Does Japan have a ceremony for new citizens?
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| What? No "ceremony"? |
So, when I got my call, I was excited to hear that they would be holding a ceremony and I decided to go to this once-in-a-lifetime event. I envisioned a very formal ceremony with a flag, oaths, and singing the national anthem after hearing a speech by some high-ranking official.
When the man on the phone said "there will be a small ceremony, but since you have work you likely can't attend can you...?" it was a clue that it might not be the big events you see in America or Australia.
Not wanting to miss such a rare event (no one else I know who has naturalized has attended one), I quickly assured him I would take a day off work and be there. He told me to bring my foreign residence card and be there before 10:00am.
The next clue that it wasn't going to be a big event was when he told me the location - "next to the room where you had your interview on the 8th floor." What?! Not the Imperial Palace or Budokan?! They're right next door to the Ministry of Justice!
Still in the mindset that this was going to be a formal event, I got out my suit and tie and headed downtown.
Going down the hall on the 8th floor there was a small sign indicating the venue for issuing the proof of naturalization documents. No mention of "ceremony"...
After showing my residence card to the employee at the door, I was handed an envelope with forms in it and told I could sit where I like. I was the first one there (at 9:40). A few others filed in and even though there was seating for 30 people, only around 15 people attended. Another middle-aged man wore a suit and a few ladies had casual dresses on, but some of the younger guys were in jeans and t-shirts.
At 10:00 the man from the reception desk came to the front and announced the ceremony had started and introduced the head of the Tokyo naturalization department. Our names were called out one by one and we went to get our official papers at the front of the room. The department head would say "congratulations" and we would bow and take our documents.
After all the names had been read, the department head gave a brief speech. He told us that gaining citizenship wasn't just about getting a passport, but it also entails rights (like voting), privileges (like using Japanese embassies when in trouble abroad) and responsibilities. He reminded us of the oaths we signed when we applied. He said that some are rejected for citizenship, but we had been accepted because of our good standing and encouraged us to continue in this way, but now as citizens of Japan.
He excused himself and the man from the reception desk came to the front and took us through how to create our family registers at city hall, return our foreign resident card, and apply for passport. He congratulated us again and that was that.
Total time, about 20 minutes.
While not a big event like you would see in other countries, I'm glad I went - I won't get to again!
