Acquisition of Japanese nationality

QUESTION

My best friend has a Japanese father and a Filipino mother. His parents were still married when he was born. He has an older sister who is Japanese and she is in their father’s koseki-tohon. My best friend was not acknowledged by his father after he was born, his parents separated. When his parents separated, they did not get divorced. Now, his father is dead and he still was not acknowledged but his sister was. The only relative his late father has left is his brother who is not willing to help him get his nationality and his old stepmother. So how does my best friend obtain his nationality? Is there a way for him to do it? What are the necessary actions needed to be taken? How can you help us?

– Jess G. Javier

ANSWER

I can carry out your best friend’s case after we would have concluded a Business Trust Contract among persons living in Japan based on our office work regulation. However, I cannot conclude a contract, or cannot carry out the business with a person living overseas. Therefore, if your best friend wants to solve his/her problem, please contact me through his/her relative, a friend, or an acquaintance who is residing in Japan.

I cannot confirm exact information since the information described by your reference is fragmentary. Please find my comment as general.

1. According to the statute of Japan, those who are born in law marriage of his/her parents are made into a “legitimate child,” and if his/her father is Japanese, he/she will acquire the Japanese national at the time of birth.
2. The legal marriage is valid until the parents are divorced.
3. Therefore, even though parents have lived in separate houses, if the mother had submitted the birth notification and the reservation report of Japanese national to the Japanese Embassy in Manila (or a municipal office of Japanese father’s permanent domicile in Japan), your best friend would have acquired the Japanese national.
4. The reason of which he/she did not acquire the Japanese national is due to the negligence by his/her mother.
5. If he/she would like to acquire the Japanese national in this time, it is necessary to submit promptly the “Proposal-document of Birth Items-mentioned Report” attaching the substantiation / proof data to the Japanese Embassy in Manila or the Legislative Bureau which has jurisdiction over his/her father’s permanent domicile in Japan.
6. As you see, the Japanese Embassy, which would have accepted this proposal document, has no right to decide this case. Therefore, the official will send the related papers to the Legislative Bureau of the jurisdiction through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan.
7. In the jurisdiction Legislative Bureau, as a result of carrying out the investigation the facts and examination, if the Bureau would have confirmed the fact that your best friend was born as a Japanese father’s child by birth, he/she will be granted the Japanese national tracing back to the time of his/her birth.
8. On the other hand, when a doubt would be found about your best friend’s birth, the Bureau will not give the Japanese national. (Ex. It is a case where there exists the reason of which your best friend had been born after the Filipino mother had lived apart from the Japanese father since the considerable date had passed, and having been no opportunity to perform sexual negotiation among parents in the meantime.)

When if it is suspected that he/she is a “child by birth,” it is necessary to identify and to submit as a proof after getting the DNA information of Japanese father’s brothers/sisters and your best friend in a specialized agency.

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Office name: Miyoshi International Legal Counsel Office

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