Do children of a Japanese mothers and foreign fathers born in Japan get citizenship at birth?

5 comments

1. Yes.

   Of course, the Japanese parent must also register the child’s birth when they are born overseas, otherwise things can be difficult.

2. Did you even check the Japanese government site? Yes if at least one parent is a Japanese national.

3. Hafu here, born in a Japanese hospital while my Dad was stationed in Sasebo and fighting in Vietnam. Due to the fact that I was born on Japanese soil, to a Japanese citizen and an American Citizen, I ended up with 3 birth certificates. 1 from the Nagasaki Prefecture where the hospital was located, 1 from the State Department, and 1 from the hospital. I was told by my parents that I had dual citizenship. As a child living in both Hawaii and Japan, it was always reinforced that I was a dual, and having 2 passports was kind of cool. When I was 18 y/o, I was told by the USAF recruiter that due to my dual citizenships, I would only be able to serve in the continental US unless I renounced my Japanese citizenship. As I wanted to travel, I went ahead and signed the necessary paperwork to make me a US Citizen only and renounced my Japanese citizenship. Ironically, even though my ‘dream sheet’ was all European bases, my first duty station was 40 miles north of where I graduated HS (Yokosuka). I ended being stationed at Yokota AB, Japan located in Fussa.

4. Native mom and in the country. I don’t think there’s any country in the world that doesn’t give citizenship in that case. What other citizenship should the child get instead?

5. Yes. My kid is a Japanese national, as my wife is Japanese.

   It takes at least one parent to be a Japanese national to qualify. This is unlike my home country, where only the father will determine if the kid can take up the citizenship.