This little guy completely changed the notion regarding international freedom of movement

Even in cases where a foreign national with the status of residence of “Permanent Resident”, “Spouse or Child of Japanese National”, “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” or “Long-Term Resident” (including the spouse of a Japanese national or Japanese child who does not have these statuses of residence; the same applies hereinafter) departed from Japan with re-entry permission (including special re-entry permission; the same applies hereinafter) such person will, in principle, come under denial of landing as not existing special circumstances (see note 2), so please refrain from traveling to the following countries / regions which are subject to denial of landing.
(Note 2)

1. In cases where a foreign national with the status of residence of “Permanent Resident”, “Spouse or Child of Japanese National”, “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” or “LongTerm Resident” departed from Japan with re-entry permission on or before April 2, 2020, in principle, they will be deemed to be eligible for “special exceptional circumstances”.
2. In cases where a foreign national with the status of residence of “Permanent Resident”, “Spouse or Child of Japanese National”, “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” or “LongTerm Resident” re-enters Japan having departed through re-entry permission between April 3 and April 28, they will be deemed to be eligible for “special exceptional circumstances” only if they have a record of staying in one of the 14 countries newly added on April 29 to the countries or regions which are subject to denial of landing. However, if the foreign national also has a record of staying in some other region which comes under denial of landing (73 countries or regions), in principle, even if they have one of these statuses of residence, they will come under denial of landing as not existing “special exceptional circumstances”.
3. In cases where a foreign national with the status of residence of “Permanent Resident”, “Spouse or Child of Japanese National”, “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” or “LongTerm Resident” attempts to re-enter Japan having departed through re-entry permission on or after April 29, in principle,

The trial started on August 20th, 2020, and was ruled upon January 21st, 2021. After the unfavorable ruling, an appeal was attempted, but the high court affirmed the lower court's decision.

I suspect that the intent of the lawsuit was never to win, as the arguments it presented, while making for a good show for the press, were extremely weak from the perspective of both constitutional law and international law. Among the arguments they attempted to make:

They argued that the Nationality Law contradicts the second paragraph of Article 22 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of expatriation.

... at the time of the Declaration's composition, "the pursuit of happiness" did not mean chasing or seeking it, but actually practicing happiness, the experience of happiness — not just chasing it but actually catching it, you might say.

This is demonstrated by documents that are contemporary with the Declaration, but also by the Declaration itself, in the continuation of the same sentence that contains "the pursuit of happiness" phrase. The continuation speaks of effecting people's safety and happiness.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality."

• unintentionally gained non-Korean citizenship by birth
• non-Korean people who marry South Korean citizens
• foreign Korean residents 65 or older who want to revive their Korean citizenship
• exceptional individuals who in the eyes of the South Korean government, would bring outstanding contributions to the country (internationally recognized and renowned athletes, scientists, etc.)

“Asking people to choose between Japan and their other country is legally asking them to stop acknowledging half of their identity. It denies the importance of the other culture and community of which they are a part” 

THE RULING

While recognizing the existence of dual nationality and permitting Americans to have other nationalities, the U.S. Government does not endorse dual nationality as a matter of policy because of the problems which it may cause. Claims of other countries upon dual-national U.S. Citizens often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other.

One often reads this and thinks, "surely all of the above are edge cases and very few people ever end up in a situation where laws will conflict."

Most western nations believe that in the case of a divorce with children, the state must step in and force joint custody. This sometimes denies either the man or the woman, whom often strongly despises the other, from having a true clean break from their spouse they wish to separate from — the government forces them to cooperate regarding child rearing sometimes for almost two decades until the child is grown. Western governments believe this is the best for the child to legally force the parents to cooperate.

Japanese family law, though, decides on one parent to have custody (often the woman, but not always). Joint child rearing post divorce is possible, but it is left to the discretion and choice of the woman (or sometimes the man), and is arranged privately without government enforcement.

In Japan, many women (and some men) with custody use that freedom to choose to raise their child as a single parent after an acrimonious divorce.

Whether or not you agree with the Japanese way is not the point. There are Japanese that disagree with Japanese family law too. However, Japanese feminists point out that Japanese family law gives them more power than western law — allowing them to remove a deplorable man (whom in the eyes of a western court, might still be adequate enough to share child raising) from their life while still being able to raise a child.

The point is family law is one area where Japan (and many other non-Western nations) are very different from western countries, and divorce is unfortunately not uncommon.

Although the Hague Convention has attempted to define whose legal system should prevail during a divorce with children, scorned spouses, knowing that the end is approaching, will often try to forum shop prior to formally filing for divorce, hoping to manipulate the law to their advantage (by attempting to move the family, using career or work or another excuse as a pretext).

Leveraging or manipulating the differences between two different conflicting sets of laws for legal advantage over another is known pejoratively as "forum shopping."

Of course, it is possible to "forum shop" even if you do not possess two nationalities. But if one or both of the parents possess multiple nationalities, or the children do, there are sometimes serious disagreements as to whose legal system should prevail.

When that happens and old information is no longer relevant, we will try to make a note of it on the site (just like how we point out when other sites on the internet make mistakes about Japan's naturalization process: we mention that in our "misinformation" section.

Before the nationalized, digital 在留カード {zairyū kādo} (Residence Card [for non-Japanese]) and database existed, non-Japanese carried a card called the 外国人登録証明証 {gaikokujin tōroku shōmeishō} (Alien Registration Card, or "ARC").

Because these cards were not digital (they didn't have chips in them with cryptographically signed credentials and they were not NFC — near field communication), as part of the naturalization process, you would need to go to your local municipal office such as a 区役所 {kuyakusho} (ward office) or 市役所 {shiyakusho} (city hall) and get a 外国人登録原票記載事項証明書 {gaikokujin tōroku genpyō kisai jikō shōmeisho}ruby> (Certificate of Alien Registration) proving that a city municipal work (公務員 {kōmuin}) had certified that your registration was indeed legitimate.

These days, however, the cards are practically impossible to forge (because of the modern digital cryptography inside the card authenticating the details printed on it), and the cards are easily checkable for authenticity with a special reader, this previous step is no longer required.

Not just for 20-year olds anymore

Until a few decades ago, the age of majority for being able to do anything in Japan, was twenty years of age. That was when you were considered to be an adult.

Over recent years, however, the age to be able to do things such as vote, drive, view mature movies, etc., has been changing from 20 to 18.

This first started in 2015, when they lowered the voting age from 20 to 18.

Then in 2018, the Japanese Government approved a bill that would lower the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 by 2022. This will enable 18- and 19-year-olds to sign contracts and get married without the consent of their parents.

However, just like many countries don't allow 18 year old adults to drink or smoke until they're older (21 in America), Japan will still require you to be 20 to purchase or consume alcohol and tobacco.

The Japanese law lowering the age of majority that will come into effect next year in April will allow eighteen year old non-Japanese to naturalize.

Previously, the only way for a minor (19 or under) to naturalize to Japanese was if an entire immediate family naturalized together; if parents were to become Japanese, then obviously you would want your dependents to be Japanese nationals as well, as one would not want to be in a situation where the parents had the right to be in Japan but the children could possibly lose that permission.

There is one case where an eighteen year old will not be allowed to naturalize: the person has to recognized as an adult not just in Japan, but in the current country or countries of citizenship. So if a person is a citizen of a country where you're not considered to be a legal adult until you're 21, then you must be 21 in order to change your citizenship to Japanese.

The young adults at Coming of Age Day (成人の日seijin no hi) will be two years younger starting in 2023.

