Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka granted a special residency permit Tuesday to a 39-year-old Chinese man and his family who arrived in Japan in 1994 and passed themselves off as the blood relatives of a Japanese "war orphan."

The man, identified as Tao Zheng, of Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, his wife and two children were granted residency permits so they could take care of his 87-year-old foster mother, Junko Yoshihara, sources said.

Tao was allowed to enter Japan with his family in 1994 because he claimed to be Yoshihara's son. Three years later, immigration authorities found that he was not Yoshihara's son but the child of Yoshihara's Chinese husband and his former wife.

On that basis, immigration authorities revoked the family's entry visa and refused to renew their residency status.

Classified as illegal aliens, Tao and his family appealed for a special permit to stay in Japan to take care of Yoshihara.

Asked about the case, an immigration official at the Justice Ministry said, "It is true that we issued the special residency permit, but we have no comment on individual cases."

Baby no longer a citizen

KITAKYUSHU (Kyodo) The Fukuoka Regional Immigration Bureau has nullified the Japanese citizenship of a baby boy after DNA tests showed that his parents -- contrary to submitted records -- were both Chinese, it was learned Wednesday.

Sources said authorities granted Japanese citizenship to the baby after a 36-year-old Japanese man from Kitakyushu presented papers last November stating he was the father.

The mother is a 31-year-old Chinese woman of the same city who became pregnant while dating the man, they said.

However, immigration officials filed a criminal complaint with Fukuoka Prefectural Police, alleging the pair submitted false paternity documents in an effort to secure Japanese citizenship for the baby.

Police conducted DNA tests on the boy, the man and woman and another Chinese man and discovered that the baby's parents are Chinese, sources said, adding his registration as a Japanese was then annulled.

According to the Fukuoka Regional Legal Affairs Bureau, it is rare for Japanese nationality to be stripped due to mistaken paternity.

District public prosecutors did not indict, saying it would be impossible to prove in court that the documents were falsified on purpose.

Both Chinese adults in the case overstayed their visas, and the man has been deported, according to the sources.