TOKYO (Kyodo)--The Tokyo District Court ruled Wednesday it is unconstitutional for the government to refuse Japanese nationality to a 7-year-old boy of Japanese-Philippine parenthood born out of wedlock and later recognized by his Japanese father.
It is the first time a Japanese court has ruled that a provision of the Nationality Law violates the Constitution, lawyers for the plaintiff said.
The boy's mother filed the lawsuit seeking to confirm that her son had the right to obtain Japanese nationality.
''It is unreasonable not to grant Japanese nationality for the reason that his parents are unmarried,'' Presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka said in handing down the ruling.
''The Nationality Law distinguishing children of legally married parents and children out of wedlock violates the principle of equality before the law as ensured by the Constitution,'' Tsuruoka said.
Under the Nationality Law, a child born to a Japanese father and non-Japanese mother can obtain Japanese nationality if his or her parents are married.
A child born out of wedlock can still obtain Japanese nationality if the father acknowledges the child while he or she is still in the womb, but not if the child was recognized after birth.
Tsuruoka said that given diversifying values today, it is difficult to assess that a normal family is only that in which the parents are legally married, and that making a distinction on the issue of acquiring Japanese nationality based on the parents' legal relationship is unreasonable.
Genichi Yamaguchi, one of the lawyers, told a news conference the boy's father said he was happy after Yamaguchi gave him the news.
''It was a courageous ruling,'' Yamaguchi said, touching on the importance of the case as a matter of ''identity'' for the boy, who is now an elementary school pupil.
According to the ruling, the boy's mother arrived in Japan in 1992 and she and the boy's father, who was married at the time, became acquainted. The woman gave birth to the boy in 1997 and the father filed official recognition papers in 1999.
The boy's mother filed a request with the Justice Ministry's Legal Affairs Bureau to obtain Japanese nationality for her son in February 2003, but this was denied.
The boy and his mother live in the Kanto region.
The boy's father continues to live with his Japanese family and visits the boy and his mother regularly on weekends. The boy's father also participated in his son's school activities when the boy was in kindergarten.
''The family is not completely living together but it can be established that they are living together since they stay in close contact with each other,'' the judge said.
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