Do Japanese treat you differently when they find out you're naturalized?
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| My nationality giveaway: ååº |
To me, the funny thing is the people who are most cynical about the ability for an immigrant to be accepted by society have usually never met anybody who is naturalized to ask them about their opinion, and they've probably never met a natural-born Japanese who has dealt with a naturalized person before. Nevertheless, this doesn't stop them from forming an opinion on it. They form this opinion from what they've read on the internet: taking negative experiences (or experienced) from other foreigners who have lived or worked in Japan for various lengths of time and extrapolating those experiences onto the "true lifers" — that is, those who couldn't return to their home country easily even if they had the financial means (because their sole nationality is now Japan) and have made a forward-looking commitment and oath to the Constitution and country.
To summarize, the overall impression I get when Japanese discover that I am naturalized is one of first surprise, then respect and admiration. This is of course a sample size of one, taken from anecdotal personal experiences based on the perhaps thousands (calculated from the time of my naturalization factored with the number of new business cards I receive per month and the amount of places I've visited outside of work) of Japanese I've met in Japan — both in formal business situations and informal situations such as drinking establishments after hours.
Despite what I've read on the net written by foreign residents (who are not legally or ethnically Japanese and have never met a naturalized Japanese in person in their life), I've never had a Japanese tell me that "I'll never be accepted as a Japanese" or laughed at the concept of me or anybody else becoming a Japanese national citizen. I may understand if somebody expressed doubt at the concept of somebody becoming ethnically or especially racially Japanese.
I know I can find some dark corner of the net somewhere or an organization somewhere that believes in a definition of Japanese people that vehemently rejects the concept of naturalization and defines Japanese race and/or ethnicity as a mandatory prerequisite for Japanese nationality, but I've yet to encounter people in my real life encounters — either in professional work situations or informal situations, including informal situations with strangers fueled by alcohol — that had difficulty accepting naturalized citizens as anything but a "positive" for Japan.
The topic of my nationality usually comes up during the business card exchange round. When I pass them the card, most first look at the card, they see the obviously very Japanese 挢å (sinogram) name äºäž, then they see the no-so obviously Japanese given name written in ã«ã¿ã«ã (syllabet), ãšã€ã. The second thing they do is flip the card over to the English side, to see if the name is the same. "Perhaps the name is a é称 (alias) used in Japan?" is what I guess they're thinking. When they see that the English side of the ååº (Japanese business name card) also says "Eido Inoue", they sometimes look a tad surprised. 99% of the time at most business meetings, there are a bunch of negotiators from our side of the company, and there are a bunch of negotiators from their side of the company, and we only have an hour or so to talk, and there are people in front and behind us in line waiting for their turn to do the exchanges, so there is no time to ask probing questions. Upon taking our seats, most people line up their cards in front of them so they correspond to the seats people are sitting in opposite them. In the past when my American English name was on the English side of business cards, I noticed that most Japanese often kept that side face-up, as they wanted to have a visual reminder as to the real name of the person they're dealing with. As there is no difference in the name on the front and back of my cards, my card is always laid down with the Japanese side up.
Not all naturalized Japanese choose their name the way I did, and one's new Japanese name is a very personal decision. The Japanese Government gives as much flexibility to a new naturalized citizen as they do to a newly minted Japanese baby: it can be almost anything that can be written in any mixture or one script of modern Japanese 挢å, ã²ãããª, or ã«ã¿ã«ã. I myself balanced the following considerations:
Likewise, Japanese has a lot of suffixes for polite speech that is suffixed to proper nouns/people's names: ãã，å，ã¡ãã，å， etc. Proper manners indicate that in Japanese, in polite speech, you append names with the appropriate suffix depending on the situation and level of formality of the situation, regardless of the origin of the name.
However, Japanese are also taught that to speak foreign languages well and correctly, they're encouraged not to code-switch, or mix Japanese and foreign languages together when speaking.
People learning to speak Japanese as a foreign or second language (JFL/JSL) often mispronounce å€æ¥èª (foreign origin Japanese words) because their mind unconsciously connects the Japanese word to the native word learned as a child in their head and accidentally pronounces it using their language's phonology rather than Japanese phonology, making the word more difficult for Japanese listeners to understand.
