Becoming Japanese

Appearing on NHK's Barrier-free Variety TV show, 3rd from left It has been 11 months and 19 days since I last breathed.  I think many people are a bit anxious about their naturalization application, but I was particularly nervous.  The reason? I have what would be classified as a severe disability. Since my life is not threatened by my disability, I never have considered it “severe,” but my cerebral palsy affects all four limbs and I rely on an electric wheelchair and personal care attendants to get through each day. In addition to the misinformation on naturalization to Japan we have all read (and this site thankfully refutes), another story had stuck in my mind because it hit close to home.  It had nothing to do with Japan, but my home country of Canada where a family from England was refused citizenship on the grounds that their disabled son would add to an already over-burdened welfare system.  Would the same thing happen to me here in Japan?...

This is the actual photo The Economist uses with its article (seen only when embedded into a Facebook post) An accompanying article for an editorial opinion encouraging Open Immigration for Japan by the Economist (found in both the online and print editions), entitled " Japanese naturalization | Inspector's Knock: Getting a passport is not easy", dated August 20th, 2016 , contains 227 words and 13 sentences (237 words and 14 sentences if you count the title) if we count sentences linked by semicolons as one. If we regard each sentence as a statement claim of fact, I counted: Not great journalism Only four of its thirteen claims (31%) are "true". ☺ Two of its claims (15%) are "half truths", or truths, but with significant caveats and clarifications needed. Seven of its thirteen claims (54%) — over half — are outright "false". ☹ I normally avoid including articles in full in posts to honor copyrights, but the article is so short...