Japanese nationality

my son was born in kanagawa yokohama, japan. I am african american and my late husband is japanese. he died before my son was born. as soon as he died I went back to american to identify him and thats were I stayed. so I never reported his birth to the japanese. even here I am not able to get the proper certification intill I have settled things with his japanese nationality. my son is now 15 and really needs his japanese certificate. my friend who is of japanese nationality, said that it is important to inform the embassy and I thought that maybe if I clam delayed registration due to fathers death thay can give him his certificate, but I'm scared to death for him. I've done some reading and from what I've seen japanese nationality is hard to get even if you were born in the region to a japanese parent. more importantly I also read that if the parent should pass way prior to the birth, the child can automatically receive citizenship. what should I do please I pray that someone brings me some good news.

Sheila,

I recommend contacting your nearest Japanese embassy to get the most accurate answer.