Families seeking Japanese nationality for children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and foreign mothers were overjoyed at the passing of a revision to the Nationality Law on Friday.
The revision will enable a child born out of wedlock whose parents are unmarried to obtain Japanese nationality and take his or her father’s name if the father recognizes the child as his own.
The joy is tempered, however, by fears that false paternity claims by unrelated Japanese men will become commonplace, a matter of particular concern for the Justice Ministry.
