Hello to this blog from Arudou Debito


Hello BLJ Blog readers. Arudou Debito here getting the hang of the software. Many of you will have already read some of the stuff I put up on Debito.org many years ago regarding how I turned Japanese. To wit:


Of course, some of the information there is a bit out of date (things do change, even in Japan), so I'm hoping you young whippersnappers who have become Japanese more recently will fill us in with all the new important developments.

I'm pleased to be a part of this endeavor. Here's hoping we help oodles of other people fulfill their dreams of assimilating to the point of citizenship in Japan.

Arudou Debito in Sapporo

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Types of Japanese Passports

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The vast majority of people that naturalize will probably apply for a "red" Japanese passport after their 戞籍 { 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...
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How much did it actually cost to naturalize?

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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...
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All about Japanese personal inkan/hanko/chops/seals

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