Likewise, Japanese speakers are more likely to add "~san" to the end of a Japanese name, even when speaking in English, because the Japanese proper names, having been heard countless times in their lifetime with the suffixes through their lifetime, are so ingrained in their brain's language center, they often aren't even thinking when they add the honorifics. In reverse, hearing a foreign name not only does not conjure up these unconscious linguistic habits, but it may subconsciously evoke their learned foreign language practice, where they've been taught to avoid adding Japanese honorific prefixes and suffixes to foreign sounding nouns.
Thus, I've noticed that Japanese not only, compared to the past when my name was a non-Japanese one, more likely to:
To summarize, the overall impression I get when Japanese discover that I am naturalized is one of first surprise, then respect and admiration. This is of course a sample size of one, taken from anecdotal personal experiences based on the perhaps thousands (calculated from the time of my naturalization factored with the number of new business cards I receive per month and the amount of places I've visited outside of work) of Japanese I've met in Japan — both in formal business situations and informal situations such as drinking establishments after hours.
Despite what I've read on the net written by foreign residents (who are not legally or ethnically Japanese and have never met a naturalized Japanese in person in their life), I've never had a Japanese tell me that "I'll never be accepted as a Japanese" or laughed at the concept of me or anybody else becoming a Japanese national citizen. I may understand if somebody expressed doubt at the concept of somebody becoming ethnically or especially racially Japanese.
I know I can find some dark corner of the net somewhere or an organization somewhere that believes in a definition of Japanese people that vehemently rejects the concept of naturalization and defines Japanese race and/or ethnicity as a mandatory prerequisite for Japanese nationality, but I've yet to encounter people in my real life encounters — either in professional work situations or informal situations, including informal situations with strangers fueled by alcohol — that had difficulty accepting naturalized citizens as anything but a "positive" for Japan.
The Business Card Nationality Hint
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| (not my real business card) |
How I'm addressed (with a Japanese name)
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| It would be neat if we got a åœåæž when naturalizing but alas, the ceremony, if there's any, lacks pomp. |
- Japanese traditionalism and practicality (a very easy to write, read, and remember Japanese surname)
- family origin pride (a derivative of my birth given name that is also used by my father)
- pragmatism — I shortened my given name to be the typical letter length of a Japanese name, and made sure ããŒãå (Japanese sounds written with the Latin alphabet) transliterations were unambiguous
Likewise, Japanese has a lot of suffixes for polite speech that is suffixed to proper nouns/people's names: ãã，å，ã¡ãã，å， etc. Proper manners indicate that in Japanese, in polite speech, you append names with the appropriate suffix depending on the situation and level of formality of the situation, regardless of the origin of the name.
However, Japanese are also taught that to speak foreign languages well and correctly, they're encouraged not to code-switch, or mix Japanese and foreign languages together when speaking.
People learning to speak Japanese as a foreign or second language (JFL/JSL) often mispronounce å€æ¥èª (foreign origin Japanese words) because their mind unconsciously connects the Japanese word to the native word learned as a child in their head and accidentally pronounces it using their language's phonology rather than Japanese phonology, making the word more difficult for Japanese listeners to understand.
Likewise, Japanese speakers are more likely to add "~san" to the end of a Japanese name, even when speaking in English, because the Japanese proper names, having been heard countless times in their lifetime with the suffixes through their lifetime, are so ingrained in their brain's language center, they often aren't even thinking when they add the honorifics. In reverse, hearing a foreign name not only does not conjure up these unconscious linguistic habits, but it may subconsciously evoke their learned foreign language practice, where they've been taught to avoid adding Japanese honorific prefixes and suffixes to foreign sounding nouns.
Thus, I've noticed that Japanese not only, compared to the past when my name was a non-Japanese one, more likely to:
- add honorifics such as "-san" to my name. They did with my non-Japanese name in the past, but they do that way more once my family name became äºäž.
- Strangers are more likely to instantly, without prompting, address me by my family name
- More likely to write my name in East Asian order: family name first, then given name. When both names are foreign, people often don't know which is the family name. Also, Japanese are taught that foreigners prefer names to be written with the family name last. Even in western newspapers, the protocol that Japanese asked them to do was to write Japanese politician names, etc., in western order. This is different from how Korean and Chinese politician names are written in many English newspapers.
