Bill drawn up to remove marriage requirement for child's nationality

TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo - The Justice Ministry on Friday drew up a bill to amend the Nationality Law to enable a child born out of wedlock to a Japanese man and a foreign woman to obtain Japanese nationality if the father recognizes his paternity.

The move comes after the Supreme Court in June declared unconstitutional a
Nationality Law provision requiring parents to be married in order for their
children to be granted Japanese nationality.
The bill was approved by a panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and is
expected to receive endorsements also from the New Komeito party, the LDP's
coalition partner, and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
The government is hoping to enact the amendment law during the current Diet
session, scheduled to run through Nov. 30.
In its landmark decision, the top court said that the Nationality Law's Article
3 infringes Article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for equality for
all, ruling in favor of 10 Japanese-Filipino children who were born out of
wedlock to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers.
The Supreme Court ruled that the marriage requirement may have been reasonable
at the time of the provision's establishment in 1984, but its reasonableness
has declined in line with the diversification of family lifestyles by the time
when the lawsuit was filed in 2003.
The bill is designed to allow those who applied for nationality in 2003 or
later to gain nationality retroactively.
It also incorporates a provision to impose imprisonment of up to one year or
fines of up to 200,000 yen on anyone who illegitimately files for gaining
paternity recognition from a Japanese man who is not the child's real father
and applies for nationality.
On the heels of the ruling, over 90 children have filed applications for
Japanese nationality with local legal affairs bureaus across Japan, but the
bureaus have put the procedures on hold.
==Kyodo