People who acquire a nationality involuntarily in addition to their Japanese nationality have 2 years from the time of acquisition AS AN ADULT to perform the "Choice of Nationality" process. This 2 year timer can occur in the following scenarios:

• The most common way is to be naturally born with two nationalities, and then become an adult according to Japanese law. So Japanese dual-national children, upon turning 20 (the age of majority in Japan), must perform the Choice of Nationality for their Family Register by the age of 22.
• The next most common way is to naturalize and for some reason, your current nationality did not permit you to abandon your nationality prior to the acquisition of a new one. Thus, upon acquiring Japanese nationality as an adult, you have two (2) years to get rid of your other nationality or nationalities. If you naturalized as a Japanese minor (because you naturalized with your family), you have until the age of 22 (Japanese adult of 20 + 2 years) to perform the Choice of Nationality procedure.
• A more uncommon way, that hasn't been seen for decades, is to acquire Japanese nationality by another method. In 1985, Japan changed its nationality laws so that one could inherit nationality from not just the father, but the mother as well. These people are not considered naturalized, but are considered to have retroactively acquired natural born citizenship. A famous example of this is the Japanese politician Renho. Like the other methods above, once you apply to acquire nationality this way, you have two (2) years to abandon your other nationalities.

Do I really want to do this?

Hello everyone! My name is Den (pen name for now). I come from a country in Southeast Asia, and I am the newest contributor to "Turning Japanese". I am currently in the process of applying for naturalization, and I would like to remain relatively anonymous until its conclusion.

I would like to talk about one of the first steps for anyone considering naturalization: actually thinking about taking the plunge. It's one thing to go through the motions of applying, and another to first decide whether you really want to or not. And I would like to tell it to you through my own personal story.

Backstory:

I first came to Japan in 2011 when I was 18 years old, through a student exchange program with a Japanese university in Tokyo. Coming from a developing country, everything in Japan enamored me: how convenient it is to live in Japan, the good public transport, blazing-fast internet, nice people, delicious food, and the list goes on. Towards the end of my one-year exchange program, I actually felt a bit depressed that I would have to leave this wonderful country, and I knew that I wanted to come back.

My 内定通知書naitei tsūchisho (job acceptance notice) 18-year old me would have been over the moon upon seeing this

Fast forward to 2016. I graduated with a degree in a STEM field, and -- wait for it -- got employment in Japan! To 18-year-old me, this would have been the news of a lifetime. 23-year-old me living my dream! Of course, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. Once the honeymoon phase ended, I also started seeing the not-so-good sides of Japan: lopsided work-life balance, politics, sexism to name a few.

However, one takes the good with the bad, and for all the bad things, there was one very big good thing that happened in Japan: I meet my (Japanese) fiancée.

Main Topic:

The thought of seriously getting naturalized crossed my mind in early 2021, around the 5-year mark when my first SoR would expire and -- coincidentally -- the minimum required continuous residence period in Japan to apply for naturalization. Up to that point, I have only been toying with the idea. Besides, I did not qualify for it (at the time). I was vaguely familiar with the minimum requirements: 5-year residency, be self-sufficient, etc., but I lacked one thing, and arguably the most important thing of all: a motive. An excuse, if you will. A good reason to get Japanese citizenship.

Of course, there were the pragmatic reasons.

1. A powerful passport
With a developing country's passport, I need a visa to go to most developed regions, notably the North America and Europe. A Japanese passport would allow visa-free access to most countries, and would actually be useful for me as I sometimes have to travel for work, and the extra 2 weeks it requires to apply for a visa means that I often get left behind as my Japanese colleagues just hop on a plane on a week's notice.

2. Convenience
No need to renew a visa, no limits to what kind of work I do, etc.

But of course, there are drawbacks.

1. Must give up all other nationalities
As of 2021, Japan does not allow multiple citizenship (and has has upheld it in court), and for me specifically, Japan would require me to renounce my original nationality should I be given Japanese nationality. That would entail the loss of all my rights as a citizen of my original country, such as the right of abode (I would now need permission to visit my home country) and the right to own real estate (except that I would still be eligible under my home country's law to inherit property, even if I cease to be its citizen)

2. ... that is all I can think of really. Japan does not have a mandatory military service like Singapore or South Korea, nor does it have a global taxation policy like the US.

But in the end, what really brought me to seriously consider getting citizenship had nothing to do with the convenience of a powerful passport nor the potential drawbacks of losing my home country's citizenship. It was simply because:

Japan is my home now. And I see it being so for a while. I am happy to be here.

Think about it: After graduating university I went directly to Japan. I own no property or business in my home country, only a bank account with a paltry amount. All of my professional life I have spent in Japan. My belongings, income, savings, investments, pension, are all in Japan. I am happy and content to be here. My fiancée is Japanese, and although she is not against moving out of Japan, we do not foresee ourselves doing so in the near future. If we have kids, they will grow up in Japan. If I buy a house, or a car, it will be in Japan.

Simply put: my future is in Japan.

This is the epiphany that I came to earlier this year, and it is the reason I decided to apply for Japanese citizenship. And the reasons above have made their way to my 動機書dōkisho (motivation essay), which I will write about in a later date. As to why I decided to get citizenship rather than permanent residency, Eido-san has actually touched upon their differences in a few previous articles, talking about the ability to enter Japan amidst a global pandemic and whether your being in Japan is a right or a permission. I have thought long and hard, and consulted with my family and fiancée along the way. And I have made my decision, despite being in the demographic that Eido-san discourages from getting Japanese citizenship ;).

 I do not see myself going back to my home country with the intention of staying there permanently. Also, if I were sad, lonely, depressed, or otherwise unhappy in Japan, I know that obtaining citizenship or permanent residency would not solve those problems. For me, realizing that Japan is where I see my future is similar to when I realized that the woman I have been dating, is the one with whom I would love to spend the rest of my life.

My fiancée said yes. Here's hoping Japan would too. :)

Epilogue:

As I have mentioned in the opening paragraph, I am still in the process of applying for citizenship. In future entries, I plan to go into more detail regarding the process: the consultations with the Legal Affairs Bureau, the gathering of the documents, etc., with particular focus on the procedures concerning my home country. Stay tuned!

Hello everyone!

In a previous blog post, I talked about my motivation for obtaining Japanese citizenship. This time, I will go into detail regarding the steps I took to apply. All of the conversations and phone calls were conducted in Japanese.

In order to give this story more context, you should know a bit more about me. I am a natural-born Filipino citizen in my late 20s, single, living in Aichi Prefecture. Thus, all of the requirements, documents required will be from the point of view of a person with the above qualities.

 On to the main story:

In the beginning of April 2021, I looked for the 法務局hōmukyoku (Legal Affairs Bureau) that has jurisdiction over my place of residence and that has a 国籍課kokusekika (citizenship section), which was the Nagoya Legal Affairs Bureau.

I called the number on the website, navigated through the voice prompts, and got connected to a person on the other end. I told them that I would like to apply for citizenship. They asked me:

1. Where I live (to confirm that they have jurisdiction over me)
2. What my current citizenship is
3. When I came to Japan
4. How old I am
5. What I do for a living

To the astute readers among you, you have probably realized that they were checking if I met the minimum requirements for naturalization. My answers seem to satisfy them, and they gave a reservation for an in-person interview in two weeks.

Some time in mid-April, I took a half day off work to go to the Legal Affairs Bureau. My appointment was for 14:15, but I arrived at 13:45, quite a bit early. I entered the building, looked for the 国籍課kokusekika (citizenship section), and went to their reception desk. I was greeted by a young lady, and upon telling her I had an appointment, she gave me a small form to fill in (name, address, nationality, etc.). After I filled it in and returned it to her, she told me to go to the adjacent waiting room. I could see that there were two consultation rooms for citizenship, and one was occupied by a woman and her child.

A few moments later, the case worker, a middle-aged man, greeted me and led me to the vacant consultation room. He began by giving me a pamphlet, titled 帰化による日本国籍の取得kika ni yoru nihonkokuseki no shutoku, or "Gaining Japanese Citizenship through Naturalization". 

