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Migration Jurisprudence from the South › Japan

Chong Hyang Gyun v. Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Supreme Court of Japan · Japan · 2005-01-26 · National court

Citation: Heisei 10 (Gyo-Tsu) No. 93
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided against the migrant side

Question

May Tokyo bar a permanent resident of Korean nationality from the exam for management posts?

What the court decided

Yes. Reserving posts that involve exercising public authority to nationals does not breach equality.

In plain language

A Korean nurse born and working in Japan was not allowed to sit Tokyo’s promotion exam because she was not a citizen. The Supreme Court said this was allowed.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Seorang perawat keturunan Korea yang lahir dan bekerja di Jepang tidak diizinkan mengikuti ujian promosi di Tokyo karena bukan warga negara. MA menyatakan hal itu boleh.

Pertanyaan: Bolehkah Tokyo melarang penduduk tetap berkewarganegaraan Korea mengikuti ujian jabatan manajerial?

What happened afterwards

  • 2005-01-26: Grand Bench judgment.

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/jp-chong-2005/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

For researchers

This collection of decisions is built for empirical legal scholarship and socio-legal research on migration and the rights of migrant workers, as well as for advocacy.

The coded variables support statistical analysis in law: cross-national comparison, regression and event-history designs, and law and economics questions such as how recruitment fees, wage protection and limits on changing employer affect migrant workers. The data can be downloaded for replication.

Keywords: case law; jurisprudence; judicial decisions; comparative constitutional law; courts and migration; judicial behavior; litigation outcomes; refugee law; non-refoulement; citizenship and nationality; empirical legal studies; empirical legal scholarship; quantitative legal research; statistical analysis in law; law and economics; law and economics of migration; comparative law; socio-legal studies; legal pluralism; migration law; labor migration; migrant workers’ rights; human rights law; access to justice; Global South; Asia; Africa; Middle East; Latin America; Indonesia; open data; replication data.