15,291 people become naturalized Japanese citizens in 2001

Japan Policy & Politics, March 11, 2002

TOKYO, March 6 Kyodo

A total of 15,291 people became naturalized Japanese citizens in 2001, down 521 from 2000, according to Justice Ministry statistics released Wednesday.

People of Korean origin accounted for 10,295 of the total, the second-largest number ever after 1995 when 10,327 became Japanese citizens. The ministry began compiling comparable statistics on naturalization in 1969.

Most of them are thought to be descendants of Koreans brought to Japan during Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula before and during World War II.

In 1969, 1,889 people of Korean descent became Japanese citizens. But the figure rose to around 10,000 in 1995, when naturalization criteria were eased for such people.