How to be Japanese

We went through the seven requirements, as written in page 2 of the pamphlet.

1. Have continuously lived in Japan for 5 years or more? Check. In fact, I have just crossed the 5-year mark when I initially made the call to the Legal Affairs Bureau.
2. Be 20 years of age or above, and be a legal adult in my home country? Check. I am in my late 20s, and the age of majority in the Philippines is 18.
3. Be of upright conduct? We will find out later (spoiler: check)
   
4. Have a way of supporting myself and my family? Check. I am a 正社員seishain (permanent employee) at a medium/large-scale Japanese company with a steady income.
5. Be willing to give up my other nationality/ies upon acquisition of Japanese nationality? Check, although reluctantly.
6. Have never plotted to destroy the current government of Japan? Check.
7. Have a Japanese skill level enough to go about daily life, and be a functioning member of Japanese society? Check. I have a JLPT N1 certificate, and the interviewer has mentioned that he feels my Japanese level is sufficient.

Note: Requirement 7 is not explicitly written in the Nationality Law of Japan, which has only 6 requirements. Nevertheless, as a prospective citizen, it is still a good idea to know the language, as it indirectly affects requirement 4 by affecting what kind of jobs you can take.

Next, we talked about my immediate family. I have no brothers or sisters, and am still unmarried. Both of my parents are Filipino citizens and hold no other nationalities. Upon hearing this, the case worker told me that he has determined that I "do not have special ties with Japan, because I do not have Japanese family members nor am I married to a Japanese citizen. As such, I do not qualify for 簡易帰化kan'i kika (simplified naturalization)"

Next, we talked about property. He asked me if I owned real estate, a condominium, a car, or a business in Japan. I said no to all of them. Then we talked about my qualifications. He asked me what I did for a living, where I graduated university, what qualifications or certifications I had (such as university degree, JLPT certification, IT certifications, etc.), and I answered truthfully.

Finally, we talked about transgressions. He asked me if I have ever declared bankruptcy, if I have ever been in a traffic accident, if I have ever been arrested for a crime, or if I have ever overstayed my visa. My answer to all questions was of course, no. I get the feeling that saying "yes" to any of these would be grounds for ineligibility to naturalize, but he mentioned that it depends on the severity of the violation.

The case worker seems to have been satisfied with the information he has gotten from me, and none of my answers have been obvious grounds for disqualification, because he proceeded to give me an A3-sized leaflet with a list of documents to gather.

My list of requirements

Documents from the Philippines

1. My birth certificate (with an attached Apostille)
2. My parents' marriage certificate
3. A 陳述書chinjutsusho (statement book), to be filled up by my parents, and the envelope/parcel they used to send it back to me in Japan
   
4. Photocopies of my current and old passport(s)
5. Photocopy of my certificate of graduation
   

Note: Documents not written in Japanese must be accompanied by a Japanese translation. The translation does not have to be professional. The case worker told me I could do the translation myself if I felt confident. He told me to write the name and address of the translator in the translated documents.

Documents from Japan

6. 世帯全員の省略のない住民票setai zen'in no shōryaku no nai jūminhyo, my family unit's unabridged Certificate of Residence
7. 過去５年の運転記録証明書kako gonen no unten kiroku shōmeisho, Driving Record for the past 5 years (because I have a Japanese driver's license)
8. 源泉徴収票gensenchōshūhyō, Certificate of income and withholding tax for the past year
9. 市県民税納税証明書shikenminzei nōzeishōmeishō, Certificate of payment of municipal and prefectural tax
10. 市民税県民税証明書shiminzei kenminzei nōzeishōmeishō, Certificate of residents’ tax
11. Photocopy of my driver's license
12. Photocopy of my qualifications (such as JLPT)
13. Photocopy of my 在留カードzairyū kādo (residence card)
14. Photocopy of my lease agreement (I am renting an apartment under my name)

He told me to make two sets of all documents, so for documents that I can submit the original (birth certificate, certificate of residence, etc.), I need to have one original + one copy. For documents that I cannot submit the original (passport, residence card, license), I need to make two copies.

With the explanation of my homework done, and the consultation finished, the case worker asked me if one month was enough to gather the documents. Due to the ongoing global pandemic, I was not sure how quickly I could get the documents from overseas, so I told him I would call the Legal Affairs Bureau to schedule my next consultation once I had an idea when I could get the documents.

All in all, the consultation took about 30 minutes.

Gathering the Documents

I will go through the documents in order.

(1a) Birth Certificate, (2) Parents' Marriage Certificate

These can be obtained from the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority, formerly NSO). I contacted my parents, who reside in the Philippines, and asked them to get the documents for me. Parents, spouses, and direct descendants can get one's civil registry documents without needing an authorization letter. This took 3 business days, from online application through Serbilis to delivery to our Philippine residence by mail.

(1b)...with attached Apostille

Additionally, for my birth certificate, Japan requires it to have an apostille, a certification that allows the document to be used internationally. The apostille is issued by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and can only be obtained within the Philippines, so I asked my parents to handle this for me. Because the apostille application requires an in-person appearance of my authorized representative, and COVID restrictions are still in effect during this time, the earliest available reservation was in mid-June 2021, a month and a half from when my parents made a reservation. Bummer. No choice but to wait.

(3a) Statement book

This one is interesting. It is basically a statement from my parents that I am their child, that they have so and so number of children, and that they approve/deny/have no comment regarding my intent to naturalize. My understanding is that this is required because there is no official document issued by the Philippine government that I have no other brothers/sisters other than the ones I declared. As for their opinion regarding my naturalization, the case worker said that their approval or disapproval wouldn't affect my application.

The case worker was very particular about this document needing to be handwritten personally by my parents, so sending a pre-filled PDF for them to just sign was a no-go. I did, however, relay very specific instructions to my parents through email regarding how to fill it up. It has very... interesting English. Hence the necessity for additional instructions on how to fill it up.

or should I say "Engrish"?

(3b) ...the envelope/parcel they used to send it back to me

They told me that I also needed to submit the envelope/parcel in which the documents were sent to me from the Philippines, presumably to make sure that my parents really wrote the documents themselves and really sent them to me in Japan, as opposed to me writing it myself and forging their signature. In the interview, I did declare that my parents lived in the Philippines, so I don't think this is an unreasonable request. I didn't ask what evidence they would need if my parents decided to hop on a plane and hand the documents directly to me. Maybe a copy of their plane ticket and a picture of us holding the documents together?

(4) Photocopies of my current and old passport(s)

This one is pretty straightforward, save for a few gotchas. First, the case worker stressed that I must also photocopy the cover of my passport. Secondly, unlike the BigDaikon naturalization story, only non-blank passport pages needed to be photocopied. So only those with visas or entry/exit stamps. Lastly, I only have my current and previous passport in my possession. even though I have travel history to Japan as an exchange student with my previous previous passport, I unfortunately no longer have that passport with me. However, I think the case worker was only interested with my travel history from the past 5 years, so he told me to my current and previous passport would suffice.

I remembered to scan the cover

(6) Certificate of Residence

This can be obtained from the city hall/ward office with jurisdiction of your residence. Also, if you have a マイナンバーカードmainanbā kādo (Individual Number Card, more commonly known as the "my number card" as its Japanese name suggests), you can also print out your certificate from any convenience store nationwide.

(7) Driving Record

I requested this from the 運転免許試験場untenmenkyo shikenjō (Driver's License Testing Center) in 平針Hirabari. I had to go there anyway to renew my driver's license. However, they do not issue the driving record on the same day. I was given the option to come back a day or two later to receive it, or have it mailed to my residence. I chose to have it mailed. 

(8) Certificate of income and withholding tax

My employer gives this to us every year, so I just had to photocopy it.

