 million Mexicans, Haitians stampeding in Walmart and Somalis in Maine. Japan’s "problems" look pretty good from here.

[Jacque_S]

B@stards!

.......

[redjack201]

B@stards!

.......

... why? They've opened things up. I think this is a very positive change and is thoughtful of the fact that not all children come from marriages.

It's just the first step though; the second step is allowing dual-citizenship.

Read the tea leaves... the LDP will not survive on discriminatory, racist and insular policies; something that’s once been their stronghold is gradually turning into their vice lethal and men amongst their ranks can see it. They know how long it takes the Japanese people to decide on change, and if they don’t adapt fast, they could be the ones sitting in opposition for the next 50 years while a new, more inclusive and more prosperous Japan is built around them based on some of the many policies that they once feared.

[ax]

You should read the replies to this news story on places like 2chan and MIXI. Most are insisting it is the end of Japan. Then you ask them why and they insist that every Chinese, Korean and Filipino woman will be saying their son is half-Japanese to get him Japanese citizenship. They think the country will be overrun and ruined.

A bit extreme of a reaction.

A few hundred _______ kids will get citizenship every year.

My girlfriend works with Filipino workers and their kids in Tokyo. She said that a number of women have Japanese boyfriends, get pregnant and then the guy takes off so not to lose face. The kid doesn't have citizenship, but is born and raised in Japan, goes through the education system and is Japanese for all intents and purposes, but has no solid legal standing in Japan, despite the biological father being a Japanese national.

Japan over the next thirty to fifty years is going to be interesting. The plan is to have 10% of the population as foreign workers within the next fifty years. That was announced earlier this year. The thing is that when those workers start having kids who think of themselves as only Japanese and speak only Japanese, what then? They will want rights (particularly to citizenship) and recognition in the society that they were born and raised in.

[tkt]

I have mixed feelings about this law. While I think Japan should be more open to foreigners, especially since there aren't enough young people in Japan. I even saw one comment on mixi saying "I think if brought young people over to Japan from foreign countries and had them pay taxes and such it would really help." So the law isn't full of negative consequences.

On the other hand, it's difficult for Japanese people (born and raised in Japan) to land decent jobs recently. Would the Japanese be willing to open up citizenship, if one of the results is more competition? Having thousands of people unemployed wouldn't do the country any good. Also, after doing a quick research on opinions about this law, I've found there are many ways to abuse it (I won't go into detail because a lot of them were plain sick).

I'm not completely against the law itself, but I wish the government made it more specific, so people aren't able to abuse this law easily.

[kurogane]

...Wow, 130 children from Filipinos! The equivalent in the United States would be 500 children born to American men dating Russian women being denied US citizenship. Instead, America has 30 million Mexicans, Haitians stampeding in Walmart and Somalis in Maine. Japan’s "problems" look pretty good from here.

Unless you're a card carrying wagon burner, then you're just a bigoted Amerikan fukkwitted cvntfart.

But that's okay, because you fukkwitted dicksucking retards are going down anyways.

Bye Bye, fascist bastards.

[redjack201]

Oh yeah MIXI's a reliable source... a social networking site!
Therein lies one of Japan's problems, do you watch the news and read Japanese newspapers a lot?

A big problem is the distinct lack of critical investigative journalism.
In this situation we're talking about babies who will be brought up by single or re-married Japanese fathers; and only fathers... not mothers! Chinese, Filipino, Russia, North Korean... whatever parents can't claim citizenship! It's designed so that Japanese dads who have been divorced or were never married can retrospectively take their children to Japan and make them Japanese citizens.

The only important piece of information in this article is the following:

"Under the new law, children of Japanese fathers and non-Japanese mothers may apply for nationality at any time before the age of 20, provided their father has acknowledged them, the Justice Ministry said.

Previously, the father had to claim the child before birth, or marry the mother before the child reached the age of 20, to enable him or her to become Japanese."

