People

This site occasionally posts short biographical summaries of public people who have acquired Japanese citizenship via naturalization to give one an idea of the diversity of people and their reasons for doing it. Some of these people are famous. Some are not. Some are controversial.
Controversial people are more likely to appear in this list because they attract more media attention than regular people just living their lives day by day. Additionally, controversial people may be more focused on giving up their original nationality as opposed to acquiring Japanese nationality.
For every person listed here, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are naturalized who go about their daily lives without ending up in the news. You should not expect that average naturalized people have the same experiences or opinions regarding naturalization.
カタカナkatakana (Japanese syllabet) names are rendered in 半角ｶﾀｶﾅhankaku katakana (half-width Japanese syllabet for early computers and displays) to save space on the table
former name(s)Naturalized name ▼
(if unknown, then pre-Japanese name)		year bornyear naturalizedformer countryposts
Abegglen, James Christianｱﾍﾞｸﾞﾚﾝ ｼﾞｪｰﾑｽﾞ {ABEGUREN Jēmuzu}19261997United States
Meneses, Noemi井上ﾉｴﾐ {INOUE Noemi}19612010Bolivia
Keene, Donald Lawrenceｷｰﾝ ﾄﾞﾅﾙﾄﾞ {KĪN Donarudo}19222012United States
Елена Павлова {Yelena PAVLOVA}霧島 ｴﾘ子 {KIRISHIMA Eriko}18991937Russian Empire
Zappetti, Nicola小泉 ﾆｺﾗ {KOIZUMI Nikora}19211981United States
Hearn, Lafcadio小泉 八雲 {KOIZUMI Yakumo}18501896United Kingdom
Gorham, William (& Hazel)合波武 克人GŌHAMU Katsundo19181941United States
Ologun, Alaji Karim (aka Bobby Ologun)近田 ﾎﾞﾋﾞｰ {KONDA Bobī}19662007Nigeria
Sagoyan, Hovhannes "Ivan" Ghevenianｻｺﾞﾔﾝ ｲﾜﾝ {SAGOYAN Iwan}1888n/aArmenia
Henderson Jr., Milton (aka J.R. Henderson)桜木 ｼﾞｪｲｱｰﾙ {SAKURAGI Jeiāru}19762007United States
Jenkins, Charles Robertｼﾞｪﾝｷﾝｽ ﾁｬｰﾙｽﾞ·ﾛﾊﾞｰﾄ {JENKINSU Chāruzu·Robāto}1940n/aUnited States
Joseph, Kenneth Phillipｼﾞｮｾﾌ ｹﾝ {JOSEFU Ken}19571999United States
Cowan, Jessica Roberta竹鶴 ﾘﾀ {TAKETSURU Rita}18961920Scotland
Reyes, Francisco ("Kiko")田沢 喜一 {TAZAWA Yoshikazu}19071937Philippines
Turunen, Martti弦念 丸呈 {TSURUNEN Marutei}19401979Finland
Totten, "Bill"ﾄｯﾃﾝ ﾋﾞﾙ {TOTTEN Biru}／賀茂川 耕助 {KAMOGAWA Kōsuke} (pen name)19412006United States
Hartbanks, Louis Christianﾊｰﾄ ｸﾘｽ {HĀTO Kurisu}19842017United States
Havenaar, Mike (& Dido/Dirk)ﾊｰﾌﾅｰ ﾏｲｸ {HĀFUNĀ Maiku}19871993Netherlands
嚴惠 漣（엄혜 련） {EOMHYER Yeon}早川 漣 {HAYAKAWA Ren}19872009South Korea
Harris, Ura平柳 うら {HIRAYANAGI Ura}18611916Japan→United Kingdom
Harris, James B.平柳 秀夫 {HIRAYANAGI Hideo}19161933United Kingdom
Puranik, Yogendra ("Yogi")ﾌﾟﾗﾆｸ ﾖｹﾞﾝﾄﾞﾗ {PURANIKU Yogendora}19772011India
Muluaka, John Muweteﾑｳｪﾃ 武流阿加 {MUWETE Muruaka}19612005Zaire
Hegdal, Mona山本 ﾓﾅ {YAMAMOTO Mona}19761982Norway
Conde, Raymond吉場 ﾚｲﾓﾝﾄﾞ {YOSHIBA Reimondo}19161938Philippines
Ramírez, Alexﾗﾐﾚｽ ｶﾌﾟﾘﾚｽ ｱﾚｷｻﾝﾀﾞｰ ﾗﾓﾝ {RAMIRESU Kapuriresu·Arekisandā·Ramon}19742019Venezuela

Note: there are some cases where the official legal name(s) (pre-naturalization or post-naturalization) of a person have not been confirmed or acknowledged. In these cases we use the names they use in public and the media. Some people continue to use stage names or their original names even after they naturalize.

Names are sorted in Japanese dictionary order by their naturalized names.

Popular posts from this blog

How much did it actually cost to naturalize?

Image
Pennies, compared to most other developed countries In 2010, an article was published here about how much it costs to apply for naturalization. It was true then, and it's still true now in 2022: The application itself is free . ¥0, nada, zilch. Compare that to the US ($725) , UK (£1,330) , Germany (€255) . However, there are many things throughout the process that can cost money: getting your civil documents both in Japan and your home country, tax documents, driving record, etc. You will also to make personal appearances to your local Legal Affairs Bureau. Here I will talk about how much it cost me personally, including the cost of gathering all documents, photocopying, travel, etc. List of Expenses Below is the list of my naturalization-related expenses. All told, it cost me about ¥18,500 to make a successful application. It is worth repeating: There is no application fee . Everything in the list above are expenses related to getting documents I need to submit with my naturaliza...
Read more →

Types of Japanese Passports

Image
The vast majority of people that naturalize will probably apply for a "red" Japanese passport after their 戸籍 { koseki } (family register) is created — which takes about a couple weeks followed by a few weeks for the passport to be issued. It is not necessary to apply for a passport. Just like the United States, the vast majority of the populace never actually travels outside of their country for their lifetime. However, realisticly speaking, it's very likely that a naturalized person would have a Japanese passport as they most likely have family ties overseas. Language The passport is in two languages: English and Japanese. Very old passports, similar to my U.S. passport, also had French, the language of diplomacy. My oh my, how the French empire's influence has faded. My last U.S. passport added Spanish. My oh my, how South, Central, and Latin America's influence has increased! ☺ On current Japanese passports, the message from the Minister of Foreig...
Read more →

All about Japanese personal inkan/hanko/chops/seals

Image
"signing" a payment slip at a bank In Japan (and other Asian countries), it is traditional practice to use an 印鑑 { inkan } ( aka 印章 { inshō } ) — colloquially called a 判子 { hanko } in Japanese or "chop" in British English — instead of a signature for acknowledging / signing / accepting documents. Pedantically speaking, a 判子 hanko is the actual stamping object, and an 印鑑 inkan is the ink impression that is made, but many native Japanese use the two words interchangeably. In the 21st century, Japanese recommend having three types of seals: one for casual informal acceptance: 認印 { mitomein } one for your bank accounts: 銀行印 { ginkō-in } the "real" registered one: ( 実印 { jitsuin } ) While it's perfectly possible to use just one seal for all of these functions, most people use at least two or three for the same reason that people should use different passwords for different services on the internet: in the case of a compromised s...
Read more →