Applying for a Japanese passport

Some people seem to believe that you receive a passport upon naturalizing as your proof of citizenship. You don't. The proof of your citizenship that you possess lies in both the }帰化者の身分証明書 {kikasha no shōmeisho (proof of identity of naturalized citizen), which you receive from the }法務局 {hōmukyoku) (Bureau of Legal Affairs) after being informed that you've received permission to naturalize. You use that document at your local }区役所 {kuyakusho (ward office) or }市役所 {shiyakusho (city hall) as a breeder document to create your }住民票 {jūminhyō (Japanese local resident registration), delete your }外国人登録 {gaikokujin tōroku (alien registration) records, and create your }戸籍 {koseki (family register), which is stored at your }本籍 {honseki (registered domicile) and you can request authenticated copies of or make changes from, even remotely, from your }区役所 {kuyakusho (ward office) or }市役所 {shiyakusho (city hall).

Once all of this Japanese paperwork is done, you no longer need your }帰化者の身分証明書 {kikasha no shōmeisho (proof of identity of naturalized citizen) as a breeder document. For here on, like all other Japanese citizens, your }戸籍 {koseki (family register) or }住民票 {jūminhyō (Japanese local resident registration) becomes your reference documentation.

In a pinch, an official can verify whether you are Japanese or not from a driver's license — which has your }本籍 {honseki (registered domicile) digitally encrypted inside of it — foreigners have their foreign country of nationality listed in this space while Japanese will have a registered domicile in Japan — or from a }住基カード {jūki kādo (local resident identification card) that has a photo on it ("version B"). Some people elect to get a card that has no photo on it. These ("version A") cannot be used as identity verification.

However, once you are a Japanese national, you must enter and leave Japan using a Japanese Passport, even if you have a valid foreign passport.

To apply for a passport, you either get an application form at your local }区役所 {kuyakusho (Ward Office) or }市役所 {shiyakusho (City Hall), then submit that application to a section (probably in a different building) that will probably be titled something like }市民課 {shimin-ka (Citizen's Section) or, in the case of Tokyo, }生活文化局 {seikatsu bunka kyoku (Bureau of Citizens of Cultural Affairs). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a list of all the places in Japan where you can apply for a passport.

It is also possible to have a passport issued to you by a Japanese embassy or consulate overseas (with the exception of the Iraq embassy). However, not all overseas embassies are capable of making IC-chip enabled aka biometric or ePassports (mostly in developing countries). Japan has been using IC-chip based passports since March 20, 2006. Unlike passports of other countries, the only biometric data stored in the chip is your photograph. Currently, fingerprints are not recorded.

At your application center there will probably be a sign on the wall with a placard that says "If you apply for a passport today, your passport will be ready on this date: year 年 month 月 day 日". The date when I went there was set a week in advance. Seven days to receive a passport is not bad.

Because my original nationality is American and thus I renounce after I naturalize within two years, and I needed my new passport immediately, I still had my U.S. nationality when I applied for a passport. I travel a lot for business, and once you have Japanese nationality, you're not supposed to enter or leave Japan using a non-Japanese passport. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice will cancel both your 再入国許可 (Re-Entry Permit) and any visa or permanent residency for Japan that you may possess. They will not stamp "VOID" or "EXPIRED" on the stamps, but they will mark it in the computer, so when they scan the QR Codes (or the 1D bar code on the back of the disembarkation card attached to your passport, which is a backup these days) or manually input the numbers into the immigration computers they will see that they have been nullified.
To submit your passport application, you must have an official copy of your family register (}戸籍謄本 {koseki tōhon), which may take up to ten business days to have mailed to you if your registered domicile is not near you, and either one or two forms of identification. In general, nationally valid IDs with photos don't require additional identification. Other forms of local identification require two forms of id. If you are applying at an embassy that doesn't have the technology to make IC-chip based passports, you will need two copies of the photo and application form.

