From: keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Getting Japanese citizenship (was: finger....)
Date: 20 Nov 1992 05:44:02 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: wapsy.psy.uwa.oz.au

dskim@eng.umd.edu (Daeshik Kim) writes:

>In article <1992Nov18.060308.27770@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>>The Koreans have to meet the same requirements for citizenship and residency
>>that all the other foreigners must meet.

>	Unless I question the morality, I agree on the above with D.J.
>	except those who had been brought over to Japan during & before WWII
>	not by their will.

Majority of the permanent residents in Japan with Korean heritage were
brought to Japan during Japanese rule over Korea in 1905-45 against
their will. They were forced to engage in forced labor, indentured
servitude, and most nortorious of all, forced prostitution euphemistically
called "comfort women" for Japanese military. To my knowledge, the
Japanese government has not admitted the fact that they were brought
to Japan against their will let alone the payment of compensation
for their ordeals.

>	I just hope that all those who were forced to be in Japan for
>	generations meet the requrements and get their Japanese citizenship.
 
Since Koreans were forced to come to Japan, new generations were born
in Japan. Many are bilingual/bicultural who are equally parsed in both
Korean and Japanese cultures. However, as Henry pointed out, they are
subjected to discriminations against Koreans by Japanese and denied
career opportunities enjoyed by the Japanese citizens.

Japan defines the citizenship and the nationality based on a blood-line 
(jus sanguinus sp?). Only children born with a Japanese parent is
entitled to a Japanese citizenship. Generations of Japanese-born Koreans
are not entitled for the Japanese citizenship despite the fact that
they grow up speaking Japanese in Japanese culture. Furthermore, one
of the requirement for the naturalization force an applicant to
abandon his Korean family name and adopt a Japanese name, which 
brings up a smack of Japanese imperial rule in Korea when Koreans were
forced to change their names to Japanese names.
 
In fact, I believe that the Japanese government, which by the way
reflects collective will of Japanese citizens, was not particularly
interested in granting a full citizenship status to Japanese-born
Koreans. I suspect the fact that so many Japanese-born Koreans living
over generations are still classified as permanent resident aliens
and have to satisfy all the requirements for other permanent \
resident aliens might indicate the institutionalized racism 
runs deep in the Japanese society.

>	BTW, what's the requirements?  Do they stand a chance w/o marrying
>	Japanese citizen?

I surmise it would be very difficult for the reason I stated above. 

[ Dwight Joe cites below as evidence of "partial" treatment under the
 Korean laws.]

>>It's much easier for a Korean-Japanese to become a Korean citizen than
>>for a Taiwanese-Japanese.

[to which, Daeshik Kim responds]

>	Again, except the morality issue of finger printing, there's not
>	much thing to argue.

>	However, I'm not quite sure how they (those who brought over to Japan
>	not by their will) ended up - I don't think it's fair if they have
>	to follow the same requirements.

Even countries that define the citizenship by a place of birth (jus solis)
such as UK or USA do grant a citizenship derived by a blood if an applicant
proves that he or she was born with a parent that holds the citizenship.
If Korea defines the citizenship based on a blood line (jus sanguinus) like
Japan or Germany do, an applicant with a Korean parent should have easier
time than an applicant with no Korean parent. DJ's criticism of "preferential"
treatment should be extended to all countries that define citizenship by 
jus sanguinus, which by the way includes Japan and Germany.

Keis Ohtsuka