Becoming Japanese

Statelessness is the condition where a person has no legal nationality associated with them. The Japanese Constitution, Article 22 , specifically grants Japanese nationals the right to lose Japanese nationality by choice: Freedom of all persons to move to a foreign country and to divest themselves of their nationality shall be inviolate. Despite this, however, it is currently impossible for a Japanese national to simply give up their only  nationality and become a person with no nationality. This is because Japan is a signatory to the 1961 UN Convention to reduce statelessness . The Japanese Constitution was written before this, and Article 98 of the Constitution says that Japan must obey the UN Conventions and treaties that it signs: The treaties concluded by Japan and established laws of nations shall be faithfully observed. Thus, the only way to lose Japanese nationality is if you already have another nationality to fall back on. What if it's discovered that one's naturaliza...

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...

credit: Ann Swinderman The December 9th, 2017 article published in the Japan Times' national news section , written by Philip Brasor , is titled with the bold alarming proclamation that: Without an official father, kids can be stateless [in Japan] Is this really true? With the semantics word "can", this is pedantically true, although in reality, many other, much more rarer conditions must also (fail to) be met. Although arguably not an ideal situation, there are countless children born in Japan who receive Japanese nationality at birth even without an official or known father. To be born without a nationality in Japan, many more conditions must not be met (such as, and arguably much more important, like the existence of a birth certificate). What IS true is that when neither jus sanguinis nor jus soli can be used to determine a child's origins, then it is possible that a child may not acquire Japanese nationality immediately at birth. The author of the a...

55% of weddings in Japan are "western" style (2014) Often times, when people learn that I have Japanese nationality, they ask me, "are you married to a Japanese?" When I answer yes, they often say, "oh, that's why," perhaps concluding in their head that it was marriage that enabled me to obtain Japanese nationality. However, many are then surprised to learn that marriage neither leads to automatic conferral of nationality nor is it necessary in order to get Japanese citizenship. Many unmarried people in Japan have an easier time naturalizing than they do acquiring their so-called "permanent" resident status ( 永住者資格 { eijūsha shikaku } ) for their residency in Japan. Historically†, there have been three ways to obtain nationality "automatically", or involuntarily, in the world: by where you were born ( jus soli ; 出生地主義 { shusshōchi shugi } ) by the nationality of your parents ( jus sanguinis ; 血統主義 { kettō shugi }) by ...

Misinfo source: the Beeb & U of Chicago's Tom Ginsburg Yesterday's BBC News Magazine has an article in it, titled "Does it matter where a country's leader is born?" , that had an attributed quote with an example that is 100% untrue: "In some places it's impossible to become a citizen, like Japan." The quote surprisingly came from someone who should know better given his field of expertise and because he was a university lecturer in Japan : a professor and dean who specializes in comparative and international law, Dr. Tom Ginsburg. He is not solely to blame, though. Both the BBC News Magazine as well as the writer of the article should have checked his claims prior to publishing them. The writer of the article, after being informed of the error by this site, quickly edited and removed Dr. Ginsburg's incorrect statement and noted it in the article: @legallyjapanese thanks for drawing my attention to this - the article has been...

Some people have written in asking why diplomats aren't allowed to naturalize in most countries of the world. The reason is that naturalization is not just the bestowing of rights and privileges. It's not just an "award" for time lived in a foreign country, or an acknowledgement of one's parents' nationalities that you inherited. It's a Social Contract that binds a person, going forward until they die or legally give up that nationality , to a sovereign nation's laws. These laws include both current laws and any future laws, that you cannot foresee or expect now, that are created by the legislature — and the responsibilities that those laws create. You may not necessarily be able to necessarily escape those responsibilities by just leaving the country and living or working elsewhere . Those responsibilities could, either now or in the unknown future, include overseas taxation, military conscription, or anything else. When you beco...

Rita Taketsuru Once upon a time in the early 20th century, you couldn't get whisky in Japan. They were all poor Scotch imitations, with artificial flavors and colors, designed for profit more than quality. Japan was known as the country for 日本酒 { Nihon-shu } (saké; literally "Japanese alcohol") and if they drank something besides that, it was beer or wine. Today, however, the Japanese make some of the finest whisky† in the world. The Japanese were excellent and earnest students of the Scotch methods, and these days even the most patriotic Scot begrudgingly admits that they are now masters at crafting the drink. Japan's finest specimens are winning international awards and accolades from the most discerning critics and fans. Japan's whisky is unique because while the peat and environment in northern Hokkaido is similar to that of Scotland, they also sometimes use wood native to Japan for its barrels: モンゴリナラ { Mongorinara } (Japanese oak aka Mizunara ...