Lower house OKs bill to remove marriage requirement for nationality

TOKYO, Nov. 18 Kyodo - The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed 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 -- despite opposition by some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who
refused to vote.

The revision is expected to pass the House of Councillors for enactment by the
end of the current parliamentary session through Nov. 30 as the main opposition
Democratic Party of Japan plans to approve the government-sponsored bill.
At least three LDP lawmakers -- Kyoko Nishikawa, Hideki Makihara and Masaaki
Akaike -- articulated their opposition to the bill and left without voting at
the lower house's plenary session. Several other LDP members also did not cast
their ballots.
Akaike was among lawmakers who held a meeting Monday and adopted a resolution
against an early vote on the bill, pointing out the revision could lead to an
increase in false nationality claims.
In the meeting of the lower house's Committee on Judicial Affairs held prior to
Tuesday's plenary session, Akaike, who was a member of the committee, also left
before voting.
Yoshitaka Murata, chief deputy chairman of the LDP's Diet Affairs Committee,
joined the voting at the panel in place of Akaike to help get the bill adopted
with a unanimous vote and taken up to the plenary session.
The government proposed revisions to the law after the Supreme Court ruled in
June that a provision in the law requiring parents to be married in order for
their children to be granted Japanese nationality is unconstitutional.
The bill includes a provision for the imposition of prison terms of up to one
year or fines of up to 200,000 yen for anyone falsely filing a claim of
paternity in order to secure Japanese nationality for another person.
At present, a child born outside a marriage can obtain nationality if the
Japanese father admits paternity when the child is still in the mother's womb.
In other words, nationality is not granted to a child who receives paternity
recognition after birth.
The envisioned amendment would enable nationality to be given to any child born
out of wedlock as long as he or she receives paternal recognition.
==Kyodo