Japanese Court Denies Dual Citizenship
The Tokyo District Court has ruled that a Japanese law forbidding dual citizenship is not against the Constitution.
Japan's Nationality Law stipulates that Japanese nationals lose their citizenship if they acquire foreign nationality of their own will.
The case was brought to the court by six people who lost Japanese nationality after acquiring citizenship in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, to which they moved.
The plaintiffs demanded that the government confirm their Japanese nationality, saying that denying dual citizenship is against Japan's Constitution.
In Thursday's ruling, the presiding judge at the Tokyo District Court, Mori Hideaki, rejected the plaintiffs' claim.
He said that although the Constitution provides for freedom of all people to move to a foreign country and renounce their Japanese nationality, it says nothing about a right to keep Japanese nationality in such cases.
He added that the Nationality Law is designed to prevent the legal contradictions that could arise from dual citizenship and to guarantee the freedom of anyone to change nationality.
The judge ruled that the law is reasonable and does not violate the Constitution.