Talking about Politics
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| The Japanese Diet building |
Even before I naturalized, I had many conversations with like-minded (not everybody enjoys talking about politics, after all) people about Japanese politics. However, it was always from a theoretical point of view (since I couldn't actually vote). And when Japanese people ever initiated discussions about political matters, it was always from a superficial level: for example, the type of Japanese political analysis found in The New York Times or other western papers, which cover Japan from the perspective of a non-Japanese and thus focus on high level issues that have a foreign connection or interest.
These days, when I talk about Japanese about voting, it's from a much less theoretical point of view (since I have voted many times and am also eligible to volunteer and join Japanese political parties) and more from a "what is best for Japan and its future and my children who will live here?" The discussion is more pragmatic (and far more focused on domestic and economic policies) in that when we discuss the merits and demerits of a politician or party, focus is on what they can or are capable of doing, rather than just the abstract platform points of the party they represent.
Not needing to affirm or prove one's nationality
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| I actually do have a Japanese flag pin. But I don't wear it on my clothes or lapel. |
- Japanese race
- Japanese ethnicity
- Japanese nationality
Once I tell them this, it does seem to make an impression, because I've yet to notice anybody forget.
How do I know people don't forget? Because those who know are often quick to correct those who misidentify me. If somebody asks if or assumes that I'm "American", they'll say, "No, he's Japanese." Or if someone asks if I can speak Japanese, another will say, "yes he can. Actually, he's Japanese."
On one hand, this makes me a little uncomfortable because like the word "Japanese", "American" is also an word with multiple meanings; although I am no longer an American citizen or national, my background and upbringing is still American.
On the other hand, I'm a little pleased that others go out of my way, without me asking them, to make others understand and acknowledge my nationality.
Japan is one of the few places in the world where depending on the situation, people will apologize to you if they are unable to speak English or your foreign language. It's so taken for granted that foreign residents in Japan would prefer to be spoken to in English that one must often take the initiative in establishing that you prefer to communicate in Japan in Japanese, especially if the person you are communicating with has a strong or fluent command of English or your mother tongue.
Even if you do speak Japanese fluently, there are still some, which I call the "international Japanese", who would prefer to speak to you in English in Japan. Sometimes they do this for selfish or office-politics reasons. Other times it's due to a mistaken belief that their foreign/second language ability is better than yours, and they'd prefer to use the language with the least chance of communication difficulties or misunderstandings.
Being spoken to in Japanese
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| There are even books encouraging Japanese to speak Japanese to NJ living/working in Japan! |
Even if you do speak Japanese fluently, there are still some, which I call the "international Japanese", who would prefer to speak to you in English in Japan. Sometimes they do this for selfish or office-politics reasons. Other times it's due to a mistaken belief that their foreign/second language ability is better than yours, and they'd prefer to use the language with the least chance of communication difficulties or misunderstandings.
Although there are also times when the Japanese person's English ability is better than the foreigner's Japanese ability, and it's the non-Japanese that's in denial regarding language ability.
Neither the Japanese Constitution nor Japanese law specifies an official language for Japan. In compulsory schooling, the word åœèª (national language) refers to the Japanese language as used inside Japan.
From my personal experience, when someone is aware that you are both a Japanese national (inside Japan) and you have a strong command of the language, they are less likely to encourage or insist that you speak English. After all, they sound silly asking or encouraging somebody who they know is a Japanese national to speak a foreign language in Japan! People who naturalize to Japanese obviously do not do so with the expectation that they will be able to use a language other than Japanese for day-to-day life.
It needn't be said that you will only be spoken to in Japanese if you have a command of the language. You only need a third-grade level of comprehension in order to naturalize in most cases, which is not a strong enough level to handle a complex, rich conversation.
Anybody who knows someone that is or was a English speaking foreign resident in Japan for a non-trivial length of time (> 1 year) knows that almost all of them eventually return to their home country or move on to another foreign country ("the permanent migrant"). In the nineties, when the "support systems" or "English stress-alleviating lifeline" known as the Internet wasn't as established, the average amount of time someone spent in Japan averaged two to three years.
