Becoming Japanese

Greg Lam is a professional videographer who is probably best known to Japanophiles from his YouTube channel(s) "Life Where I'm From". He's been producing vignettes about what it's like for a Canadian or any other non-Japanese to live in Japan, and has often explored the topic of bridging multiple cultures and origins, either from the viewpoint of an adult or a child growing up in Japan. Thanks to his professional interviewing, recording, and editing skills, Greg introduced me to a new, younger audience that digests the internet primarily through video as opposed to written websites and blogs, which is what this site is. Sitting down with me in my home office, crammed with professional lighting and mics and high end cameras, Greg came prepared with countless questions that I could tell were well prepared and showed me that he had thoroughly read and researched the information on this site. Given that the creation of this site was partially inspired by two things:...

The official poster for the film What makes a Japanese person Japanese? Is it the blood that runs through their veins? A parent they were born to? The country they grew up in? Is it how they look? How they act? How they speak? Their citizenship? A few years ago I was interviewed at my home by a professional videographer who publishes popular streaming videos to the YouTube site, "Life Where I'm From". Apparently, this topic was of great interest to Greg Lam … not necessarily just because of me or the fact that he lived in Japan, but more likely also because like me, his immediate family has many people who are legally, culturally, and/or genetically Japanese in one or more ways. He has produced and directed a full length feature film (almost 2 hours) which explores the many facets of "Being Japanese": not just the "legal" aspect (which is what this site focuses...

Nick Zappetti, American "mafia boss of Tokyo" A few years ago, I reviewed the excellent book "Tokyo Underworld" by Robert Whiting , which featured an Italian-American by the name of Nicholas aka Nick Zappetti who immigrated to Japan after The War and became a bit of a minor kingpin in the legitimate (and illegitimate) recovering economy of the State of Japan during the "anything goes" days of the black markets. One of his big contributions to the post-war creature comforts of Tokyo, especially if you were a soldier (or spy) stationed in Japan, was his American-style Italian restaurants that featured American style pizza (contrary to what Americans believe, the common U.S. versions of pizza is no more authentic than Japanese style pizza ). I featured the book on this site because Zappetti was one of the early pioneer Americans who would naturalize to Japanese, becoming 小泉二コラ { KOIZUMI Nikora } . While he was definitely not the first to do so — not just As...

Photo credit [ CC BY 2.0 ] to Hideto KOBAYASHI There's a great article in The Armenian Mirror-Spectator about the origins of the "Melon-pan" ( メロンパン { meron-pan } ), sometimes called a "Sunrise" ( サンライズ { sunraizu } ) in some parts of the nation, that is: ubiquitous in Japan found in every single convenience store, bakery, and anywhere serving edibles for a train commute in Japan. Ōkura Sagoyan Introduced to Japan during the Meiji era by a talented Armenian  baker, イワン・サゴヤン { Iwan SAGOYAN } (Hovhannes "Ivan" Ghevenian Sagoyan), who was discovered by Baron Kihachirō Ōkura ( 大倉喜八郎 { ŌKURA Kihachirō } ) while working at the New Hotel Harbin in Manchuria, China. Poached from China, the baker invented the original versions of the famous candy bread while working at the Imperial Hotel ( 帝国ホテル { Teikoku Hoteru } ), basing it on the French galette ( ガレット { garetto } ) pastry bread using Russian techniques for fusion of Vienna/German...

City Councillor elections for Tokyo were last month. A number of politicians who were originally another nationality have run for office in Japan , and quite a few get elected. We have covered other city councillors (as well as national level politicians in the House of Representatives and upper house of Japan's Diet) who were originally of another nationality but naturalized and took Japanese nationality. For this article, I'd like to feature 井上ノエミ { INOUE Noemi } , formerly a Bolivian national who has been representing Sumida City in Tokyo ( 東京都墨田区 { Tōkyō-to Sumida-ku } ) for many years now. She was re-elected to a second term last month. I should note that Ms. Inoue shares the same family name (Inoue) as I do, and also writes her given name in カタカナ { katakana } (Japanese block-style syllabet). Of course, there's no relation: "Inoue" has been a very common name throughout Japanese history — it is sometimes spelled "Inouye" overseas due to ...

Yokohama DeNA Baystars coach "Alex Ramírez" ( アレックス Arekkusu ・ ラミレス RAMIRESU ), born Alexander Ramón Ramírez Quiñónez — and transcribed into Japanese in the Japanese government naturalization notices 官報 { kampō } (Official Gazette) as ラミレス RAMIRESU ・ カプリレス Kapuriresu ・ アレキサンダー Arekisandā ・ ラモン Ramon — but known by his Japanese nickname of ラミちゃん { Rami-chan } to his fans, officially became a Japanese national on January 23rd, 2019 at the age of 44. Ramírez started in the American minors (earning a player of the year award), then progressing to the MLB 's Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates before going to the Tokyo's Yakult Swallows then the Yomiuri Giants , where he became the first player to get 2,000 career hits in 2013. This led him to being the first and only foreign player to be invited to the 日本プロ野球名球会 { Nippon Puro meiyakyū-kai } (Golden Players Club) , one of the two hall of fame organizations for Japanese baseball. Having played fo...

If they gave nationality on the basis of being smartly dressed, Chris Hart would be an honorary citizen of every nation in the world. Two years ago I wrote a post about the famous J-Pop singer with the incredible voice, Chris Hart , expressed on his blog how he wished to naturalize . This became official on February 23rd, 2017, according to the Official Gazette of the Japanese government ( 官報 { kampō } ), which by law has to publish the name of every single person who acquires nationality through naturalization by the Ministry of Justice ( 法務省 { hōmushō } ). Although this may sound like it took him almost two years to naturalize, it does not mean the actual length of time it takes is two years . There are two parts or phases to the application process: The stage where you collect the paperwork at your own pace (and the type and complexity and difficulty of getting that paperwork depends on your personal situation and well, how busy you are), which consists of going back...

These two men became Japanese subjects during the Empire and popularized American jazz from the Philippines. Raymond Conde is one of the most famous Filipinos to have ever immigrated to Japan. He is known as being one of the many to bring and develop jazz music within Japan, introducing both American styles and influencing Japanese styles of the genre. Jazz, invented by Americans, was introduced to the Philippines by American colonizers as early as 1898, which marked the end of the Spanish-American War, the declaration of independence by Emilio Aguinaldo, and the non-recognition of that declaration by the United States, which believed they acquired the Philippine Islands via the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The new American colonizers, primarily Black American soldiers, would bring both their harmonicas and their jazz culture to Manila. By the 1920s American occupiers would bring gramophones and jazz records from the States and play them in music halls and clubs. This imported cul...

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...