Mona Hegdal: Profile of a naturalized citizen

"YAMAMOTO" Mona

中西モナ {NAKANISHI Mona} (Mona NAKANISHI née YAMAMOTO) is a retired television journalist and announcer of Japanese and Norwegian descent.

She was one of the pioneers of the mixed-heritage public personalities in Japan, even though she grew up entirely in Japan and her connection to Norway is more racial and (was) legal rather than ethnic.

She is also known as one of the "intelligent" television announcers / personalities, having received a Masters in Business Administration and graduated from an elite Japanese university.

Once she began working for the Tokyo television station TBS, other competing networks had to have educated 「国際人」 {"kokusaijin"} ("International Person") in their lineup of talent, leading to the success of well-known multi-lingual multi-background Japanese nationals such as 滝川ラルドゥクリステル雅美 {TAKIGAWA Rarudu Kurisuteru Masami}; Takigawa even changed her early "professional public-use" (stage) name from 滝川雅美 {TAKIGAWA Masami} to 滝川クリステル {TAKIGAWA Kurisuteru} (Christel TAKIGAWA) — aka 滝クリ {TAKI-Kuri} or クリちゃん {Kuri-chan} — to emphasize her foreign connection when it became clear having a non-obvious foreign connection was an asset in 21st century Japanese showbiz and television journalism.

Trilingual Christel Takigawa lands the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo

Unfortunately, Mona was involved with not one, but two affairs with powerful married men which was discovered, photographed, and published by Japanese paparazzi working for the weekly domestic tabloids: House of Representatives member 細野豪志 {HOSONO Gōshi} (DPJ) and NPB player 二岡智宏 {NIOKA Tomohiro}. As the opposition party Democratic Party of Japan is currently choosing a new leader, the effects of the scandal are still felt today. If that wasn't enough, she abruptly left her powerful talent management agency, オフィス北野Ofisu Kitano. She lasted only five days in her last news position when the tabloid spread got her terminated.

Exiting a Japanese Love Hotel

She retired from showbiz after the turmoil, got married, had two children, published a autobiography, and is now attempting to return from retirement as a talent/blogger focused on mothers/women's personal life management — called 「元気塾」 {"genki juku"} — with her own independent one-person talent agency, ARIES.

Norwegian/Overseas Connection

A typical Sanko freighter

Mona's mother met her Norwegian father near the ports of western Japan. He was the chief purser working for the Japanese freight shipping company 三光汽船 {Sankō Kisen} (Sanko Line). She was born in 広島県尾道市 {Hiroshima-ken Onomichi-shi} (Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture) and raised entirely in Japan. As her father was Caucasian, she's known as a Eurasian ハーフ {hāfu} (literally "half", but actually used to mean "mixed-blood person" in Japanese), which would be responsible for her model looks.

Father in Center, Mother on Right

Due to the nature of the work, her father would spend only one month in Japan for every seven months out at sea away from his family. She said her father would try to spoil her by bringing back M&M candies from overseas when he arrived at port.

However, her father's Japanese shipping line never recovered fully from the Oil Shocks of 1973 and 1979 (which peaked in 1980), and it declared bankruptcy in 1985. During the restructuring, her father's job was affected, and he had to return to Norway to look for work. One day, he left and said he'd come back as usual, but he never did. Mona and her mother did correspond via letters and talk on the telephone, but she never saw him again. The Japan Times claim that "her father died when she was young" is false.

Although she earned an MBA from the University of Wales via HABS, the curriculum was primarily (70%) in Japanese; the other 30% was English. Her other education is at the prestigious Gakushuin University (学習院大学 {Gakushūin Daigaku}).

Mona does not have any extensive overseas life experience, nor is she known for speaking foreign languages, although she can speak some English.

How Mona got her name(s)

Mona at around age two

Her name at birth was ヘグダル・モナ {HEGUDARU · Mona} (Mona HEGDAL). She and her father could have separate family names (別姓 {bessei}) because they were legally non-Japanese and thus there would be no conflict with the mother's 戸籍 {koseki} (Japanese national family name/unit register). Her family name came from her father. For her given name, they decided on a name that started with "M" to honor her mother's parent's names, which both started with 『Ｍ』. Initially, her parents wanted モニカ {Monika} (Monika) for her given name, as many international parents like names that work in both Japanese and foreign languages. Her grandparents, however, decided that the name sounded too foreign, and that モナ {Mona} (Mona) sounded more Japanese. This was a 1976 decision, remember; in the 21st century, there are some (not many; it's unusual) native-born Japanese girls with the name もにか {Monika} (Monika), many easy to read 漢字 {kanji} (Japanese sinograms) that don't look like unnatural 当て字 {ateji} (sinograms phonetically chosen for foreign words) at all.

Upon naturalization, she entered her mother's 戸籍 {koseki} (Japanese national family/unit register), which only allows for one name, and her family name changed to 山本 {YAMAMOTO}.

When she retired from showbiz and married a "commoner" that was not a politician, a sports star, or another sort of celebrity, she changed her publicly used name to match her legal name, 中西モナ {NAKANISHI Mona}, and did her autobiography as well as her blog and official web site under these names.

