Third citizenship as a dual citizenship by birth.

Hi !

I know there are a lot of posts on dual citizenship, but there are only a couple on the case of a third citizenship, and I would like to have some clarification, if anyone has some useful information about this scenario.

As a dual citizenship by birth, I hold both Japanese and a European citizenship. I am over 22 years old.

I live in another European country, of which I do not hold the citizenship. For practical purposes, let's suppose I am a Dutch citizen living in France.

I do not require visa to live and work in France, as I am a european citizen. Thus, renewing my japanese passport at the Japanese embassy in France is absolutely fine, and no one raises an eyebrow as my second citizenship by birth allows me to live and work in the country I am renewing my japanese passport in.

I have been living and working long enough in France that I can get the french citizenship, not through naturalisation, but simple declaration of citizenship. This means that there is, as far as I know, no publication whatsoever to an official gazette.

Now, there are several situations, depending on the timeline:

• Before I renew my japanese passport, I technically have a new citizenship acquired by choice, but there is no way that the japanese ministry of justice can know this. Indeed, the only way they would know is if I declare it. But until I renew my japanese passport, I am never explicitly asked about this, so I did not lie to the japanese state either.
• After I renew my japanese passport. I am asked on the form if I hold other citizenship and the date I obtain them. If I tell them yes, and put my date of birth (for the Dutch citizenship), they would not know I have a third citizenship, but there is no flag raised as I am not in a situation of living in a country I don't have a visa for. But what I do not know, is if they ask if *I have another citizenship* or *how many others citizenship I have*. In the latter, I am clearly lying on the form by omitting the French citizenship obtained by choice. If the former, I am not really lying, as the question does not really entails the situation I am in (if I can only put down one date, I have to chose one when I have two to write in reality). Does anyone know what exactly is on the form ?

Although it would somehow imply lying about the third citizenship, is there something I am missing, or there is realistically no way the japanese state could flag me for acquiring a citizenship by choice unless I tell them myself ?

Edit : Just to be explicit about it, I have had the possibility to obtain a third citizenship for 5 years, but did not and don't plan on obtaining it. The stakes of loosing my Japanese citizenship are just too high, for the absence of gain in such a scenario.

But this question has been bugging me for years and I was wondering if someone would know.