(9) Certificate of payment of municipal and prefectural tax, (10) Certificate of residents’ tax

I got these from the city hall/ward office's tax department. Do note that the tax documents can only be obtained from the city hall/ward office that has jurisdiction on your residence as of January 1 of the year you are applying. So if you moved cities within the year, you would still need to get your tax documents from the city hall/ward office of your previous residence.

(5), (11)-(14) Photocopies of various documents

These are IDs or documents I already had on hand, so I simply needed to photocopy them. For IDs, he told me to copy both the front and back.

...and that's it for my first consultation and homework! In the next post, I will talk about the second consultation, and what I did after. Thank you for reading.

A+!

Hello again! This is the second part of my documentation of the naturalization process. If you haven't already, please read part 1 here.

In the previous post, I talked about the first consultation and the homework I got from the case worker. This time, I will talk about the other preparations I did before going to the second consultation, and the second consultation itself.

Thanks to the wealth of information on this blog, I already had a pretty good idea of what other documents I will need. Since there are templates for them here and elsewhere on the internet, I decided to prepare a few of them in advance.

Documents I prepared in advance

15. 親族の概要shinzoku no gaiyō, family outline (inside and outside Japan)
    
16. 履歴書rirekisho, Personal History (parts 1 and 2)
17. 帰化の動機書kika no dōkisho, motivation essay for naturalization
18. 生計の概要seikei no gaiyō, Living Expenses Outline (parts 1 and 2)
19. 略図ryakuzu（自宅jitaku、勤務先kinmusaki）, map of vicinity of home and employment

Note: document numbering is continued from the previous post

In the beginning of May 2021, I made a reservation for my second consultation for early June 2021 at the Legal Affairs Bureau. I made the reservation before I knew when I could get my documents from the Philippines. Unfortunately, while the documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate) were already safely in the hands of my parents, the apostille appointment at DFA was for much later, in mid-June. And the day the documents actually arrive at my doorstep in Japan would be a week or so after that. Regardless, I decided to push through with the consultation, because aside from not having the original documents, I was able to prepare everything else. I asked my parents to send scanned copies of requirements (1) through (3), and I prepared translations for them.

I also got an accordion file folder to organize my documents. Gotta make sure everything's accounted for!

The numbers in the blue post-its correspond to the numbers in the list of required documents

The Second Consultation

I arrived at the Legal Affairs Bureau at 3 pm, 30 minutes before my designated time slot. As usual, I filled up the information card and sat at the waiting room. I could hear the conversations of the two sets of people currently doing their consultation. This time, I chose the last time slot, so hopefully there won't be anyone waiting outside listening to my consultation. When my turn came, I was greeted by the same middle-aged case worker as last time. We entered the consultation room, took our seats, and he asked me about the progress of my documents.

I pulled out my file folder, and from it I gave him the A3-sized list of requirements he gave me in my first consultation. From there he asked me to give him the documents one by one. I told him about the status of my Philippine documents, and he was perfectly fine with checking just the scanned copies and their Japanese translations, with the promise that the originals would be available next time. We went through the list, and after we finished checking all the homework from the first consultation, he handed them off to a different Legal Affairs Bureau representative to do a finer check. While we were waiting, I told him about the extra documents I prepared, and offered them to him.

He started looking at the extra documents I gave him, marking the corresponding rows in the list of requirements as he went. While he was looking at the family outline, I interrupted him to clarify something about the instructions. They say to include one's 婚約者kon'yakusha, or fiancé/fiancée, and I told him that that condition applied to me (In our first consultation, he only asked if I was single or married, and I was not yet aware of the requirements for the family outline). He asked if my fiancée is Japanese, I answered yes. Then he told me "in that case, please get the 戸籍謄本koseki tōhon, or unabridged family register, of your fiancée".

He continued checking the rest of the documents, occasionally making comments or marking things for correction. Finally, he looked up to me and said, "Wow, you actually have almost everything prepared. You're only missing a couple of documents, I'll mark them in the list. Please bring them next time". The overachiever student in me jumped up and down with glee. He gave me the forms to fill up, with one of them being the holy grail: the 帰化許可申請書kika kyoka shinseisho, the naturalization application form.

The representative who checked my homework from the first consultation came back, and returned the documents to the case worker. All my documents were satisfactory, except I forgot to write my address in one of the translated forms. The case worker returned all my documents to me, explained the parts that needed correction, and told me to make a reservation for my next (and most likely last) consultation. I made one for early July.

That felt good. Total consultation time: about 40 minutes.

Last few documents to prepare

20. 戸籍謄本koseki tōhon, unabridged family register, of my fiancée
    
21. 在勤及び給与証明書zaikin oyobi kyūyo shōmeisho, proof of employment and income
22. 帰化許可申請書kika kyoka shinseisho, naturalization application form

Gathering/Making the Documents, Round 2

I'll make a few comments regarding the documents for this round. I will omit those which I have nothing to comment.

(17) Motivation essay

Initially I printed a draft of my essay for the second consultation. I figured that I would just ask for feedback regarding the content of the essay, and handwrite the final version. However, my case worker was not too interested in my motivation essay. He even asked me if I wanted him to check it, meaning that he wasn't planning to. He casually glanced over it, and told me "you seem to have the important points down. I think this is fine."

I handwrote the essay some time afterwards. It ended up being two and a half pages long.

(19) Map of vicinity of home and employment

I made these by pasting snippets from Google Maps, printing them in black and white, and drawing the path from the nearest station using a pink highlighter. This was acceptable. Initially, I only brought maps of my current residence and place of work, but my case worker told me that he needed a vicinity map of my current and previous residences of the past 3 years. Because I have moved within the past 3 years, I needed to make additional maps.

(20) Family register

We tried and successfully obtained this document from a convenience store. This document, like document #6 (Certificate of Residence) can be obtained from most convenience stores with a multifunction printer using your マイナンバーカードmainanbā kādo.

(21) Proof of employment and income

The form was provided by the Legal Affairs Bureau representative. I scanned it and requested my company's HR department to fill it up.

(22) Naturalization application form

My case worker told me to fill everything up except the date and signature field. He told me I need to fill those up in the presence of a Legal Affairs Bureau representative (such as him) on the day that they accept my application. Also, he told me not to attach the requisite 5cm x 5cm photos yet, but have them ready for the next consultation.

With all the documents accounted for, I have about 2.5 cm of paper.

or 1 inch for our friends across the Pacific

In other news...

At this point in the story, about a week before my third consultation, my documents from the Philippines (requirements (1) to (3) ) arrived. It took 3 days via DHL. Thank god for the modern world's global logistics! I made sure all of the documents were there (they were, thanks to my parents for meticulously preparing them!), and made copies. At this point, the only requirement I haven't completely filled up is #22, the naturalization application form, because dating and signing the form has to happen at the Legal Affairs Bureau.

That's all for part 2! I'm fully prepared. In the next part, I'll write about the third consultation.

The official poster for the film

What makes a Japanese person Japanese?

Is it the blood that runs through their veins? A parent they were born to? The country they grew up in? Is it how they look? How they act? How they speak? Their citizenship?

He has produced and directed a full length feature film (almost 2 hours) which explores the many facets of "Being Japanese": not just the "legal" aspect (which is what this site focuses on), but also on other, often not so easily definable and measurable aspects such as:

• race / phenotype
• ethnicity / culture / language and upbringing
• citizenship / nationality

Here's the trailer:

Being Japanese 日本人とは from Life Where I'm From Films Inc. on Vimeo.

