Becoming Japanese

Can You Bring Your Spouse, Family Member, Boy or Girlfriend, S.O. , Lawyer, Friend with you to all the personal interviews? The placeholder photo that serves as the avatar for the pseudonym "Ken Seeroi" aka "Ken C Roi". TL;DR : "No". I noticed a popular blog, called "The Japanese Rule of 7" , had written recently an anecdote about attempting to acquire Japanese Citizenship because it had a link to this site, which generates an automatic notification to me. I read it. And I enjoyed it. Very funny tale. However, it's important to keep this in mind while reading it: It's a fictional account. Normally, I'd leave fiction alone and not file it in the "Misinformation" page . Unfortunately, from reading the comments on the post and other entries in the blog, it's not clear that most of the blog's fans are in on the joke. In the real world, they want to interview only the actual candidate (or if it is a l...

This post is a followup to my post on how to run for office . My aim is to give potential politicians an understanding of just what a city councillor does. I include what my year is like as well as a more detailed description of the day-to-day of a session. I’ve chosen to use Japanese titles for some of the jobs in government. Kōmu-in is just easier to use than civil servant or government worker. Also, I am not consistent. Like many long-term residents in Japan, I find my English vocabulary salted with more convenient Japanese words. By the end of the article you may have a few new words as part of your own vocabulary. Je m’excuse, je m’accuse… So you've been elected Congratulations. Here is how things are done in my home city of Tsukuba (your city may vary but I’m thinking the basics will be the same). A few days after the election there was a 10 minute ceremony for all winning candidates to receive our certificates of election. About two weeks before the beginning of the f...

Eiji (Evan) Koehler, born American, and Olaf Jong, born Indonesian, describe their experiences about acquiring Japanese nationality for the YouTube channel "Where Next Japan?" In the video, they describe the process of becoming Japanese citizens and explain not just how they did it, but also how other people reacted, and their thoughts on the place they now call home. 00:06 Intro 02:17 Why did you change your citizenship? 04:16 How did your family react to your decision? 04:57 How do other people react to your decision? 05:29 When did you start the process? 09:26 Were you surprised by any part of it? 10:48 Did you encounter any misinformation or misconceptions? 11:57 What was it like choosing a Japanese name? 14:20 Has your sense of self changed at all? 18:28 Final comments It's an interesting video, and I recommend checking their blog out for other interesting Japan topics.

One important thing I learned from this recording is that when all you have is the sound of your voice, the quality of the microphone is extremely important. Jeff Krueger, an American who has lived in Japan for a long time, asked to interview me over a year ago. After two takes and multiple delays, he has published it onto the internet. The content of podcast deals a lot with the study of the Japanese language in the beginning, then transitions into what the blog is about and naturalization. In the podcast, we chat about what it means to "go native" (his opinion, not mine). Deep in Japan is a completely independent, commercial free work of love—piped to you straight out of Jeff Krueger's closet. The intro song was “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors, and the outdo sound was “New York” by the Sex Pistols.