However, she has recently expressed an interest in returning to the public eye as a ママタレ {mama tare} ("Mother Talent"), and she has said that she intends to capitalize on the brand of her previous name that she's (in)famous for: 山本 {YAMAMOTO}.

Path to Japanese Nationality

Mona is not a typical naturalized citizen case in that she did not naturalize as an adult; she naturalized at the age of six. Additionally, she was born and raised in Japan and her mother is a Japanese national (her father is Norwegian).

You may be asking "How is this possible?"

Mona was born in 1976, nine years before the big changes that Japan made its current Nationality Law to make it compliant with the UN CEDAW which Japan ratified in 1979. Prior to 1985, inheriting Japanese nationality (regardless of bloodline or where you were born) was from the father only. After 1985, the Japanese Nationality Law was changed so a child could be natural-born as a Japanese national from either the father or mother. Another change made to the Nationality Law in 1985 was the introduction of the Choice of Nationality procedure and law (国籍選択制度 {kokuseki sentaku seido}) to close the loophole regarding becoming involuntarily dual national.

If Mona and her mother had waited a few years (until 1985), the naturalization would not have been necessary. Like the [as of 2015] DPJ politician 村田蓮舫 {MURATA Renhō} ("Renho") whose father was Taiwanese and her mother Japanese, she would have become a natural-born citizen (at the age of 9) due to the law change without any naturalization procedure being necessary. Examples of others born prior to 1985 to a Japanese national mother and non-Japanese father are:

LiLiCo: became natural-born JP

• politician 『蓮舫Renhō』 ("Renho"| 1967; ♂: TW)
• broadcaster & animal rights supporter 『クリステルKurisuteru』 ("Christel" | 1977; ♂: FR)
• TV & Film personality 『リリコRiriko』 ("LiLiCo" | 1970; ♂: SE)

All of these ハーフ {hāfu} (mixed-blood heritage) Japanese who were born before the 1985 law change — they all became natural-born Japanese citizens by default without needing to do the naturalization process.

SHEILA: natural-born JP

Do not confuse these ハーフhāfu (mixed-blood people) like シェイラ {Sheira} ("SHEILA"; MLB fan / sportscaster / model), born in Cuba to a Cuban mother and a Japanese national father before 1985: because her father had Japanese nationality, she is a natural-born Japanese national, regardless of her mother's nationality.

Her autobiography explains that people were aware of the law change, and some people, like Mona's mother, interpreted (incorrectly, as no naturalization permission would have been necessary for Mona after 1985) that the naturalization procedure would become stricter after 1985, so they reasoned it would be better to apply for naturalization in 1982.

As the naturalization law says you must be an adult (20 years old in Japan) to naturalize, the process required her parent's permission. Normally, families naturalize together as a set simultaneously, but the father no longer lived or came to Japan. It's unclear as to whether the father consented to the change of nationality or if she formerly renounced her Norwegian nationality upon becoming an adult — or if she legally has a second, Norwegian passport or if the Norwegian government has knowledge of her existence and/or other nationalities.

The Decision

Her Post-Scandal Tell-All Book

According to her autobiography, her mother taught her from an early age to make decisions and understand the consequences and stick with it. For example, she used to take ballet at the age of four. She complained that it hurt her feet, so her mother asked her if she wanted to quit. Four year old Mona said "yes". However, she said she soon regretted that decision, and told her mother she wanted to take ballet again. Her mother scolded her, saying she had already decided to quit and she needs to understand the importance and possible finality of decisions.

After her father returned to Norway after losing his job with the shipping company, her mother then asked the six year child: "Do you want to naturalize? Yes or no."

Mona asked if her family name would change to 『山本』"YAMAMOTO"upon naturalization. Her mother said yes. Mona, who had been conscious of being labeled as a foreigner by other kids and thus disliked her foreign name, told her mother she wanted to naturalize and take the Japanese family name.

Obscure Trivia: Head of [MTV's] Jackass, Japan Division

Jackass' Spokesperson for Japan

Celebrities in Japan often "open" movies as part of the film's promotional activities; Mona has done a few. One of the last films she promoted was "jackass number two". Done after the scandals, she wore a beauty queen-like sash that said she was in charge of the Japan division of Jackass... which is strange, because while the first movie had many scenes shot in Japan, the second movie did not.

When asked by the press why she was promoting this movie about, uh, "Jackass"es, she explained, "Well, my life seems to have had a blowout. So I might as well." When asked if she had seen the jackass movie, she said that yes, she had, but she couldn't watch it straight through without having to pause and take a break (perhaps due to the intensity of some of the scenes). When asked if there were any stunts in the movie that she thought that she herself could do, she said that she thought she might be able to attach a leech to the white of her eye like jackass member, "Steve-O", did.

Personally, I'd like to see Mona do this on television.

And before you can bleach your eyes of that image, I leave you on that note with a scene from the first movie, filmed in Tokyo. The reason these, er, Jackasses are wearing panda outfits is because they (mistakenly) thought that pandas are indigenous to Japan; just because Chinese and Japanese end in "-ese" does not mean they're the same thing.


Note: if you are caught by the authorities doing any of the rougher illegal activities in Japan (as depicted in the video), there is a very high likelihood that the government will not let you be legally Turning Japanese.