New "Steps" page published

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 been ordered in a way so that the paperwork that expires the most quickly (issued within three months or less) — such as your driving and tax records — are further down the list compared to paperwork that has no expiration from issue — such as death certificates, for example.

Much like the other pages on this site, we may edit it so that we link to and from it, writing blog posts about particular steps.

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