It's no coincidence that some of the names and faces in the trailer may be familiar to some of the readers of this site. Three people interviewed in the movie are authors or contributors to this site:

1. David CHART (チャート 出意人CHĀTO Deibito)
2. Josh GRISDALE (グリズデイル バリージョシュアGURIZUDEIRU BarīJoshua)
3. Eido INOUE (井上 エイドINOUE Eido)

• Ainu （アイヌAinu）
• Okinawa （沖縄Okinawa）
• Zainichi-Koreans （在日コリアンZainichi Korian）
• Nikkei-Brazilian （日系ブラジル人Nikkei Burajiru-jin）
• Mixed Race （ハーフhāfu）
• Returnees （帰国子女kikoku shijo）
• Speaking Japanese
• Nikkei （日系Nikkei）
• Looking Japanese
• Refugees （難民nanmin）
• Dual & Multi Nationals（二重国籍／多重国籍nijū kokuseki / tajū kokuseki）
• How do you be Japanese?

The movie will be released for purchase on Vimeo July 16, 2021, and will be available for rental starting August 13th, 2021.

You will be able to stream it or download it (DRM-free) in high definition using your favorite device: iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, etc.

Subtitles are available for English and Japanese.

Additionally, those who purchase the film instead of renting it will receive Behind The Scenes bonus content (unfortunately, the scene of me getting a traffic ticket for improperly changing lanes while talking to the filmmaker is not included!)

Even though I've seen the pre-final release version, I can't wait to see the final released product and show it to my daughter, who grew up in Japan and inherits and learned much of who she is from her parents and their two countries.

Actually, a passport is not proof of nationality. A Japanese family registry is, however.

This procedure is called "administrative denaturalization":

the loss of citizenship by an annulment of naturalization without the government needing to sue them in a court, also known as "administrative denaturalization" where the original act of naturalization is found to be invalid, for instance due to an administrative error or if it had been based on fraud (including bribery).

1. Other people got or are getting away with it, so I can get away with it too
2. If they do catch me, surely they will feel pity on me and give me a chance to rectify the situation
3. They obviously know that I haven't gotten rid of my other nationality, so surely this is some kind of proof that they secretly approve of it and they will never enforce the law sometime in the future.
4. If they catch me, surely all the Japanese (and other naturalized Japanese [most of whom did give up their nationality]) will rally to my defense, and the government will be forced to change their enforcement policy and back off
5. They will allow dual nationality by the time they catch me
6. There isn't enough of us to make it worth Japan's time to find us and go after us
7. I don't really plan of being here forever, and I'll leave either before or if they catch me

• your previous nationality(s) (if you have them)
• whether or not you acquired nationality by naturalization (and the date and where you did it),
• and if you renounced your nationality (and the date you did it)

FOR_ALL koseki IN NATIONAL_JAPAN_FAMILY_REGISTRY_DATABASE() DO {
    IF (DEFINED(koseki.records["naturalized"]) AND
        (NOT_EQUAL(koseki.records["naturalized"].previous_nationalities[0], STATELESS()) AND
        (koseki.records["naturalized"].naturalization_date + TWO_YEARS() > CURRENT_DATE())) {
    FOR_ALL x IN koseki.records["previous_nationalities"] DO {
        IF (x NOT_IN koseki.records["loss_of_foreign_nationality"].lost_nationality[]) {
            ERROR("{familyname} {givenname} HAS FAILED TO PROPERLY COMPLETE NATURALIZATION",
                koseki.familyname, koseki.givenname
            );    
        }
    }
}

The primary westerners that do this are Americans.

Couldn't you just give up your original nationality(s), get Japanese nationality, then re-acquire or re-instate your original one(s) — often with the encouragement of and expediated procedures of your original government?

An (emotional) approximation of how much documents I gathered

Hello everyone. This is the part 3 of my naturalization story. Part 1 and Part 2 linked. At this point, I have prepared all the documents I possibly could. There are no more documents I can prepare in advance. So we are going straight to the third and last consultation. Don't worry, I will explain the asterisk (*) in the title later. Also, I will try a different writing style this time, with mini-chapter markers throughout the text.

Third Consultation

One rainy afternoon in July, I made my way to the Legal Affairs Bureau. By now I am familiar with the commute. I went to the reception desk, filled up the consultation form, and went to the waiting room. This time, a different but similarly middle aged man, called me in to the consultation room.

I pulled out my file folder and gave him the complete set of documents. He checked them one by one, also taking note of the remarks written on the A3-sized requirements list regarding some things they asked me to correct. He confirmed that all the required documents were there. He then produced two sets of forms.

Two out of three last things to sign

In the beginning of this post, I mentioned that there were no more documents I could prepare. However, there are actually a couple more documents that I need to submit. The following are documents which are only given to you once you have completed all the other requirements. They ask you to sign and date the oath in their presence. They were very particular with the "in their presence" part, hence why they don't give the forms in advance.

23. 宣誓書senseisho #1, Oath to the Japanese Constitution
24. 宣誓書senseisho #2, Oath to renounce all current citizenships

 As usual, numbering is continued from parts 1 and 2.

The oath to the Japanese constitution is my promise to obey the Japanese constitution and laws. The oath to renounce all current nationalities is my promise to fulfill requirement #5 of naturalization, which is to be exclusively (to the extent of my ability) a Japanese citizen. 

With the oaths done, we went to the naturalization application form. He asked me to glue my 5x5 photos to the two copies of the application form, and write the date when I took them. 

Middle name issues

He commented on how I wrote my current (pre-naturalization) name on the naturalization application form. Japan does not have a concept of a "middle name". You only have the family name (苗字myōji or 姓sei), and the given name (名na or 下の名前shita no namae). The case worker told me that my middle name should go into the "family name" field, as it is not a given name. So suppose my full name, in the order of first, middle, and last, is "Daniel Miller Smith", rendered as ダニエル　ミラー　スミスdanieru mirā sumisu, then I should write it as follows:

姓sei: ミラー　スミスmirā sumisu

名na: ダニエルdanieru

This struck me as odd, because in Japan I wouldn't say my last name is "Miller Smith". But then again, saying that my name is "Daniel Miller" isn't quite correct either. He told me that that is how it would appear in my 戸籍謄本koseki tōhon after I naturalize. To be honest, I wasn't completely convinced, but it seemed like a very minor detail anyway, so I did not pursue the matter further and just corrected my application form the way he said. I hope this does not bite me in the rear in the future.

The last thing to sign

 Now that everything is in order, he told me that he would ask verbally one last time, as a matter of formalities, "Are you, of your own free will, applying for Japanese citizenship, and are you fully aware of everything that entails?". I answered, "Yes". He replied in turn, "Very well, in that case, please sign your name and write the date on the naturalization application forms". And so I wrote.

Application accepted

He collected all of my documents, and told me "We (the Legal Affairs Bureau) now formally accept your application.". I breathed a sigh of relief. He gave me a green A5-sized card, with the date of my application and the phone number and mailing address of the Legal Affairs Bureau. "Your 相談sōdan (consultation) phase is now finished. Please wait about 6 months until we contact you for a formal interview. Please make sure you are reachable at your provided phone numbers. You can expect a decision on your application about 1 year from now."

Explanation of what comes next

The case worker exited the room, and another person came in. This person explained the details of the contact card. He told me that they will be examining my application and documents in more detail, and that if necessary, they may ask me to submit additional documents. Also, as written in the card, he told me to call the legal affairs bureau whenever any of the following happened:

1. A change in my address or contact information

•  This one is obvious, as they need to be able to contact me. Also, I can imagine that if I am moving outside their jurisdiction (for example, moving from Nagoya to Tokyo), they would hand over the application to the appropriate Legal Affairs Bureau in charge of my new area of residence.
  

• These might entail a change in some of the required documents, and potentially a change in the conditions of naturalization. Also ultimately, these can affect what goes on my family register.
  

