Legal

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

Disclaimers / "IANAL"

The purpose of this site is to share the experiences and opinions of a few people who have naturalized into Japanese citizens.

It does not intend to be legal advice. The authors are not acting in the capacity of lawyers, judicial scriveners, translators, interpreters, financial accountants, or immigration authorities.

As every person that naturalizes is handled by the 法務省 {hōmushō (Ministry of Justice) on a case-by-case basis, you should not assume that everything in here will apply to you. You may find that your experience at naturalizing to be slightly or perhaps even significantly different from what is written here.

When in doubt about legal procedures, you should either consult a licensed lawyer in Japan that specializes in naturalization or talk directly to your local }法務局 {hōmukyoku (Legal Affairs Bureau).

Also, the translations and transliteration of the Japanese in this blog are done by amateurs and are not official. It is possible that errors exist. When in doubt, the Japanese original should be considered to be the authoritative canon version.

Finally, while every effort has been made to reproduce official paper Japanese documents and forms as accurately as possible, typos could exist, sections may be omitted, and some documents could be out-of-date, deprecated, obsolete, or invalid.

The authors and administrators of this blog may edit, append, or remove parts or entire posts and pages without notification or warning at any time.

FINALLY, THE AUTHORS AND ADMINISTRATOR ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT MAY OCCUR FROM FOLLOWING OR USING ANY ADVICE OR MATERIALS IN THIS SITE.


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How much did it actually cost to naturalize?

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Pennies, compared to most other developed countries In 2010, an article was published here about how much it costs to apply for naturalization. It was true then, and it's still true now in 2022: The application itself is free . ¥0, nada, zilch. Compare that to the US ($725) , UK (£1,330) , Germany (€255) . However, there are many things throughout the process that can cost money: getting your civil documents both in Japan and your home country, tax documents, driving record, etc. You will also to make personal appearances to your local Legal Affairs Bureau. Here I will talk about how much it cost me personally, including the cost of gathering all documents, photocopying, travel, etc. List of Expenses Below is the list of my naturalization-related expenses. All told, it cost me about ¥18,500 to make a successful application. It is worth repeating: There is no application fee . Everything in the list above are expenses related to getting documents I need to submit with my naturaliza...
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Types of Japanese Passports

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The vast majority of people that naturalize will probably apply for a "red" Japanese passport after their 戸籍 { koseki } (family register) is created — which takes about a couple weeks followed by a few weeks for the passport to be issued. It is not necessary to apply for a passport. Just like the United States, the vast majority of the populace never actually travels outside of their country for their lifetime. However, realisticly speaking, it's very likely that a naturalized person would have a Japanese passport as they most likely have family ties overseas. Language The passport is in two languages: English and Japanese. Very old passports, similar to my U.S. passport, also had French, the language of diplomacy. My oh my, how the French empire's influence has faded. My last U.S. passport added Spanish. My oh my, how South, Central, and Latin America's influence has increased! ☺ On current Japanese passports, the message from the Minister of Foreig...
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All about Japanese personal inkan/hanko/chops/seals

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"signing" a payment slip at a bank In Japan (and other Asian countries), it is traditional practice to use an 印鑑 { inkan } ( aka 印章 { inshō } ) — colloquially called a 判子 { hanko } in Japanese or "chop" in British English — instead of a signature for acknowledging / signing / accepting documents. Pedantically speaking, a 判子 hanko is the actual stamping object, and an 印鑑 inkan is the ink impression that is made, but many native Japanese use the two words interchangeably. In the 21st century, Japanese recommend having three types of seals: one for casual informal acceptance: 認印 { mitomein } one for your bank accounts: 銀行印 { ginkō-in } the "real" registered one: ( 実印 { jitsuin } ) While it's perfectly possible to use just one seal for all of these functions, most people use at least two or three for the same reason that people should use different passwords for different services on the internet: in the case of a compromised s...
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