Has my child lost japanese citizenship?

I am in a peculiar situation that I have found no clear answer to...

My daughter was born in Japan in spring 2011 to my Japanese wife and thus became Japanese; I was an Indian national and on a work visa at the time.

As a family we immigrated to Canada in fall 2011 and became canadian permanent residents. Last summer I applied for naturalization for myself and my daughter only (not my wife, she is still Japanese) and last month we became Canadian.

At birth, my daughter could not be a dual citizen Japanese/Indian because India does not recognize dual nationality and we only registered her birth in Japan (on my wife's Koseki)

According to Japanese nationality law a Japanese citizen involuntarily loses japanese citizenship when they choose to acquire another nationality by naturalization.

So this means my daughter is no longer Japanese?

However on the other hand children with dual nationality need to choose a nationality by the time they're 20.

But is that only the case if the child obtained the second nationality by blood or place of birth (depending on the country)?

I can understand that if you naturalize in another country you lose your japanese nationality. But what if you're under 20? Don't you have the right to declare at 20 as opposed to it being decided for you?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Well, given what you said:

According to Japanese nationality law a Japanese citizen involuntarily loses japanese citizenship when they choose to acquire another nationality by naturalization.

I think the answer is pretty clear...

The official English translation is:

"A Japanese national shall lose Japanese nationality when he or she acquires a foreign nationality by his or her own choice."

Can a five year old choose to be a Canadian?

your child's Canadian nationality was given automatically by Canadian government ? or you did the extra paperwork to get her that nationality ?
is there an option that she does not get Canadian nationality and remains unchanged ?

Did you ask the Japanese Embassy? Or have you tried obtaining the latest koseki copy from Japan? By the way, it's age 22 not 20.

Thanks for the replies.

To the question can a five year old choose, that's the heart of the matter. If Japanese law goes to such an extent to give choice to a child regarding dual nationality I can make the case that this falls under that.

I fully recognize that choosing another nationality as an adult would mean one loses nationality.

To the other poster, yes we are checking with our consulate now.

Ken,

We did extra paperwork to get her Canadian citizenship and she has it now.

I wouldn't even ask. I believe there is a grace period until someone is 18 - 21.

You need to talk to the Japanese Embassy about this. But I would assume that, since your child is not old enough to make decisions for themselves, you make the choices on their behalf and thus she has "chosen" to forgo Japanese citizenship by becoming Canadian.

You should probably have asked this question before you did the paperwork to make her a Canadian citizen.