The ability for a middle-class westerner to live in a foreign country for a longer period of time without giving in to culture shock can be attributed to five things:
However, despite the trend of people from highly developed nations living in countries other than their own for increasingly longer periods of time, any Japanese or non-Japanese who has had acquaintances from overseas who lived & worked in Japan knows that eventually, almost all of them eventually go home or move on to another country/adventure.
Even the so-called "permanent resident" Status of Residence is not really a good indication of whether somebody will stay in Japan or not. The PR SoR merely symbolizes that someone has been in Japan for some time; it is not a good indicator that somebody will continue to be in Japan for a long time. The primary motivation for most people to seek æ°žäœè
åšçè³æ Œ (Permanent Resident Status) is to avoid the hassle and stress and slight uncertainty that comes with having to renew the Status of Residence every couple/few years. As the Japan foreign Permanent Resident status becomes much easier to get once one marries (usually to a Japanese national rather than another permanent resident) and stays married for a few years, to many people, a permanent residency permit is more an indicator of a relatively stable marriage to a Japanese rather than a desire to live in Japan forever.
It is most certainly possible for a naturalized (or natural born) Japanese national to emigrate from Japan, but it is much harder in that not only does that national need the desire and will to leave Japan, but they also need the legal permission to immigrate (in other words, a visa) to another country. Even the country they were formerly a citizen of. As many people who become Japanese also have purchased a land or a home in Japan rather than rent, naturalized citizens often find it harder to divest themselves of their financial (and perhaps career) investments in the country.
Even if a Japanese person does not know the technical differences between permanent residency and naturalization, and even if they don't have the experience of knowing many foreigners in Japan and knowing their immigration patterns, they do know that Japanese nationality is unconditionally permanent, and you can sense this from conversations and how people relate to you; the question
In the past, being asked "How long are you going to stay in Japan?" sometimes bothered me during my early years in Japan. It bothered me on one aspect in that it was a difficult question to answer ("until it's no longer possible for me to live here"? ... "until I no longer like it"?) It bothered me in another aspect because I couldn't help but wonder if people were hesitant to "invest" in me for long term or life: either as a very close friend, as a professional Japan-based business partner, as a life partner in Japan.
While at first you enjoy the attention, it can get tedious sometimes. These days, though, I can tell the story in my sleep in two languages, so the tediousness has changed into acceptance. Your "naturalization" becomes part of your self-introduction, much like where you're from, where you worked, and what you do.
It may surprise some to learn that many of Japan's most conservative politicians, those who are labeled as "hawks" or "ultra-conservative" etc. by the Western media are often simply "civic/liberal nationalists", and even those who have records as being against "open immigration", are often "pro-naturalization" (under the current Japanese Nationality Laws and procedures), as the naturalization law is simply the finish line/goal of most "highly skilled worker" immigration policies. The current Prime Minister, å®åæäž, explained his thinkings in his 2006 book "Toward a Beautiful Country" (『çŸããåœãž』) in "Chapter 3: What Is Nationalism?":
Personally, I tend towards "left-wing views" and policies politically when it comes to the American politics (e.g. gun control, universal health care, regulated markets, etc.), however, as someone who has acquired a nationality through process and not being born with it, I align more with the Japanese "right-wing views" on this matter, albeit out of self-interest.
Neither the Japanese Constitution nor Japanese law specifies an official language for Japan. In compulsory schooling, the word åœèª (national language) refers to the Japanese language as used inside Japan.
From my personal experience, when someone is aware that you are both a Japanese national (inside Japan) and you have a strong command of the language, they are less likely to encourage or insist that you speak English. After all, they sound silly asking or encouraging somebody who they know is a Japanese national to speak a foreign language in Japan! People who naturalize to Japanese obviously do not do so with the expectation that they will be able to use a language other than Japanese for day-to-day life.
It needn't be said that you will only be spoken to in Japanese if you have a command of the language. You only need a third-grade level of comprehension in order to naturalize in most cases, which is not a strong enough level to handle a complex, rich conversation.
