Becoming Japanese

I've added a new resource to this blog, the "Steps" page . You can access it from the tabs at the top of the site. It should give you an idea of how many steps are necessary, from the beginning of the application to the changing of all your identification to your new name. I came up with fifty (50) steps , but the exact number of steps will be slightly different depending on individual circumstances: what country you're from, the composition of your family, whether you own a business, and other things. If I figure out that some steps should really be broken down into multiple steps, I'll do so. I don't think the order of the steps should change too much, with perhaps the exception of the order for when you renounce your other nationality — Americans being one of the exceptions that renounce after obtaining Japanese nationality. The order that you collect the big bunch of the paperwork prior to the big assessment shouldn't matter much. They have b...

Old ARC card vs the New ARC card One of the more popular posts on this site has been the one titled: FAQ: Can I have an official Japanese name even if I don't naturalize? In that post, we talked about how non-Japanese can get a "Japanese name" (in 漢字 { kanji } (Japanese sinograms) or 仮名 { kana } (Japanese syllabet) registered and imprinted underneath your "passport name" on the official identification card for non-Japanese residents: the 外国人登録証明書 { gaikokujin tōroku shōmeisho } (Alien Registration Card; "ARC"). This field exists for many reasons: originally for non-Japanese who appeared Asian — such as 特別永住者 { tokubetsu eijūsha } (Special Permanent Residents) Koreans and Chinese etc. — who wished to use a Japanese name for various reasons (such as, but not limited to, reducing the chances of being discriminated against), it is now used by some non-Asian residents to provide an definitive transliteration / nickname etc in カタカナ { ...