Foreigners Changing Name to Japanese Name

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:

Besides creation of a family name,
Think about your new family coat of arms?
【綾鷹（あやたか）】−急須でいれたような、にごりの旨み

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That would definitely point to commitment!

Mikawa Ossan said:

It might be best to suck it up and wait on the name change for a while, and then after being married for say a year apply for citizenship. If my application is accepted, I could change my name at that point to hers.

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I thought if you became a Japanese citizen, you would have to renounce your US citizenship?

I may be wrong but if my memory serves, my Canadian friend in Japan renounced his when becoming Japanese.

Mikawa Ossan said:

Nah. I still will live in Mikawa for the time being, and every day it gets that much harder to say I'm not an ossan....
Back on topic!
As a U.S. citizen, I am quite certain that I would have to change my name at my "state of residence". The only problem is that I don't reside in any state, nor have I for some time. I could always use my parents' address, but I highly doubt I could ever get enough vacation to file the paperwork and be able to make the court date. It's starting to look like that will be the biggest obstacle.
It might be best to suck it up and wait on the name change for a while, and then after being married for say a year apply for citizenship. If my application is accepted, I could change my name at that point to hers.

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No you don't, only if you register your marrage in America will you have to do this. From what I understand is that once you make the name change at City hall on you "kosekitouhon", they will issue you a change of name on the back of your existing alien card and you will be able to keep your passport the way it is as it is not required after you have initially registered(which you have done many years ago) . Then when getting the new card they issue you it with the info they already have. (I may be wrong, but from what I found out thats what could be done)

Kyoto Returnee said:

I thought if you became a Japanese citizen, you would have to renounce your US citizenship?

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Simply put, yes, that is correct. But that's something that I am willing to do.

FrustratedDave said:

No you don't, only if you register your marrage in America will you have to do this. From what I understand is that once you make the name change at City hall on you "kosekitouhon", they will issue you a change of name on the back of your existing alien card and you will be able to keep your passport the way it is as it is not required after you have initially registered(which you have done many years ago) .

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Are you saying that a non-Japanese citizen can legally change his or her name using the Japanese legal system? somehow, I find that hard to believe (although I realize that whether or not I believe it or not doesn't affect the factuality of what you said).

Mikawa Ossan said:

Simply put, yes, that is correct. But that's something that I am willing to do.

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All good luck for you if you feel stronger for Japan than your country of birth..

Kyoto Returnee said:

All good luck for you if you feel stronger for Japan than your country of birth..

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Why do you assume that's the reason he's considering a change in nationality?

There's a lot of good reasons to do it depending on your personal situation and future plans.

Kyoto Returnee said:

All good luck for you if you feel stronger for Japan than your country of birth..

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If we had decided to live in America and raise our family there, I would expect no less from her. If I was not willing to take on the citizenship of the country of my wife if it came to it, then in my humble opinion I would have no business marrying her in the first place.

When one gets married, one pledges one's life and all that entails to that partner and the ensuing family. Anything less is shortchanging one's partner and their family.

I feel stronger for my future family than I do for my country of birth, without reservation. My future family will be in Japan, as she doesn't speak any English, doesn't know a soul in America, doesn't have any hopes or job in America, but I do speak Japanese, I have friends here, I have a job and hopes here in Japan. Also, she comes from a family with no sons. Her sister married into her husband's family. That means that her family is facing its possible end. I have brothers, and they will/are carrying on the family name. We can not continue her family in America, and we might not be able to do it properly if I am not of Japanese nationality.

If my ancestors had not decided to change their citizenship to that of America, I would never have been born. I owe no less to my decendants.

I always figured I was a citizen of the country I was born and the culture I feel.

I honestly think I could never adopt a different nationality.

In Australia you can be a permanant resident without the need of citizenship.

My wife is Japanese, but is a permanant Australian resident.

She said she would never become an Australian citizen, and I totally udnerstand.

My parents are not Australian citizens.

Japan is a totally different kettle of fish as they will not allow dual nationality and one HAS to choose which I do not agree with..

Bloody stupid..

Mikawa Ossan said:

Simply put, yes, that is correct. But that's something that I am willing to do.
Are you saying that a non-Japanese citizen can legally change his or her name using the Japanese legal system? somehow, I find that hard to believe (although I realize that whether or not I believe it or not doesn't affect the factuality of what you said).