• Both changing your employer (moving jobs) and changing your work address at the same employer must be reported
  

• They explained that this is necessary because they (Japan) do not want to naturalize someone while he/she is outside of Japan. The person explaining told me to avoid traveling outside Japan as much as possible after the formal interview, as the results of the application can come out any time.

• This might affect my "good conduct" score and thus, my eligibility to naturalize.
  

•   They just want to know that you are maintaining a valid SoR throughout the application period. In my case, my SoR was valid until 2026, so this was a non-issue.
  

• They told me that if I had a change of heart, I could still change my preferred post-naturalization name or registered domicile until the day of the formal interview.
  

And that marks the end of my third and last consultation. As I was being led out of the consultation room, the Legal Affairs Bureau representative said, "If you don't receive a call from us, take that as a sign that things are going well and there are no problems with your application". Fair enough, no news is good news, I guess?

Final (*) consultation?

Although this was my last consultation, it is not my final interaction with the Legal Affairs Bureau. I still have to wait for the formal interview. During my "downtime" waiting for correspondence from the Legal Affairs Bureau, I have to keep in contact with them regarding any changes in my status. Also, that means that there will be a 4-6 month gap to my next update in this blog, unless something interesting happens.

Wrapping up

Let's take a look at the rough timeline of my journey so far:

 About 3 months have elapsed between when I first called the Legal Affairs Bureau and when I finished my third consultation. Also, it took a bit over 2 months to get the civil documents from the Philippines. COVID did have a part to play some delays during the entire process, but that's a story best told in its own article. Till next time!

...the Bureau of Legal Affairs is, too

TL;DR: yes and no, sometimes in surprising ways.

 So since I have finished the document-gathering and initial submission phase of my application, I thought I would write about how the current pandemic is affecting the process. Note that I am writing from the perspective of someone doing the process in mid-2021. As such, my experience will definitely be different from someone doing the same in 2020, when lockdowns were stricter.

 Part 1: In terms of time and money

Making appointments with the Legal Affairs Bureau: Yes

First, for scheduling consultations: yes, but not directly. At the time I was having consultations with my local Legal Affairs Bureau, which was April-July 2021, the average waiting time (which I mean to be the earliest future date when an appointment slot is available) was 1 month. When I went for my third consultation, I asked the case worker if the pandemic affected how busy the Legal Affairs Bureau was with naturalization applications, and he answered yes.

The biggest reason he gave was that because in March/April 2020, the first 緊急事態宣言kinkyū jitai sengen, or State of Emergency was called, and the Legal Affairs Bureaus stopped holding consultations, which were exclusively face-to-face. Now, even with repeated SoE declarations, as well as the quasi-SoE called the まん延防止等重点措置man'en bōshi tou jūten sochi, priority measures to prevent COVID spread, the Legal Affairs Bureaus have resumed consultations, and as such, the people who could not go back when the Legal Affairs Bureaus stopped having consultations, as well as those who delayed their application in fear of COVID, are now scheduling all at once, causing a longer wait.

The same applies to the interview, which will be held after you have submitted all your documents to the Legal Affairs Bureau. I was told I would be called back in for the interview in 4-6 months.

Getting your documents from abroad: Yes

This one is country-specific, but I am sure most people will be affected. 

First, if you need to travel back to your home country to obtain some documents required for naturalization, then you would have been stuck for a while, as international travel was halted during part of 2020. Even now in 2021, traveling abroad is both cost and time-prohibitive, as most countries require negative PCR test results and quarantining upon entry, and both of those entail extra time and money spent. Additionally, you would need to do the same when coming back to Japan.

Second, even if personal appearance is not required, government offices may have closed partially or completely, meaning that getting your birth certificate, marriage certificate, the subsequent Apostille, etc. would have been met with delays. Personally, the only delay I got was with obtaining the Apostille from the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, because a local lockdown was intermittently being applied during that time, Apostille applications required reservations, and the DFA stopped accepting reservations for about 2 weeks. I (or should I say, my parents) were able to get my civil documents in the usual 3-5 business days, as the responsible government agency was operating normally and applications were being processed exclusively online.

Third, international mail services like the EMS were suspended for a while. Again, this one is country specific (link is for EMS suspension between US and Japan). Since the naturalization application requires the original documents, the delay in international shipping might have affected when you could get your documents. This one did not affect me, as EMS, DHL, and others have resumed normal operations when I was sending and receiving documents internationally.

Getting your documents in Japan: No

The government offices I transacted with were operating normally, so I did not experience any COVID-related delay when I gathered documents in Japan. I was also able to renew my 在留カードzairyū kādo (residence card) and driver's license without delay as well. Again, this might have been different in 2020.

Part 2: In terms of eligibility

By this, I mean your eligibility to naturalize as written in Article 5 of the Japanese Nationality Law. In my opinion, I think only two of these conditions can be affected directly by the pandemic.

(1) that he or she has domiciled in Japan for five years or more consecutively

If you were in Japan when the pandemic started, great! You probably couldn't get out, and your residency counter would have continued ticking. However, if you found yourself needing to go out of Japan for an extended amount of time, say because you were outside of Japan when international travel was halted, or you needed to take care of affairs back home, or you felt safer staying in your home country, etc. then your residency counter may have been reset. Although not written anywhere explicitly, the general rule is no more than 100 consecutive days outside of Japan per year, and no more than 150 total days outside of Japan per year. If you were unable to return to Japan within 3 months, you may no longer fulfill the residency requirement. If unfortunately this happened to you, and you were planning to apply for or are in the process of naturalization, it wouldn't hurt to consult with your local Legal Affairs Bureau anyway. They may be able to give some leniency for extraordinary circumstances.

(4) that he or she is able to secure a livelihood by one's own property or ability, or those of one's spouse or other relatives with whom one lives on common living expenses

Some people lost their jobs or had their income drastically reduced due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, your household income is one of the conditions of naturalization, and you are required to notify the Legal Affairs Bureau if there is a change in your status. Specifically, if you were employed and lost your employment, then your "proof of employment and income" document would no longer be valid. Additionally, if you were on a work visa, then your residency status can also be in danger if you do not find employment.

In closing

It goes without saying, but during this pandemic, your focus should be your health and safety above anything else. Wash your hands, wear a mask when away from home, and get vaccinated if you are eligible. Naturalization can wait.

The "No Entry" road sign in Japan is also the same in much of Europe.

But in Japan, a naturalized person is legally capable of becoming, for example, the Prime Minister. Just like somebody who has only had Japanese nationality their entire life. A naturalized Japanese citizen "commoner" woman could even theoretically become a member of the Imperial Family through marriage. Although it should be pointed out that members of the Royal Family, although Japanese, are questionably not the same as Japanese nationals in that they have less rights than a Japanese citizen: they have no family register (though they are on a special royal register), no passports, they can't vote, they can't run for office, and much of the freedoms we take for granted can only be done with permission by handlers.

So the question isn't really:

"Can you be denied entry into Japan if you're naturalized?"

but rather:

"Can you be denied entry into Japan if you're legally Japanese?"

What happened in April of 2021?

During the height of the COVID19 pandemic in Japan and the world in the spring of 2021, three Japanese nationals attempted to enter Japan: two from the United States, and one from the Netherlands. They arrived via airplane at Narita and Kansai International Airports.

Although they had Japanese Passports, they did not have recognized "coronavirus inspection certificates".

Because of this, rather than being asked to voluntarily quarantine, or even be forcibly quarantined, within the country, Japan extrajudicially denied them landing permission and were returned to the countries from which they came from to get their paperwork in order and try again.

This action made the news as it was unprecendented and historic. Even criminals can reenter Japan (although they will be promptly arrested and put in jail or prison. Albeit a jail or prison that is inside Japan).

