Becoming Japanese

Today's questions from the internet comes from a few sources. The good news is that none of the money "problems" listed in this post will likely permanently disqualify someone from naturalizing to Japanese, unless the lack of payment is egregious enough that the State of Japan (or a private individual or company) decided to take legal action against you (such as fining you, seized funds from accounts via a bank lien, or worse). The logic for this falls under the "good character" requirement for naturalization. The questions are on the following themes: If you haven't paid for Japanese national health insurance ( 国民保険 { kokumin hoken } ) or Japanese company employee health insurance ( 社会保険 { shakai hoken } ) for some or all of your months while being a resident of Japan, are you disqualified from naturalizing? If you haven't paid your taxes for some or all of your months while being a resident in Japan, are you disqualified from naturalizi...

Edward Joeseph Snowden did live & work in Japan Edward Snowden, a contractor for the NSA who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton , has been in the news for the past month and is currently a fugitive from the U.S. law hiding in the transit zone of a Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. He has been looking for a way to leave this area and go to a country where he won't be able to be tried or punished for the crimes that the U.S. government alleges he committed. Standard operating practice for people who flee from the law of their country by going overseas is to freeze/cancel their passports (which does not cancel your citizenship/nationality) so that the only place you can travel to is back to the country that you're a national of (in Snowden's case, back to the United States, into the waiting hands of prosecutors). The problem with applying for asylum for political crimes is the prerequisite of  having to be physically present in that country to apply f...