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I don't understand the question. What do you mean by "use the Japnese legal system" ?

FrustratedDave said:

I don't understand the question. What do you mean by "use the Japnese legal system" ?

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No problem.

I'll spell it out much more simply than I need to just to avoid any misunderstandings.

Let's say her family name is Tanaka and mine is Smith. She is a Japanese citizen, and I am an American citizen.

When we get married, we have decided that I will enter her family. Being a foreigner, this is actually the default from what I understand in terms of koseki, but we want to do it completely.

At that time, I will change my family name to Tanaka. However, being a non-Japanese citizen, I think that I can not legally change my name as far as the U.S. government is concerned (for such things as my Social Security number, taxes, etc.) unless I do it in America.

Changing my name at city hall here in Japan (if that's possible) would possibly change my name as far as the Japanese government is concerned (for such things as insurance, pension, taxes, etc.), but I don't think it would be valid in the U.S.

"Using the Japanese legal system" means changing my name at city hall here in Japan. "Using the American legal system" means doing it in the U.S.

I could be wrong in that changing your name at city hall, even as a foreigner, could possibly be valid in the U.S., but I don't know. There must be a way for expats to change their names even if they are not residents of the U.S....

I do plan to talk to a lawyer about this when I visit my parents next month. Hopefully that will straigten things out on the U.S. side. I think I should consult a lawyer here in Japan, as well. I know or can find out easily how things work for Japanese people, but finding it out for foreigners is proving to be quite a challenge. Registering the marriage itself is a piece of cake compared to the name issue.

Just call up the US Embassy or a local consulate if you're outside of Tokyo. That should clear things up instantly.

Mikawa Ossan said:

No problem.

I'll spell it out much more simply than I need to just to avoid any misunderstandings.


Changing my name at city hall here in Japan (if that's possible) would possibly change my name as far as the Japanese government is concerned (for such things as insurance, pension, taxes, etc.), but I don't think it would be valid in the U.S.

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It is very possible in Japan, but possibly not at a city hall.

I am fairly positive that you will need to go through a court of some type their..

Agree with KR, I think you should go to a family court for that. Ask your Embassy and the local city hall for more information.

Mikawa, thanks for the clarification.
I see what you mean now. Ok, from what I understand I believe you can do most things neccesary at your embassy, you will need to bring your marraige certificate (Japanese one) . You should then be required to register your marraige in the US, then apply to have your name changed on your passport. You will need to notifiy the social security department(I don't know if the embassy can do this for you) and any other relevant govermental agencies(I believe you have to go to the department of motor vehicles in person to change your licence).
From what I understand there is no need to go to court to do what you want to do, due to the fact that a marraige certificate is a legal binding document.

Well, yesterday I called the councilate in Osaka, and they said that changing your name UPON MARRIAGE is extremely easy. We didn't go so far as discuss whether kanji was an option or not, but according to the lady I talked to, it's not uncommon at all for the American husband to change his name to that of his wife's upon marriage. However, most times the man will try to change his name back after some time, and that is much much more difficult.

She outlined some of the other problems I could potentially face. For example, future potential employers would be likely to assume that I am a nikkeijin and be disappointed to find out that I'm not. Also, should we move to America in the future there could be problems. She had some good points.

She advised me to think it over and talk more with my wife to be. She was sold on the idea of my wife to be keeping her name as it is on the family register and putting my last name behind it in parenthsis, as that would be the most flexible way to go about things in the future.

The problem is that I am categorically opposed to having two different family names with my wife. Other people can do what they think is best for their situation, but for myself one family means one name. If she took on my name there would be no problem, but then her family will end with her. Marrying her means that I have to look after her family as if it were my own, and that partly means helping to preserve the family.

Good to hear Mikawa. And to to clarify, I think the problems that the lady at city office was talking about, is how to go about the name change in America. But I am pretty sure that the biggest problem would be the amount of paper work that you would have to do. I don't believe you will have to go to court as you will be married and all you will need to do register that marraige in the US and go through the necessary steps like I stated before. Obviously you you check this out yourself.

I agree with the one last name thing too.

BTW, I told you it was easy!

