Completing the Naturalization Permission Application Form
It's called "Permission Application" (許可申請) because an successful approval of this form does not actually create your 戸籍 (family register). An application that is approved by the Ministry of Justice (法務省) creates and gives you the "breeder document" called the 帰化者の身分証明書 (Proof of Naturalized Person Identity Document). You use this form exactly once: you take it to the 戸籍課 (family register section) of your local 区役所／市役所 (Ward Office / City Hall), where they will actually create the new 戸籍 (family register) entirely from the details on that form. This is similar to the creation of a new register in the cases of birth or marriage, etc.
Photo
On the application form, they will want a passport/visa sized (5cm × 5cm) photo of yourself. It can be black & white or color. The guidelines for the proportions of face to shoulders to empty space is similar to a driver's license or passport photo. If you're under 15, that photo should be of you in the center surround, and to the left and right, your legal guardians. The photo should have your name (in Japanese) written on the back of it. The photo should be recent (taken within the last six months), and on the back of the photograph you should indicate the date that it was taken. Interestingly, this photo is not used anywhere on any external official document that you will possess. It isn't even on the 帰化者の身分証明書 (Proof of Naturalized Person Identity Document).Names
They will want you to specify up to seven (7) names on the form:- Your legal name, in Japanese script — either 漢字 (CJK sinograms) if you come from a country that officially registers 漢字 (sinogram) names or 仮名 (Japanese syllabet), along with the ふりがな (phonetic Japanese transcription) above the name in 仮名 (syllabet). Even if your family name has 漢字 (sinograms) and is on your spouse's 戸籍 (mine did for my last name; I legally changed my name before I naturalized), you can only use 漢字 here if your original country officially registers that name. This name will show up in two places: the 官報 (Official Gazette)* when your naturalization is approved, and it will also show up in the 帰化 (naturalization) section of your 戸籍 (family register), under the heading 『従前の氏名』 (previous name). All given names should go in the 名 (non-family name) field, with no punctuation other than space separating the names. On official documentation, the only space will be between the family name and the non-family name(s).
* Your new legal Japanese name that you will be known by in Japan will not be in the 官報 (Official Gazette) - Your mother and father's names. The same rules for your own passport name apply to them.
- Up to three 通称 (aliases) in Japanese. These can be ones used in Japan or overseas, and they do not necessarily need to be registered on your 外国人登録証明書 (Alien Registration Card)
- Your new Japanese name. By "Japanese name", this can be any legal name that a Japanese citizen can have. This includes all カタカタ, all ひらがな, all 漢字, all 当て字 (foreign name transliterated into sinograms), or any combination of the above.
In my particular case, my father's middle name is "Charles". I transliterated this as チャールズ, although I would later find out that チャールス is a more common transliteration for historical figures who had that name. I would also find out later that my mother's middle name, Atkins, is commonly (thanks to the fad diet in the nineties) transliterated as アトキンズ, not アットキンズ. There is a procedure for fixing typos in one's 戸籍 (family register), but it does require the submission of a form to 家庭裁判所 (family court) with an explanation: why it's an error and what it should be, and the entire procedure is more complicated than going to the 区役所／市役所 (Ward Office / City Hall)'s 戸籍課 (family register section) and filing a sheet a paper.Don't make the same mistake I did: You're probably very used to writing your own personal details (i.e. your name) in Japanese, but as transliterating names is more of an interpretive art than an exact science, it's a good idea to double check with dictionaries and the internet as to commonly accepted transliteration of foreign names that you don't normally write in Japanese.
Addresses
In addition to choosing your name, you can also choose any 本籍 (registered domicile) that you want. The address for the registered domicile can be anywhere in Japan. The address you specify goes down to the block level. It does not have to be an exact address that mail can be delivered to. On your Japanese passport, your 本籍 (registered domicile) only shows the top 都道府県 (prefecture) level. On your driver's license, it will be in the RFID chip (but not printed), encrypted via two 4-digit PIN codes, in full. If the 本籍 on a driver's license is a location in Japan and not the name of a foreign country, that serves as proof of Japanese citizenship in absence of a passport of 戸籍謄本 (official copy of a family register) and can be used in some emergency situations as proof of citizenship (for example, lost passport when trying to enter Japan).You do not have to be born, live in, or even have ever lived at your 本籍 (registered domicile). Some people make a political statement, for example, by choosing 竹島 (the Liancourt Rocks) or the 尖閣諸島 (Pinnacle Islands) which are not inhabited by any Japanese and whose sovereignty is claimed by multiple countries. Other people choose a place where they feel their "heart" is. I myself chose 大阪 as my registered domicile, even though I no longer live there, because it's where I first arrived to Japan and spent my first decade in Japan, and thus I consider it to be my spiritual "birthplace" where I fell in love with Japan. Osakans love it when I tell them this by the way. I've been comped a drink or two at 関西 (western Japan) bars for mentioning this.
Interestingly, a Japanese passport, unlike some other countries' passports, does not have a "place of birth". Some people mistakenly think the 本籍 (registered domicile) is the place of birth or where the person grew up, but this is not necessarily the case for either naturalized Japanese or by-birth Japanese citizens. If you get a 国際運転免許証 (international driver's license) — which is supposed to be a multi-lingual translation of your native driver's license, there will be a field for place of birth, even though it is neither on a Japanese passport or Japanese driver's license.
The 本籍 (registered domicile) you list on this application form must be exactly correct because it will be used not only on your official documents, but it is used to know which government building to keep the master copy of your 戸籍 (family register), from which all 戸籍謄本 (official copies of family register) are made.
For example, In my case, I made a mistake and referred to the address as 一丁目二番地 (district 1 block of land 2). The case worker missed this. The 法務省 (Ministry of Justice) alerted him when reviewing my application, and I was summoned in during the middle of the application review process to cross out the "of land" and affix my 印鑑 (personal seal) to the change so it looked like this: 一丁目二番Remember that if you choose a place that is not near you, every time you need a registered copy of your family register (戸籍謄本) or need to make changes (for example, birth of a child, divorce, marriage, death, addition or loss of another citizenship), you will need to go through postal proxy if you do not actually go to the government office — probably a 市役所 (city hall) or 区役所 (ward office) — in order to perform even a simple procedure, so you will have to put up with this inconvenience if you decide to get creative and choose a far away registered domicile.地(district 1 blockof land2).
In addition to the your 本籍 (registered domicle), you will also need to list your residence that is registered on your 外国人登録証明書 (Alien Registration Card). This address will appear (!) in the 官報 (Official Gazette) along with your former name if your naturalization is approved.
