In a ruling sure to affect thousands of others born out of wedlock to non-Japanese mothers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted 10 children of Filipino women the right to Japanese nationality.
Saying it led to unreasonable discrimination, 12 of the 15 justices on the top court's grand bench ruled unconstitutional a provision in the Nationality Law that states that such children can only become citizens of the mother's home country.
The children, aged between 8 and 14, were all born out of wedlock and recognized by their Japanese fathers only after they were born. Under the law, had the fathers stepped forward before birth, the children would have been deemed Japanese.