[JAPANESE AMERICANS.]
The New Nationality Law of Japan An Explanation and Comments
REVISING JAPANESE NATIONALITY LAWS
Issued by the Japanese Consulate in Hawaii, this rare brochure clarifies revisions to the 1924 nationality law passed in Japan.
A fascinating development in law and citizenship which remains topical today, Japan reversed the long standing law that gave Japanese citizenship to Nisei regardless of where they were born, and allowed Nisei to opt out of dual citizenship.
Jacobus tenBroek explains further: “Japan facilitated the renunciation by dual citizens of their Japanese citizenship and destroyed it automatic acquisition by American-born children of Japanese nationals. Moreover, these actions were the direct results of petitions and pressures from Japanese Americans and represented an attempt on the part of the Japanese government to adjust its nationality laws and politics in favor of the American rule and the offspring of its emigrants to America” (tenBroek).
The brochure itself adopts a conciliatory tone, eager to appease both Japanese and American interests. In the same year, the United States passed legislation that effectively banned Japanese immigration.
Not in OCLC.
tenBroek, J., Prejudice, War and the Constitution (University of California Press, 1954) p.272.