The International Answer

The United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which Japan is a signatory, answers this clearly in Article 13:

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

This makes sense as combined with the United Nation's Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the UN's goal is to make sure that everybody has a "home country" they can retreat to in case the place you're living in becomes unlivable, say due to governmental or economic collapse (failed state), war, or pandemic (ex. COVID19).

The Constitutional Answer

Paragraph #1 of the same article is often called Japan's "freedom of movement" article in the Constitution:

• Every person shall have freedom to choose and change his residence and to choose his occupation to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare.

"to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare"

There are many rights in the constitution that are suffixed with the "public welfare" condition. The State of Japan has been loath to ever use the "public welfare" exception with respect to any of the rights it grants to its people, as its meaning is intentionally vague.

Some have argued that in the case of a global pandemic, where the entry of a person who is known to have a deadly and easily contagious disease who almost certainly would spread it to other people in the country even if extraordinary quarantinne measures were taken, the Japanese government could enact the "public welfare" exception to deny Japanese nationals the "freedom to ... change his residence [by returning to Japan]."

The  Immigration and Quarantine Law Answer

"A document is needed certifying that a Japanese person (excluding crew members) returning to Japan from an area outside Japan has a valid passport (if he or she does not have a valid passport, then something else to confirm that he or she has Japanese nationality.") is in their possession. The immigration inspector, through procedures specified by the Ministry of Justice Ordinance, shall receive confirmation of their return from the immigration officer."

"For ships arriving from abroad or aircraft arriving from foreign countries (hereinafter referred to as "ships"), any number of persons must be issued a quarantine certificate or provisional quarantine certificate. Lacking this, they may not land or land objects from the vessel, or leave the location designated by the quarantine station director for each aircraft and quarantine airfield, and they may not carry out objects (hereinafter omitted)."

Why is this a loophole?

Because the law stipulates that it's allowing CIQ (Customs, Immigration, & Quarantinne) to refuse "landing" on the territory of Japan, this means that the Japanese nationals lacking proper COVID19 documentation could have been thought of as not technically "expulsed" or "deported" from the jurisdication of Japan to a foreign country; they never managed to arrive and land and be inside Japan. You can't be "deported" from a place you were never in to begin with!

Legal Japanese nationals have the irrevokable "right of abode" in Japan.

But by being at the Japanese airports CIQ area, weren't these Japanese already "inside" Japan?

Not just France, but Russia used the airport "transit zone is outside jurisdiction" claim to shield Edward Snowden from the U.S.A.

The system for how Japanese banks reports Americans

For the case of Japanese and other countries financial institutions treating naturalized citizens differently, we can blame America.

People who have opened a bank or other financial account that can hold money recently (within the last half decade) in Japan may have noticed an odd question:

"Do you possess U.S. citizenship or possess U.S. LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident) status?"

You might ask yourself: why does Japan (or any other country)'s banks need to ask this? Japan is a sovereign nation. Its banks are subject to Japanese Law and private and not any other countries' business, no?

Well, technically yes. Practically, no.

The reason is because almost every major financial institution in the world needs to perform financial transactions with the United States for one reason or another.

One's duty to be a citizen and follow the laws of one's country does not stop just because you're not living on its soil anymore. And that includes tax laws. Almost all countries do give private citizens exemptions and breaks on things such as income tax when they're not resident within its territory. While the United States does give its citizens living overseas significant exemptions of federal and state income tax, it is far stricter than other countries when it comes to forcing citizens to disclose their income and assets, even when that income and assets are not on U.S. soil.

America leverages its position as center of the world when it comes to international trade and finance by compelling all the banks of the world that want to do business with it (which is everybody) to follow some of its rules, or pay hefty fees to opt out. 

One of these American rules that it forces banks, including Japanese banks, to follow is called "FATCA".

"FATCA", in simple English, is a policy that forces non-U.S. banks to inform America's tax bureaucracy of any and all accounts that are held by U.S. citizens (or non-U.S. citizens with permanent resident status) so that it's harder for Americans to hide wealth from U.S. tax authorities.

No bank that cares about profits (which is by definition, all of them) is going to opt out of FATCA and pay huge fees on every transaction with the U.S. just to protect its minority American customer's privacy.

But doesn't that mean naturalized Japanese who renounced or relinquished their U.S. citizenship will be left alone?

Yes and no. An American who gives up their U.S. citizenship to become Japanese legitimately (meaning, not for tax evasion and assuming they aren't rich) never has to file a U.S. income tax form or pay U.S. taxes ever again.

The problem is that some people that obtain another country's citizenship never give up their U.S. citizenship, yet they will claim to authorities, when convenient, they they no longer possess U.S. citizenship.

The U.S. government is wise to this deception, and they've educated other countries' financial institutions about it as well.

This means that sometimes, when opening a bank account, if the financial officer suspects that you are naturalized, they may ask for documentation (such as your family register) proving what your previous (or current) nationalities are. And if you were American, you will have to provide your CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality) proving that you indeed relinquished your U.S. citizenship.

If you are unable to provide that documentation, you may be required to fill out a U.S. W-9 tax form declaring the existence of the account, what it's for, and how much money is in it.

But I Was Never American!

Unfortunately, if you're naturalized, they may require you to prove that. That can be done with a full-form Japanese family register, which will list your previous nationalities.

But I Gave Up My American Citizenship!

Unfortunately, you may be asked to prove it, either with a U.S. Certificate of Loss of Nationality, which everybody gets, or possibly with a cancelled U.S. passport containing a 349A.1 stamp indicating you expatriated.

How often does this happen? Which banks do it?

While I don't have hard data, I do have anecdotal experience. While I have lived in Japan for decades and most of my bank accounts are decades old and pre-date me becoming Japanese, I have opened two new bank accounts (with major national Japanese banks) in the last two years. In both cases I was subject to extra scrutiny because they discovered or suspected I was naturalized. Conveniences such as being able to do the process entirely online were denied to me because they had to manually check the proof of my loss of nationality.

I should note though, that once the inconvenience of proving that I was 100% Japanese-only from a citizenship perspective, I was not discriminated against in any way, and I qualified for the lowest loan rates and approved for all the lines of credit that any other Japanese is entitled to.

The Japanese Constitution, Article 22, specifically grants Japanese nationals the right to lose Japanese nationality by choice:

Freedom of all persons to move to a foreign country and to divest themselves of their nationality shall be inviolate.

Despite this, however, it is currently impossible for a Japanese national to simply give up their only nationality and become a person with no nationality.

This is because Japan is a signatory to the 1961 UN Convention to reduce statelessness. The Japanese Constitution was written before this, and Article 98 of the Constitution says that Japan must obey the UN Conventions and treaties that is signs:

The treaties concluded by Japan and established laws of nations shall be faithfully observed.

Thus, the only way to lose Japanese nationality is if you already have another nationality to fall back on.

What if it's discovered that one's naturalization process was fraudulent?

The United States is the outlier

Eliminating Statelessness is why Japan has jus soli

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry seal & the Fair Trade Commission Seal

While it's neat to think that the current Minister of Justice has taken his or her time away from important legal matters affecting the future of the entire country to read your motivational essay about how you want to be a Japanese citizen, the reality is the actual minister is most likely far too busy to individually go through the over 10,000 applications per year and personally affix their seal of approval on each and every one of them. Not every the deputy minister has time for that.

The Ministry of Justice in Japan, which the Minister is at the top of, is a huge bureaucracy that has about 55,000 people, 5 levels of organization, 6 bureaus, and at least 28 subdivisions. Naturalization applications are definitely screened, reviewed, and approved by the Ministry, but the actual Minister delegates their responsibility to the agencies below them.

However, even though a random anonymous bureaucrat has probably reviewed and approved your application, you still get the giant official seal of the Minister on your returned application, because the Nationality Law of Japan does say that the approval is the Minister's responsibility.

Greg Lam is a professional videographer who is probably best known to Japanophiles from his YouTube channel(s) "Life Where I'm From".

