Becoming Japanese

Colombia is the only South American country that has a coast on the Pacific Ocean & Caribbean Sea Hi, my name is ロドリゲス オスカル { RODORIGESU Osukaru } , a Colombian-born, Japanese national. As you can probably infer from my name, I have no Japanese, or any kind of Asian ancestry. Prior to arriving in Japan on 2008, I had no particular connections to Japan, yet here I am, as a naturalized Japanese national. I left Colombia on some pretty good terms. Without being particularly wealthy, I was a 20-something professional working in IT in Colombia when I decided to come to Japan as a graduate student. I still am in very good terms with my family and friends back there, and I visit about once every two years-ish as budget allows. ( ｲﾒｰｼﾞ { imēji } : not actually the author of this post) Unlike many people who naturalize, I didn't have permanent residence when I applied; I had been on a renewable 技術 { gijutsu } or "Engineer" status of residence, working for ...

One dot represents about 30,000 people. Geographic distribution is artificial. Dot representative population graph derived from 2016 data from the SBJ , MoJ , JTO & JEES Look at this dot map. What do you see? No, it is not a Rorschach Inkblot Test. This is a graphical representation of the amount of "visibly foreign" (people who most people would not consider to be of the phenotype / race "east Asian" skin / hair / eye color) people in Japan in 2016. Try spotting the red and yellow dots in the map (those who can speak Japanese). Those dots statistically represent the people-of-foreign-origin or nationality that can understand Japanese — although it does not represent where they actually live. Not many of them, right? (If you're wondering why the colors I chose are hard to see, especially the brightness between gray & black and the colorblind traits of blue & yellow: that was intentional as in real life, it is not easy to differentiate ...

Last year in autumn a Canadian professional videographer by the name of +Greg Lam  , who creates content for a very interesting YouTube channel called "Life Where I'm From" , asked if he could interview me in my home in my man-cave/home office (the other two walls have whisky and computers instead of books). It took some time to edit the footage, but I think he did a wonderful job of making a very wonky and dull subject (Japanese naturalization and me) into something that is easy to watch and entertaining. The ten minute glossy abridged version is here: The longer, almost unabridged, one hour version, is here: If you enjoy his videos and wish to support his work, you can do so via Patreon . If you're a business and need professional video work, you can contact his business, Small Biz Doer Videos.

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...

For many people, their first official romanisation Despite its widespread use in bilingual signage at stations, government buildings and facilities, etc., it can come as a surprise to learn that the latin alphabet is not actually used in Japan in any official capacity. What this means for native born citizens is that until they apply for either a passport or a credit card, there is no official way to render their names internationally. A lack of official use does not mean a lack of guidelines though. When applying for a first passport, the guidelines state quite specifically that the name has to be rendered in strict accordance with the strictest interpretation of the Hepburn convention. And while the Hepburn convention for the most part does a perfectly decent job of presenting Japanese words in a way that English speakers in particular can pronounce almost recognisably, there are times when a little flexibility is desirable. For example, the "Ō" in 大澤 Ōsawa is pronou...

photo used under license from iStock/Getty Since Donald Trump was elected president by the electoral college, many U.S. columnists have been writing columns about emigrating to other countries. Some of these are tongue in cheek, poking fun of celebrities and people passionate about politics who threaten to leave America if their candidate of choice does not get elected (this happens every four years during every election, by the way). Others are dead serious. In these articles, the normal destination country of choice for Americans is Canada. Interestingly, during this cycle, a few journalists and bloggers have actually written about Japan as being a prospective target for immigration for well-to-do liberal mobile American globalists. The interest in Japan as a target for immigration is due to the recent announcement in the slight relaxation in the path to permanent residency status via points system rules making waves in the press. A points system for immigration is not novel ...

Let me start by telling you: YES! It is possible! And ALL you need are 3 things. Language knowledge  A stable income  A sincere reason WHY do you want to be a Japanese citizen.  Many people, even the officers at the 法務局 { hōmukyoku } (Legal Affairs Bureau) will tell you that your chances to get accepted are low compare to descendants or spouses of Japanese Nationals. However THAT'S NOT TRUE. There I was, 27 years old, female, full-time worker, and single. The only advantage I might have had was the fact that I was already a permanent resident. No need for visa to work or re-enter to Japan. The only difference with a citizen is that I didn’t have the right to vote. And that’s it. I could have lived here forever without any troubles. Then why becoming Japanese? I have been living in Japan for 13 years, arrived here with my family (all foreigners) when I was 16 years old. Went to high school, got my bachelor’s degree and started working for the...