Becoming Japanese

The online magazine Slate published an article (which actually originally appeared in the Financial Times ) on Donald Keene and why he became Japanese last week. Most of the article reads more like a French restaurant review than an interview (I do want to try that restaurant though. It sounds delicious!), but one small excerpt caught my attention: Immigration officials required documentation proving his parents were married, something he is still struggling to locate. Then they needed proof that he was American. A US passport did not suffice. Finally, they requested evidence that Keene, the most famous foreign scholar in Japan, had graduated. “I said, ‘Well, I have various honorary doctorates, including from very important Japanese universities.’ ‘Oh, that doesn’t count,’ they said, ‘because honorary doctorates are given to people even without education.’” Keene confesses to being irritated. I have to wonder how accurate this is, as graduating is preferred, but not technica...