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Asakawa Akihiro on "naturalization" in Japan
How aliens have been permitted to change their allegiance
First posted 16 September 2007
Last updated 30 August 2011
Introduction • Asakawa 2003 | Asakawa 2007 | Biographical note
| Asakawa Akihiro 浅川晃広 | |
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2003 2007 |
Asakawa 2003在日外国人と帰化制度 Asakawa 2007近代日本と帰化制度 |
IntroductionAsakawa 2003Asakawa 2003Asakawa Akihiro This book is the most exhaustive and current study of naturalization in Japan. Its main strengths are data on naturalization (statistics culled from government reports, and Asakawa's own analysis of Kanpo [Official Gazette] notices), and discussions of naturalization procedures and costs. It's main weakness is it's characterization of Japan's Nationality Law. Asakawa categorical differentiates "'zokusei ni yori kokuseki' (citizenship by attribution)" and "'shutoku ni yoru kokuseki' (citizenship by acquisition)" (page 37). He then states that Japanese nationality obtained at time of birth falls in the former category, while Japanese nationality obtained later through naturalization would fall in the latter category. However, Japan's Nationality Law treats all means of obtaining Japanese nationality as simply "acquisition" [shutoku]. Nationality is acquired through timely notification and confirmation of particulars (now at time of birth or when legitimized, once also through adoption and marriage) and through application and permission (naturalization). The first third of this book is an overview of naturalization in Japan from 1952 to 2000. The rest is a report of Asakawa's interview study, conducted in March 2000, of 359 people who became Japanese through naturalization. As an original study of naturalization by someone, by someone who had himself recently naturalized, Asakawa's book is very valuable. However, his legal analysis leaves something to be desired. Asakawa differentiates the following two categories of 国籍 (kokuseki) in Japan (page 37, romanization mine, parenthetic English Asakawa's).
Asakawa then states that Japanese nationality obtained at time of birth falls in the former category, while Japanese nationality obtained later through naturalization would fall in the latter category. However, Japan's Nationality Law treats all means of obtaining Japanese nationality as "acquisition" (取得 shutoku). Japanese nationality is now acquired either through timely notificiation and confirmation of particulars at time of birth, or after birth when legitimized or when permitted through application (naturalization). Once, but no longer, Japanese status or nationality could be acquired through adoption or marriage. Asakawa's equation of "kokuseki" with "citizenship" is also odd. Not only is Japan's Nationality Law not a law of citizenship, but "citizenship" is not codified as such in Japanese law. So while Asakawa's book is extremely valuable as a collection of information related to naturalization -- statistics, procedures, administration, experiences -- his discussion of legal matters does not inspire confidence that he understands how Japan's Nationality Law actually operates. Since Asakawa's book is mainly an analysis of naturalization of Koreans in Japan, which means post 1952, I will further discuss his views both in 1950 Nationality Law and in Naturalization since 1950 Nationality Law. Asakawa's Meiji studiesAsakawa has published three important academic articles on the development during the Meiji period of what he calls 帰化 (kika) in Japanese and "naturalization" in English. In doing so he has somewhat conflated, as have many people, ways of changing status that have not been called 帰化 (kika) -- once meaning "change of allegiance", now meaning "naturalization" -- in Japanese law. These articles See Becoming Japanese in the Meiji period: Adopted sons, incoming husbands, and naturalization for an overview of Asahara's Meiji-related articles. Asakawa 2006Asakawa Akihiro Six of seven chapters in this book are based on articles originally published in two monthly magazines, Shōkun! (Chapters 1-2, 4-5) and Seiron (Chapters 6-7). Chapter 3, a debunking of myths about naturalization, was written for the book. While all chapters expose flaws in the victimhood ideology that has driven most journalistic and academic writing about Koreans in Japan, Chapter 7 (pages 162-184) may be the most valuable. It's title, like those of the other chapters, is long and speaks for itself.
While pointing out the ideologically-inspired flaws in Ūnuma's book (Tokyo: Tōshindō, 2004), Asakawa also takes shots at other well-known publicists who, like Ūnuma, are inclined to ignore legal and other facts which weaken if not entirely undermine their arguments that Koreans in Japan deserve special entitlements. Ūnuma is best known for Tan'itsu minzoku shakai no shinwa o koete: Zainichi Kankoku/Chōsenjin to shutsunyūkoku kanri taisei [Transcending the myth of monoethnic society: the system of exit-entry-contry (emigration/immigration) control of Koreans in Japan] (Tokyo: Tōshindō, 1986, revised 1993). While valuable as a source of information, this book, too, takes the position that the manner in which Japan has treated former subjects of Korea in Japan has been oppressive, if not also illegal from viewpoint of international or domestic law. Forthcoming. Asakawa AkihiroAsakawa Akihiro is a strong proponent of naturalization and critic of "Zainichi" as a sanctuary of victimhood. According to his own phrasing, he was born in 1974 a "Zainichi Kankokujin sansei" [third generation ROK national in Japan]. Such labels should not be taken too literally, however, for ROK did not exist when the so-called "first generation" migrated to the prefectures. Some of their children -- the "second generation" -- were born in Japan before the end of World War II in 1945, or were born in Japan before ROK was founded in 1948, or before Japan recognized ROK in 1965 -- and not all of the first, second, or third generation have become ROK nationals. But, as some would say, "Zainichi Kankokujin sansei" is just a label. And like all labels, it the purchaser is free to stick this label on anything. "Kankokujin" could just as well refer the what "Chōsenjin" (Chosenese) would have been had Japan not annexed Korea in 1910 and changed its name to "Chōsen". A product of Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya colleges, Asakawa is presently (2007) a professor at the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University. He has studied in Australia and worked for the Japanese Embassy in Australia as a specialist researcher. Asakawa has specialized in migration and immigration policy, and in Australian politics and society. Much of his research, though, has been centered on Koreans in Japan and naturalization, the subjects of the following books. He himself became Japanese in 1999. Asakawa has studied in Australia and worked for the Japanese Embassy in Australia as a specialist reseacher. He specializes in migration and immigration policy, and in Australian politics and society. Much of Asakawa's research, though, has been centered on Koreans in Japan and naturalization, a topic of great personal interest to him, since he became Japanese in 1999. Asakawa has written a number of rather original and refreshing articles, mostly in magazines and mooks that would be called conservative or revisionist, which debunk the fashionable notion of Koreans in Japan as victims. I will introduce these articles, and a book collection of such articles, in the "Nationalism" section of this website. Japan Immigration Policy Institute (JIPI)Asakawa is also the administrative director of Japan Immigration Policy Institute (外国人移民政策研究所 Gaikokujin Imin Seisaku Kenkyūjo), one of several immigration policy "think tanks" in Japan. JIPI as launched in 2005 by its director, Sakanaka Hidenori (坂中英徳), after his retirement in March that year as director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau. Sakanaka, born in 1945, joined the Ministry of Justice in 1970 and held a number of posts in the Immigration Bureau during his 35 year career in MOJ. | |