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TOKYO—A child born in Japan to her Filipina mother out of wedlock said she was one step closer to her dream of becoming a police officer after completing Japanese citizenship registration on Monday.
A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in June concluded it was unconstitutional to deny Japanese nationality to children born out of wedlock to foreign mothers, granting Japanese nationality to Masami Sato, 10, and nine other Japanese-Filipino children.
"I thought I was one step forward to achieve my dream," said Masami, who has said she wants to become a police officer.
While the plaintiff children are already living in Japan and speak only Japanese, they lacked Japanese citizenship, putting their status into legal limbo. They have Philippine nationality from their mothers.
About 2,800 children born out of wedlock to foreign mothers live in Japan, more than 2,000 of whom have Japanese fathers, according to official statistics.
Masami said the first country she wants to visit after receiving her Japanese passport is the Philippines.
"I want to show it to my grandfather there," she told Agence France-Presse after visiting the city hall of central Nagoya with her 44-year-old Filipina mother, Rosanna Tapiru, and confirming her name stated in a document of Japanese citizenship registration.
In Japan, nationality has historically been passed down through the paternal line, with a child obtaining Japanese citizenship only if his or her father was Japanese.
Previously, when a child was born out of wedlock to a foreign mother, the Japanese father had to confirm the child as his before the birth to ensure Japanese citizenship.
The Tokyo High Court had last year refused to grant the plaintiffs Japanese nationality, saying that illegitimate passport seekers could abuse the law.
