People

This site occasionally posts short biographical summaries of public people who have acquired Japanese citizenship via naturalization to give one an idea of the diversity of people and their reasons for doing it. Some of these people are famous. Some are not. Some are controversial.
Controversial people are more likely to appear in this list because they attract more media attention than regular people just living their lives day by day. Additionally, controversial people may be more focused on giving up their original nationality as opposed to acquiring Japanese nationality.
For every person listed here, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are naturalized who go about their daily lives without ending up in the news. You should not expect that average naturalized people have the same experiences or opinions regarding naturalization.
カタカナkatakana (Japanese syllabet) names are rendered in 半角hankaku katakana (half-width Japanese syllabet for early computers and displays) to save space on the table
former name(s)Naturalized name ▼
(if unknown, then pre-Japanese name)		year bornyear naturalizedformer countryposts
Abegglen, James Christian ïœŒïŸžïœªïœ°ïŸ‘ {ABEGUREN Jēmuzu}19261997United States
Meneses, Noemi井䞊 {INOUE Noemi}19612010Bolivia
Keene, Donald Lawrence ïŸ„ {KĪN Donarudo}19222012United States
ЕлеМа ÐŸÐ°Ð²Ð»ÐŸÐ²Ð° {Yelena PAVLOVA}霧島 ïœŽïŸ˜å­ {KIRISHIMA Eriko}18991937Russian Empire
Zappetti, Nicola小泉 ïŸ†ïœºïŸ— {KOIZUMI Nikora}19211981United States
Hearn, Lafcadio小泉 å…«é›² {KOIZUMI Yakumo}18501896United Kingdom
Gorham, William (& Hazel)合波歊 å…‹äººGŌHAMU Katsundo19181941United States
Ologun, Alaji Karim (aka Bobby Ologun)近田 ïŸŽïŸžïŸ‹ïŸžïœ° {KONDA BobÄ«}19662007Nigeria
Sagoyan, Hovhannes "Ivan" Ghevenian ïœ²ïŸœïŸ {SAGOYAN Iwan}1888n/aArmenia
Henderson Jr., Milton (aka J.R. Henderson)桜朚 ïœŒïŸžïœªïœ²ïœ±ïœ°ïŸ™ {SAKURAGI Jeiāru}19762007United States
Jenkins, Charles Robert ïŸïœ¬ïœ°ïŸ™ïœœïŸž·ïŸ›ïŸŠïŸžïœ°ïŸ„ {JENKINSU Chāruzu·Robāto}1940n/aUnited States
Joseph, Kenneth Phillip ïœ¹ïŸ {JOSEFU Ken}19571999United States
Cowan, Jessica Roberta竹鶎 ïŸ˜ïŸ€ {TAKETSURU Rita}18961920Scotland
Reyes, Francisco ("Kiko")田沢 å–œäž€ {TAZAWA Yoshikazu}19071937Philippines
Turunen, Martti匊念 äžžå‘ˆ {TSURUNEN Marutei}19401979Finland
Totten, "Bill" ïŸ‹ïŸžïŸ™ {TOTTEN Biru}／賀茂川 è€•åŠ© {KAMOGAWA Kōsuke} (pen name)19412006United States
Hartbanks, Louis Christian ïœžïŸ˜ïœœ {HĀTO Kurisu}19842017United States
Havenaar, Mike (& Dido/Dirk) ïŸïœ²ïœž {HĀFUNĀ Maiku}19871993Netherlands
嚎惠 æŒ£（엄혜 ë š） {EOMHYER Yeon}早川 æŒ£ {HAYAKAWA Ren}19872009South Korea
Harris, Ura平柳 ã†ã‚‰ {HIRAYANAGI Ura}18611916Japan→United Kingdom
Harris, James B.平柳 ç§€å€« {HIRAYANAGI Hideo}19161933United Kingdom
Puranik, Yogendra ("Yogi")  {PURANIKU Yogendora}19772011India
Muluaka, John Muwete æ­Šæµé˜¿åŠ  {MUWETE Muruaka}19612005Zaire
Hegdal, Mona山本 ïŸ“ {YAMAMOTO Mona}19761982Norway
Conde, Raymond吉堎 ïŸšïœ²ïŸ“ {YOSHIBA Reimondo}19161938Philippines
Ramírez, Alex    {RAMIRESU Kapuriresu·Arekisandā·Ramon}19742019Venezuela

Note: there are some cases where the official legal name(s) (pre-naturalization or post-naturalization) of a person have not been confirmed or acknowledged. In these cases we use the names they use in public and the media. Some people continue to use stage names or their original names even after they naturalize.

Names are sorted in Japanese dictionary order by their naturalized names.

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