This is not foreign babies, it's Japanese babies with Japanese dads who are willing to care for their baby however are not married to a foreign lady. If anything it will mean less migrants as there could potentially be less shotgun marriages...

[tkt]

Oh yeah MIXI's a reliable source... a social networking site!
Therein lies one of Japan's problems, do you watch the news and read Japanese newspapers a lot?

Not a lot, but I try to. And all the news does is give out basic information (if I do watch the news, I watch the NHK one). I like to read other people's opinions for a broader perspective on things. While they aren't experts on the matter, I still think a lot of them thought about this, and made valid points about the issue.

A big problem is the distinct lack of critical investigative journalism.
In this situation we're talking about babies who will be brought up by single or re-married Japanese fathers; and only fathers... not mothers! Chinese, Filipino, Russia, North Korean... whatever parents can't claim citizenship! It's designed so that Japanese dads who have been divorced or were never married can retrospectively take their children to Japan and make them Japanese citizens.

By the way, do you think this is a reaction by the government because of that incident where the parents had a surrogate mother in India, and the kid couldn't come to Japan because of visa and citizenship problems? I only recalled of this now (however, the details about that are quite fuzzy since I didn't follow the story closely).

The only important piece of information in this article is the following:

"Under the new law, children of Japanese fathers and non-Japanese mothers may apply for nationality at any time before the age of 20, provided their father has acknowledged them, the Justice Ministry said.

Previously, the father had to claim the child before birth, or marry the mother before the child reached the age of 20, to enable him or her to become Japanese."

This is not foreign babies, it's Japanese babies with Japanese dads who are willing to care for their baby however are not married to a foreign lady. If anything it will mean less migrants as there could potentially be less shotgun marriages...

Is there anyway to prove that the baby is or isn't the father's? The child could be foreign for all we know. Because DNA testing isn't required (which I think is one major problem with this law) it's impossible to tell.

[J_T]

The racist right wing in Japan are predictably up in arms about it, but the rule is fair. Surely the child of a Japanese should have the right to hold Japanese citizenship?

The challenge for lawmakers here is to create a law that is both fair, and difficult to abuse.

[dirtbagsmith]

Unless you're a card carrying wagon burner, then you're just a bigoted Amerikan fukkwitted cvntfart.

But that's okay, because you fukkwitted dicksucking retards are going down anyways.

Bye Bye, fascist bastards.

"the human animal is a compulsively tribal, compulsively territorial species. If the leaders of modern society don't offer acceptable forms of tribalism and territorial display, unacceptable ones will explode in their faces."

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=745w0k...eature=related

Homogenity reduces violent crime.

[ax]

A typical Japanese response on forums to this:

やった！これで日本が終わる！！＼(＾o＾)／

本当にこの国が好きだからこそこの国に居るのが嫌にな ってきた。
外国人が日本人として文化に侵入してくるのは生理的な レベルで駄目だ。（帰化とかは別）
日本が日本でなくなるのを見たくはない。だからもし危 惧している未来が来たなら外国に住み、自分の中の日本 を守りながら暮らすのも良いのかなとも考えています。

[~Murasaki~]

I think it really needs to depends on where they are raised. If the kid is born in japan, goes to japanese school and lives most of their life in japan whether or not the parents are married, they should have citizenship.

However, if the say filipino mother(never married to the japanese) takes her kid back to philipines and they go to filipino school and basically become filipino but they have a japanese father. I don't think the kid should be entitled to japanese citizenship. I think that could cause some problems and fraud.


America is country full of immigrants and children of immigrants and most don't have dual citizenship. An american that is part-french doesn't french citizenship and shouldn't be entitled to it since they know nothing about the culture or the language.

[J_T]

It's a basic issue of human rights that these kids get citizenship here.

I seriously doubt that even the racist crackpots that post on 2ch and so on really care whether or not Becky, Wentz, Akiko Wada, Anna Tsuchiya etc hold Japanese passports(assuming that they do).

