Life in Japan

[Joseph Svinth]

http://www.karuizawa.ne.jp/~farmer/NEWMA/newma.html

[Kamuii]

Delightful reading...I liked it very much, very good indeed. :)

Thanks for leaving the address here Joe!

Arnold

[hyaku]

Originally posted by Joseph Svinth
http://www.karuizawa.ne.jp/~farmer/NEWMA/newma.html
.......................
Thanks from me to.

I didn't quite understand Mr Hersey's comments on Residency and Citizenship.

I have been a resident for some years now and have sponsored people coming over to study MA a yearly basis. This does not mean having to hold a Japanese passport. If you leave Japan without that re-entry visa you break your term of residency and in theory would have to start again. Residency is not something easily obtained. Not even if you are married to a Japanese National.

Citizenship and holding a Japanese passport is something else. As Mr Hersey says dual nationality is not recognized. It was only eighteen years ago that any child who had one foreign parent needed to be registered as an Alien. There are "many" older people in Japan with one parent who is either Korean or Chinese who still have to carry that registration.

I remember one woman who had a Korean parent who was arrested because she refused to be fingerprinted for this registration (16 years ago).

Citizenship is a one year process submitting around twenty various documents and having various interviews and court hearings etc. The end result is "a Japanese passport" there are no real advantages or disadvantages to this process. As a permenant resident or even residing in the country for over a year you are liable to pay taxes etc.

If you pay into the pension scheme you are not fully eligable for a full Japanese pension until something like 23 years.

I also took an adopted name when someone very close to me died of Cancer. The man had opted not to be operated on and said that he was ready to pass on. He had sat with a smile on his face as I repaired the floor in the house so that we could hold his funeral at home. I bathed him, carried him back to the hospital, held his hand to the last and use his name with pride.For me one of the most moving experiences in my life.

However I still also retain the name I was born with. If I gave up that I don't think my parents would be very happy!

Regards Hyakutake-Watkin

[Richard A Tolson]

Hyaku,
I always wondered about the name thing. What a moving story. Sounds like you should wear it with pride!