You also need a photo that is of the proper specification. They have an instant photo machine right outside the entrance in case you forgot and you don't mind taking a photo that minute that will last for the next ten years. Inside the passport application area, they have a poster demonstrating what types of photos are good (○) and no good (×):

hair and accessories can't distract from the face

all of these are no good

The surprising one? Top row, third from the right. "No unnatural facial expressions." In other words, no (excessive) smiling! You're Japanese now! We don't smile in photos! ☻ The perfect specimen is here:

this is a "natural" expression

both of these are okay

On the passport application, there is a box on the bottom might that one must complete:

現在外国の国籍を有していますか。
（※該当する枠内に✓印を記入してください）
はい□　　　　　　　　　　いいえ□
「はい」の場合
どの国の国籍ですか。＿＿＿＿＿＿
取得年月日　＿＿＿年＿＿月＿＿日
どのような方法で取得しましたか。
外国籍の父又は母の子として出生  □
外国で出生　　　　　　　　　　□
外国人との婚姻又は養子縁組　　 □

Translated, this box says:

Do you currently possess foreign nationality?
(* Check the appropriate boxes)
Yes □           No □
If "yes",
Which country's nationality? __________________________
Acquisition Date: Year __________ Month ____ Date _____
How did you acquire your nationality?
By birth to a father or mother possessing foreign nationality    □
By birth in a foreign country                                                    □
By marriage to or adoption by a foreigner                                □

On that same form, there is a warning in small print on the left side:

虚偽の記載をしてこの申請書を提出したり、旅券の交付を受けた場合は、罰せられます。（旅券法第二三条及び刑法第一五七条）

This basically says that anybody who writes false information on the application form and submits it may be penalized according to Passport Law Article 23 and Criminal Law Article 157 (up to 5 years imprisonment and/or up to a ¥3,000,000 fine).

So I answered honestly, and when the processor looked at it, she told me that if I filled it out this way (in other words, told them that I had another non-Japanese passport), there was a probability that they would reject my passport application. I told her how I needed the passport immediately and that renunciation took some time with the United States, she asked how long I had had my Japanese nationality. When I told her "two weeks," and swore to her that I intended to renounce before two years, she said in that case it was okay that I write "no" on the application form (she did initial the form as having been reviewed by her).

There are four places where you enter your name:

1. On the front, in }漢字 {kanji (Japanese sinograms)
2. On the front, in }外務省ヘボン式ローマ字 {gaimushō Hebon-shiki rōmaji (Ministry of Foreign Affairs modified Hepburn dictionary style transliteration), slightly modified to exclude diacritics.
3. On the front, in signature form (which does not have do be legible or readable, which works for me, as my signature is abstract)
4. Optionally, on the back, you give an alternate family name / transliterations and/or alternate given names / transliterations.

The alternate names are useful for people that use a non-Hepburn style transliteration for their name or they have an English / International name. People who have spouses or children who are dual nationals often choose to put the surname of their children or spouse that they use overseas, which can make travel as a family easier to verify for overseas officials. The alternate names will not be on the digital version of your information in the IC chip embedded in your passport.

Because my daughter has an American passport with a family name that is different from her Japanese passport, I chose to put my old family name in parentheses so it matches her U.S. passport.

If you choose an alternate name, you will need to provide appropriate proof and documentation that shows your alternate names legitimately refer to you.

It took exactly one week to make my passport and cost ¥16,000, payable via revenue stamps upon pick up.

When you receive your passport, the staff has your photo identification, so they will ask you for your birth date and may ask you your name and how you write it. Passports that expire in five years (which are the only passports that minors under 20 years old can have) are blue. Passports valid for ten years are red.

They will then place the NFC (near field contact) page, which is in the middle of a Japanese passport and shielded, onto an electronic reader as they direct your attention to a computer screen that displays the contents of the chip. Again, the chip will have all of the same information that is on your printed page, including a digital color photograph, except for the family name that is in parentheses after your real name. Japanese are a little sensitive about electronically stored personal information, so they do this "show me" procedure for your driver's license (which requires PINs to decode) as well.

If you wish to register for the express automated gates at Japanese airports (which usually require no human intervention) as a Japanese you do so at the airport itself right before going through passport inspection. You should allow about 30 extra minutes for processing to register your passport and fingerprints. Foreigners with re-entry permits can register to use them too, but they use a different form that registers their re-entry permit and ARC (Alien Registration Card) number. Registering for the automated gates is free. All you need is your passport and the application form.