Why should the kids that this law change is supposed to help be any different?

[Jacque_S]

I think it really needs to depends on where they are raised. If the kid is born in japan, goes to japanese school and lives most of their life in japan whether or not the parents are married, they should have citizenship.

Why should it be the business of any state or gov't where someone goes to school and is raised? Imagine the ashtray-heaving shitfits gaijin Japanophiles who knocked up their little Keikos would have if Canada, Oz, NZ, US, or UK denied their little "Ian/(comfort woman kanji here)"s citizenship b/c s/he had been raised in Japan.

[Kaonashi]

Why should it be the business of any state or gov't where someone goes to school and is raised? Imagine the ashtray-heaving shitfits gaijin Japanophiles who knocked up their little Keikos would have if Canada, Oz, NZ, US, or UK denied their little "Ian/(comfort woman kanji here)"s citizenship b/c s/he had been raised in Japan.

Good point, Jacque!

Been talking about this with my pals a bit, and the more I do, the more confused I get about this whole 'nationality' issue. It seems to envelop a very large gray area. Most apparently equate nationality with the right to live freely in a particular nation; fewer, it seems, consider the problems involved with mutual, sometimes conflicting, responsibilities.

One friend told me that the US does not allow dual nationality! - it just does not prohibit it. In other words, all that counts from the US point of view is duty; for example, should the draft be reinstated and little Taro be called up because he was born in Boston, that he is also a Japan national will avail him nil. He could stay put in Yokohama, thus breaking US law and imperiling any return, or he could fulfill his duty to the US. That far is black and white. In the past, when these cases were few, the consequences were also few; but as internationalization proceeds apace, I wonder what will happen should such conflicts break out again.

So I agree with you, Jacque, regarding xenophopes of any stripe, and I sincerely believe that polynationality is the wave of the future; the devil is in the details.

[Jacque_S]

My problem is less with the way the J-gov decides to delineate citizenship than it is with those Japanophiles who'd try to defend the practices.

As for the Filipinas, generally very good people, but Ian Buruma has an interesting line in one of his articles about the Philippines, in which he cautions about give oneself away too easily and expecting too much in return. Surely there aren't many people in the Philippines who can be under any illusions about what Japan is willing to offer them and their b@stards.

[tasogare]

Can someone explain exactly how this law can be abused? Or rather, why it was so hard for the gov't to draft a law that couldn't be abused? My guess is that the "abuse" line has about the same foundation as the "gov't is going to force people to get abortions if it stays legal" argument.

One of the problems this law is meant to address is children of Japanese fathers born in Japan without citizenship of another country (e.g. Philippines) and also without Japanese citizenship, i.e. they have NO CITIZENSHIP. That is why the LDP was forced to change the law - you can't have kids growing up without a nationality.

If they are worried about women falsely claiming their children are half-Japanese, a paternity test would solve that fairly easily. You make a rebuttable presumption that the child is of the Japanese father (not doing so would put the burden on the child, which wouldn't change anything). Father who doesn't want to be responsible for the kid submits to a paternity test - problem solved.

As for a rush of half-Japanese kids trying to become Japanese for the benefits: is it any fault of the child that the father decided to have sex without a condom? If you want to reduce children applying for benefits, reduce the number of men having illegitimate children with foreign women: put them on the hook for paying for their upbringing. Worried about foreign women trapping Japanese men by getting pregnant on purpose? Stop having sex with foreign women!

Basically, the "complications" with this law are simply because the old Japanese men writing the law want to continue going to their cheap kyabakuras and having sex without condoms, but don't want to have to foot the bill for the consequences. But you can't say that - you have to say that people might "abuse" the law.

As for changing the identity of Japan... seriously, how many illegitimate children do people think there are?! Are there 30 million illegitimate children under age 20 not living as "Japanese" that are suddenly going to come in and turn Japanese society on its head?

It's amazing how stupid the average person is, and how good politicians are at exploiting their stupidity.