He's been producing vignettes about what it's like for a Canadian or any other non-Japanese to live in Japan, and has often explored the topic of bridging multiple cultures and origins, either from the viewpoint of an adult or a child growing up in Japan.

Thanks to his professional interviewing, recording, and editing skills, Greg introduced me to a new, younger audience that digests the internet primarily through video as opposed to written websites and blogs, which is what this site is.

Sitting down with me in my home office, crammed with professional lighting and mics and high end cameras, Greg came prepared with countless questions that I could tell were well prepared and showed me that he had thoroughly read and researched the information on this site.

Given that the creation of this site was partially inspired by two things: me being tired of answering the same questions about naturalization over and over to the genuinely curious, and also to combat the incredibly inaccurate (often with racist undertones) information about Japanese naturalization that was prevalent on the English web ten years ago in 2010, I was extremely impressed with Greg's preparedness, thoroughness, and objectiveness.

I also learned that if I was ever to venture in vlogging or podcasting, I would have to up my game, rather than rely on the comparatively amateur setup of a webcam and the light from my monitor.

From the raw footage, Greg cleaned up and produced a mostly unedited one hour long interview with me, which is a length that he doesn't often give to his other subjects (whom I think are just as or even more interesting than myself), and being video internet savvy, he produced an abridged, infographic heavy 10 minute digestible version that would prove to be a hit.

After that session, Greg approached me again about a year later, telling me about a much grander project that approached a much wider topic than simply being Legally Japanese. In it, he thoroughly interviewed people from the southernmost islands of Japan (沖縄 {Okinawa

The part that I enjoyed most was his coverage of the very complex matter of ハーフ {hāfu} (a Japanese with "mixed" phenotypes), recognizing that they are not a monolith and that the experiences of a ハーフ {hāfu} who was born and raised and educated entirely in Japan are very different from somebody who is raised mostly overseas or even in an international school within Japan. The only other documentary I have ever seen that covers this topic well is "HAFU" which was produced and directed by Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez.

Due to the costs and time put into this full length professional documentary, it was initially distributed behind a paywall for rent or purchase on Vimeo.

However, it is now available for all to view for free on YouTube, complete with multiple subtitle tracks. I strongly encourage anyone that has ever thought or wondered what it means "to be Japanese" beyond the legal definition to grab some popcorn and set aside 90 minutes of your time:

• Part One (about 1 hour) of BEING JAPANESE（日本人とは {Nihonjin to wa}）: https://youtu.be/pmzWknYaNXg
• Part Two (about 1 hour) of BEING JAPANESE（日本人とは {Nihonjin to wa}): https://youtu.be/iYMmsiDsHrg

I believe I made the choice the moment I applied

Hello everyone. It has been a year since I formally applied for citizenship. I am happy to announce that I finally have an update: I am officially Japanese!

It took a bit more than a year, and in the interim, there was nothing to do but wait. And wait. And come for the interview. Then wait some more. Here is what happened during that time.

The Naturalization Interview

I got the call for the interview from the Legal Affairs Bureau some time in February 2022. Along with deciding the interview date, I was asked to bring some additional documents:

Additional Documents

For me

1. ねんきん定期便nenkin teikibin, Pension coverage letter
2. A copy of my parents' passports' data page

For my fiancée

1. 住民票jūminhyō, Certificate of Residence
2. 市県民税納税証明書shikenminzei nōzeishōmeishō, Certificate of payment of municipal and prefectural tax
3. 市民税県民税証明書shiminzei kenminzei nōzeishōmeishō, Certificate of residents’ tax
   

 For both me and my fiancée

1. 源泉徴収票gensenchōshūhyō, Certificate of income and withholding tax for the past year
2. 給与明細kyūyomeisai, Salary payment slips for the last 3 months

Of note here is that I have already submitted my 源泉徴収票gensenchōshūhyō once before, but they wanted a copy of my latest (2021) 源泉徴収票gensenchōshūhyō.

Apart from the above documents, I was also asked to present (but not submit) my residence card, driver's license, passport, and health insurance card. Also, they asked me to come with my fiancée, as they will be interviewing her as well.

The Interview

I went to the Nagoya Legal Affairs Bureau, as I have done thrice previously. I was led to the consultation room first, while my fiancée waited outside. My caseworker basically went through all my submitted documents with me, occassionally asking questions here and there, and confirming that my answers are in line with my submitted documents. There were also some questions which were unrelated to my documents, such as:

• Why did you come to Japan?
• Why do you want to become Japanese?
  
• How did you meet your fiancée?
• Can you explain in detail what you do for work?
  
• Do you have plans to (permanently) go back to your home country?
• What are your plans for when your parents age and need care?
  

 My caseworker was taking notes as I was talking, so my answers to these quesitons will undoubtedly be important in whether I get approved or not. However, there were no unanswerable or "trick" questions.

My interview took about an hour and a half. After that they interviewed my fiancée for about ten minutes, and that was it. I was told that the results would come within about six months.

 The Results

The call

In early August, I called my caseworker to notify them that I had renewed my (foreign) passport. It was expiring soon, and with no idea when I would get my naturalization results, and not willing to be stuck without a passport, I chose to renew. They asked me to send a copy of the cover and data page.

But wait, there's more!

My caseworker asked me if I had more time to talk, because she needed to check if anything has changed about my situation. It was at this point that I thought, "This is the thing I've read about online! This is a sign that my application is going to be approved!". I said yes, and she asked me if I still lived at the same place, if I didn't have children or get married, if I still worked at the same company, if I had plans to go out of Japan in the next couple of months, etc. Basically the things that you have to report to the Legal Affairs Bureau while waiting for the results. I answered that nothing has changed, and she told me that my results would come "soon".

Seeing my name in the 官報kanpō

I should mention that since about a month after my interview, I have been checking the 官報kanpō, or official gazette every day. And in the past month or so, my fiancée has started checking it too.

One morning in mid-August, I was awakened by my very excited fiancée, pointing to her phone. There I saw it: my name was on the official gazette.

Becoming legally Japanese

The day my name was published in the official gazette, I was already legally Japanese, although I had no documents to prove it yet. A couple of days later, my caseworker called me, told me that my application was approved, and I could pick my naturalization documents up at the Legal Affairs Bureau or they could mail it to me. I chose to pick them up. I received the following documents:

1. Instructions about the required procedures after naturalization
2. 帰化届kikatodoke, notice of naturalization
3. 帰化者の身分証明書 {kikasha no mibun shōmeisho}, the proof of identity of naturalized person
4. A "Choice of nationality" flyer from the MoJ

In the instructions, there are 3 things I have to do.

1. Submit the 帰化届kikatodoke to my local city hall within 1 month of my naturalization
2. Surrender my 在留カードzairyū KĀDO to immigration within 14 days of my naturalization
3. Renounce/relinquish my non-Japanese citizenship within 2 years of my naturalization

 I have done 1 and 2, and plan to do 3 in the near future.

Epilogue

All in all, it took about 13 months from application to approval. It's only been a few days, so I still haven't fully internalized that I am now officially, legally Japanese. There definitely was some trepidation when I put my residence card in an envelope and mailed it to immigration ("what if the police ask me for it?"). But now I'm starting to get that warm, fuzzy feeling, and find myself smiling for no reason.

I'm Japanese, I no longer need a visa to stay in Japan. In fact, I have the right to stay in Japan. I can take on any job I want, or none at all, without fear of being in breach of my SoR.

I'm still waiting for my civil records to be updated, so I can get a 住民票jūminhyō, which I'll need to update my driver's license, bank/credit cards, etc., and a 戸籍謄本kosekitōhon, so I can apply for a Japanese passport. I might write about those if I have anything interesting to share, but for now, thank you for following my story thus far.