What if your residency isn't continuous enough?
"Physical" residency means exactly what it says: being physically present in the nation of Japan most of the time. Merely having a continuous 在留資格 (Status of Residence) with a 在留カード (Resident Card) for the length of time is not enough.
The purpose for this rule is to discourage "citizens of convenience"; that is, to keep people from earning the right to naturalize that don't actually live in Japan, even if they legally have the right to live/work in Japan.
Of course, everybody leaves the country once in a while: business trips, vacations, visiting family. So exactly how long can you be out of the country?
It's not written in the documentation that is passed out, but the numbers I and many other applicants have been told is:
- no more than one hundred consecutive (100) days out of Japan per year
- no more than one hundred fifty (150) total days out of Japan per year
Do they actually check the days? At least in my case, I can definitely say "yes"; the nature of my job requires me to travel overseas a lot. Not only did my case worker require me to fill out multiple copies of the extended 出入国歴表 (Country Exit and Entrance History Form) — which is used when you have more than ten (10) trips outside of Japan and the space provided in the 履歴書（その２） (Personal History Form, part 2) is not enough. On both forms, you have to sum up the days and write the total at the bottom. You also have to photocopy all the pages of your passport. If your passport stamps are illegible or you don't have passports recording your entrances and exits to and from Japan, you will need to get the digital records of your entrances and exists from the vital records department local to you in Japan. When my case worker was preparing my docket, he confirmed my math based on the dates I have provided him.
But what happens if you're close, but you were out of the country for slightly longer than the 100/150 limit (for example, to care for a sick family member)? I don't know of anybody who has actually done it, but according to at least one Tokyo immigration firm I have spoke personally to in Japan about a real case, they believe that a bit of leniency may be given if the amount of time over or needed is small. The person that broke his continuous physical residency hasn't yet applied, so we don't know if the immigration agency's prediction regarding leniency is correct or not.
This is yet another reason why they don't publish some of the specific requirements; it gives the 法務省 (Ministry of Justice; MoJ) and the local bureau a little wiggle room for borderline cases for exceptional reasons. The numbers and exact requirements (such as ascertaining Japanese ability) aren't published because they allow the local legal bureau (法務局) to let in borderline cases. In other words, if the exact numbers for physical residence and the exact qualifications for Japanese conpetency were published, they'd have to measure applicants, and they'd probably end up rejecting more than accepting more. Currently the MoJ accepts over 99% of the applications it gets from local bureaus.
What if you're out of the country for much longer than that but with a very good reason and you keep your SoR valid? For example, what if you go overseas to study for a Master's degree but you get a 再入国許可 (Re-entry Permit) and keep a continuous SoR?
The honest answer is I've never heard of anybody pulling this off, and personally I'm skeptical. You can always try and ask. The case officer, in the first interview, will attempt to ascertain the most basic important qualifications, such as length of time in Japan; you will quickly find of if the case worker thinks you should apply now or wait a few more years.