The acknowledgement of being a true "lifer"
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| Before the internet existed, the primary way foreigners coped with culture shock was alcohol |
The ability for a middle-class westerner to live in a foreign country for a longer period of time without giving in to culture shock can be attributed to five things:
- Video streaming:
This provided the ability for an foreign Japan resident to be able to relieve stress in the evening by watching/reading English language popular media and news with ease from their home. This alleviated the need to have to go to large or boutique bookstores specializing in current overseas magazines, books, or media. No longer did one have to go to a rental video shops and wait for region-controlled movies or television programming to come from your original country to Japan (if it came at all).
No pirated programming here
- Webcams, chat/email & digital photos (instant WWW communication):
This provided the ability to cheaply communicate face-to-face using a webcam, without needing luxury priced international phone calls or land lines, allowing expats around the world to keep in touch with their friends and family instantly and cheaply. Email with photos provided a perfect substitute for the slow and tedious airmail letter and postcard. No matter where you were in the world, your old friends and family were a click away.
No pirated programming here
- Social Networks & Blogs:
Physical geography and separation no longer kept expats from having a lack of connection to their friends and family in their home country. Social networks also allowed expats to find and form support groups in their own language and ethnicity/nationality/culture who were living in the same country that they could trade tips on coping with life in a foreign country.
"Love visiting temples & shrines!
The food's so good!"
- Smartphones:
Providing instant maps to enable one to get from here to there, as well as translation and lookup services to make navigating the foreign language easier, helps one counter the feeling of impotence one gets from not being able to read all the signs and maps or ask for directions with confidence. Prior to smart phones, one could always count on one or two people within a group of ten foreigners gathering to go out for dinner to be very late or simply not show up due to an inability to find the place. Before smart phones, people didn't have the luxury of being able to look up, or even translate, things once they had left their home unless they brought their dictionary or electronic dictionary with them (back in the nineties, everybody used the Canon Wordtank in Japan if you used anything)
Why can't I get a GPS lock‽
- Airline Deregulation:
Deregulation of the American and European airline markets drastically reduced airfares and put inter-continental travel within the reach of the student backpacker / emerging adult exploring the world outside their country for the first time, not just the expense-account funded executive.
When I first came to Japan in 1993, everybody saw
é»æŸ€æç£ç£'s 『ä¹±』 (Dir. Akira Kurosawa's "Ran").
Together. Projected on one shared screen per class.
With primitive air-tube headsets.
That's it. No other choice or movie.
- Prices changed from thousands of dollars to just a thousand dollars or sometimes just hundreds of dollars. Not only did this make it easier for people to visit Japan, it made it easier for homesick foreign residents to visit home during the holidays more frequently and cheaply.
However, despite the trend of people from highly developed nations living in countries other than their own for increasingly longer periods of time, any Japanese or non-Japanese who has had acquaintances from overseas who lived & worked in Japan knows that eventually, almost all of them eventually go home or move on to another country/adventure.
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| It's "permission for," not a "promise of" |
It is most certainly possible for a naturalized (or natural born) Japanese national to emigrate from Japan, but it is much harder in that not only does that national need the desire and will to leave Japan, but they also need the legal permission to immigrate (in other words, a visa) to another country. Even the country they were formerly a citizen of. As many people who become Japanese also have purchased a land or a home in Japan rather than rent, naturalized citizens often find it harder to divest themselves of their financial (and perhaps career) investments in the country.
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| Nippon: Until Death Do Us Part |
"How long will this person remain in Japan?"doesn't naturally cross the person's mind once they're aware that you changed your nationality.
In the past, being asked "How long are you going to stay in Japan?" sometimes bothered me during my early years in Japan. It bothered me on one aspect in that it was a difficult question to answer ("until it's no longer possible for me to live here"? ... "until I no longer like it"?) It bothered me in another aspect because I couldn't help but wonder if people were hesitant to "invest" in me for long term or life: either as a very close friend, as a professional Japan-based business partner, as a life partner in Japan.
One disadvantage: repeating your naturalization story
One thing you do need to get used to is telling your "naturalization story" over and over. I have noticed that to a larger degree Japanese will ask about your story slightly less often than non-Japanese, but if there's time and you're meeting somebody for the first time, chances are they'll ask you "Why?" or "How?" you became legally Japanese.
The pattern is: introductions occur, names are exchanged, when they hear the Japanese name they'll ask how you got it. And once you tell them how you got it they'll normally say something of surprise then ask "why?" you decided to be Japanese and less commonly "how?" one becomes Japanese (through naturalization).
