894.012/13
The Chargé in Japan (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 7.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a translation of a bill,71 which has recently passed both Houses of the Diet, amending the [Page 412] Law of Nationality. This measure represents an effort towards solving the question of dual nationality, in which Japanese who have acquired foreign nationality by reason of birth are involved.
As indicated in the enclosed translation of Diet proceedings,72 two bills relating to this subject were introduced; one by the Government, and the other by the Chairman of the Special Committee to which both bills were referred. The latter bill was distinctly far-reaching. It sought to effect the automatic cancellation of the Japanese nationality of Japanese who acquired foreign nationality either by birth or naturalization. Due to the particular opposition of the Army, which feared the provisions by which persons could evade conscription by becoming naturalized in a foreign country until after their thirty-seventh year, when they would be no longer of military age, it was set aside in favor of the Government bill. It did not, however, have much support at any time, as it was too complete and abrupt a departure from the principle of blood, which obtains in Japanese law.
The Law of Nationality, as it now stands, permits Japanese, who have acquired foreign nationality by birth, to cancel, with the approval of the Minister of the Interior, their Japanese nationality before reaching their seventeenth year, when male subjects become liable for military service. It will be noted that the bill which was adopted is not a full acquiescence in “the principle of the sun”; for, while it provides that those born in certain countries (to be designated by imperial decree73) and who have thus acquired the nationality of the country of birth, may be regarded as having lost their Japanese nationality from the moment of birth, unless, however, a desire to preserve Japanese nationality has been formally expressed, it affords no relief for Japanese who have acquired foreign nationality by processes of naturalization. Thus, the Japanese Government inferentially reiterates its claim to the continued allegiance of all of its nationals born under the Japanese flag.
The attention of American officials in Japan is frequently drawn to Japanese, born in the United States and who have elected to claim American citizenship, who have been conscripted upon their arrival in Japan. In a number of such cases, it was ascertained that these persons were possessed of the belief that the Japanese [Page 413] authorities could not regard them as Japanese subjects, as the fact of their birth had not been registered in Japan and they were without a Japanese census domicile. The Minister of the Interior pointed out in the Diet that this belief could only be based on ignorance, as the Census Domicile Law, which is also being amended to accord with the Law of Nationality, invests all Japanese with Japanese nationality, whether they have been registered or not. Upon the promulgation of the amendments and of the decree provided for in the amendment to the Law of Nationality, persons of Japanese stock born in certain foreign countries will be presumed to have acquired the nationality of the country in which they were born, and, therefore, to have divested themselves of their Japanese nationality at the time of birth.
I have [etc.]
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- By Imperial Ordinance No. 262, Nov. 14, 1924, a translation of which was enclosed with the despatch no. 17, Dec. 1, 1924, from the Ambassador in Japan, it was specified that this amendment to the Nationality Law should apply to the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Peru, effective Dec. 1, 1924.↩