British-Japanese pop star Rina Sawayama, who has lived in the U.K for 25 years, has said she was "heartbroken" to find out that she was ineligible for The BRIT Awards and The Mercury Prize.

Sawayama has retained her Japanese citizenship in order to feel close to family members, including her father, who live in her country of birth. Japan does not allow dual citizenship. Instead, she holds an ILR status, which gives her permanent residency and the right to work in the UK.

Although she has "indefinite leave to remain", she does not hold a British passport. This in turn, rules her out of the country's biggest music prizes.

Under competition rules, solo artists must have a British or Irish citizenship to enter the Mercury Prize. For bands, only 30% of the members need to be officially British or Irish, as long as more than half of them live in the UK. Part of the entry process involves sending official proof of citizenship - such as a scanned passport - to the organisers.

Sawayama said: “If arts awards are creating their own sort of version of border control around their eligibility, I think that’s really problematic”.

On her Sunday radio show, Nina Porter asked listeners if they think RIna Sawayama should be eligible for British music awards. Here's what listener Marcus had to say...

Broadcasted exclusively worldwide on W!ZARD Radio Station.

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