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| "I was drunk one night and I told my Japanese friend I wanted to have a Japanese keepsake for life. I thought I was going to get a tattoo. Instead, I woke up the next morning with a new passport." |
To tell one's naturalization story and answer the "how?" and "why?" questions thoroughly, though, takes hours, so you'll develop different "elevator pitches" or canned responses of 30, 90, and 120 seconds each for the two questions, depending on the scenario and the time available.
While at first you enjoy the attention, it can get tedious sometimes. These days, though, I can tell the story in my sleep in two languages, so the tediousness has changed into acceptance. Your "naturalization" becomes part of your self-introduction, much like where you're from, where you worked, and what you do.
This endless question answering isn't unique to natural-born Japanese. I get asked the same question(s) even more often from non-Japanese. The only difference is non-Japanese often laser focus on the matter of giving up one's other nationality, whereas Japanese are just simply surprised that people can and do become Japanese citizens via naturalization.
What are my thirty second canned responses to these questions?
- Why?
- "My immediate family, career, home, lifestyle, and investments are all entrenched in Japan, and after living half my lifetime here, I've realized that I'm happy and don't want to change my were I live. I needed and wanted not permission to life and work in Japan, but the irrevocable and unconditional right to be part of Japan. And I'm willing to make a legal future-looking commitment (an allegiance to the Japanese constitution and a 'monogamous' exclusive nationality relationship) to do it."
- How?
- "Actually, it's not as hard as you think. Almost anyone who has a stable modest income and prospects, a clean record, five years in a row of physical residence, and is willing to give up their original nationality can do it."
"The Japanese bank has owns me. I have a home loan that will take decades to repay. Since I can't leave until I repay, I figured I may as well get Japanese citizenship as I'm going to die on this island before I repay it."I don't really blame people for being curious and asking me questions about (my or others) Japanese nationality, as people who naturalize to Japan are statistically very rare and it's probably the first time they've met a naturalized Japanese person in their life. Even I myself find hearing other naturalized people's stories interesting. It's unusual for even me to meet naturalized people so I find their stories fascinating too — and I've met more naturalized people than most people, because I seek them out for this site.
What do Japanese politicians think of naturalized Japanese?
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| pro-naturalization civic nationalist |
Sports provide the key metaphor for Abe in explaining nationalism that is democratic and nationalism that is not. He speaks of his fascination as a young boy watching the parades for the [1964] Tokyo Olympics, but this pride clearly comes from how athletes would represent Japan — not from their blood but from what they would do as competitors in the games. He writes with pride also about how naturalized Japanese like Alessandro "Alex" Santos (äžéœäž»ã¢ã¬ãµã³ãã) fought for Japan in World Cup soccer games. “Alex” and his fellow Brazilian-Japanese “Ramos” (ã©ã¢ã¹ç å) are embraced for what they are: fellow Japanese compatriots, men made Japanese by law, not by blood or ethnicity. And finally, Abe directly rejects ethnic nationalism by pointing to the example of Australian Gold Medalist, Cathy Freeman, whose Australian national identity coexists with her aboriginal identity. “Nationalism,” Abe concludes, “can be translated in various ways, but if we dare to render it as ethnic nationalism (æ°æ䞻矩), then Cathy Freeman would not be able to carry both banners (Australian and Aboriginal) without being ripped apart within by this nationalism.” Throughout the book, Abe consistently renders the Japanese nation as åœæ° (civic nation) not as æ°æ (ethnic nation), a distinction made not only conceptually but also through his description of how democratic nationalism functions in practice.In Japanese politics, conservative intellectuals and media — such as the èªå£²æ°è — tend to prescribe to the dogma of "civic nationalism", in that "What is a Japanese?" is defined by law, whereas the Japanese left (Marxists, ææ¥æ°è) tend to prefer "ethnic nationalism", in that "What is Japanese?" can't be described simply by laws and rules.
Personally, I tend towards "left-wing views" and policies politically when it comes to the American politics (e.g. gun control, universal health care, regulated markets, etc.), however, as someone who has acquired a nationality through process and not being born with it, I align more with the Japanese "right-wing views" on this matter, albeit out of self-interest.