Just for the sake of closure, I'll tell you what's happening on this front.

I need to submit an official certificate of marriage (notarized English translation, too, of course) along with an application for name change along with my passport to the proper authorities to get the name changed legally in America, and the rest is dependent on having that done.

A piece of cake, but as the lady at the embassy said, if I ever have second thoughts, it'll be nothing but blood and tears to get it changed again.

I don't know it is a big decision, I would think it through.

I think this worked.

I am in a similar situation. I was married in April and we decided that we wanted our name hyphenated. She kept her name on the day of the certificate but I went to the consulate and changed my name in America to our hyphenated name. Now I am waiting for my new gaijin card with the new name on it and my marriage certificate has already been changed. Once I get my new card and get my visa changed to my new passport, she will go to the ward office and change her name to mine (which will be our hyphenated name). Don't know how it will turn out but we will see.

Hyphenated name, huh? Wow, the two of you are braver than I am. Good luck! Once the name change is completely finalized, please feel free to post here with your experiences on what it's like to live in Japan with a hypehnated name!

Frustrated Dave, thanks. I've already explained my reasons for changing my name, so you see it's either her or me, and since we plan to live in Japan...

'Tis a difficult question that. We haven't quite decided yet on how we shall do it either. Although we do still have some time before we have to make a decision, it is proving difficult nonetheless.

you may need to change your given name too

I took my wife's family name when I got married.

With all the press about the illegality of keeping ones maiden name after marriage in Japan ("bessei kekkon"), and being opposed to "bessei kekkon" myself, I thougth that I would be able to change my name to my wife's name using the Japanese system upon marriage.

However, since I am not Japanese and do not have a "koseki" (domicillary register) I can not merge our "kosekis" to be registered on the koseki of my wife. I instead a footnote. It says on my wife's koseki that she has married a gaijin.

Unperturbed, I changed my name under British law (which is as easy as writing a letter to yourself called a deed poll of change of name, and then getting ones passport/bank etc changed).

Once my passport was changed, I was then called by my wifes name in Japan but NOT with Japanese characters since it was changed and registered under the British system. If I wanted to have the Kanji officially, I would need to become a Japanese national.

I am allowed to put my wife's name in Japanese characters as my handle/nickname "tsuusho" on the back of my gaijin card, and for the most part my employer and others agree to write my family name using Kanji.

HOWEVER, and here is the big minus, I find that now that I have a Japanese family name and an English given name, a great many Japanese choose to call me by my given name even in formal contexts.

I usually write my name in Japanese word order in Kanji followed by English letters. Sort of like this 田中Larry. When I had an English name I used to write my name in the same Japanese order and people had no problem calling me by my family name. Now however, the majority of Japanese people call me "Larry-san." Some claim that they think that my surname must be the Larry. It seems to me, however, for the most part it just grates with them calling me by a Japanese name when I am clearly not of Japanese descent.

No one else at my place of work is called by their first name. My workmates are unable to pronounce my Englsih first name. My Japanese surname is a common one. And yet, I am still called the equivalent of "Larry-san."

Recently there was a drive to be fair to women and not "chan-zuke" (call them ~chan) them. I asked our equal opportunities board to add to this campaign the drive to avoid calling non-Japanese by their first names (unless they specifically asked to be so called) but so far my request has been met with misapprehension: "It is true that some gaijin may prefer to be called by their surname but others may not. We will discuss this further." I tried to explain that it was not a matter of preference (some women may prefer to be called ~chan) but being treated equally, but this did not wash.

Even worse the member of the anti-discrimination board whom I approached has taken to giving me a lesson in Japanese manners. Eww.

My English surname was even more difficult to pronounce than my first name. I thought that giving myself a Japanese name would make it easier for people to call me something. But so far I have not found that this strategy has been very successful. Lately, in spite of myself, I have been finding it rather upsetting.

Perhaps I will change my given name to Youhei, Takeshi or something. That will stump them But I bet it would be years before workmates cease calling me "Larry-san," at least when I am not present.

At least they don't "yobisute" you. Thats a bonus.

Very true. To be honest I always get called the equivalent of "Rari-sensei," by my colleagues.

FrustratedDave said:

Mikawa, no you don't have to become a naturalized citizen to change your name to kanji or kana. All you need to do is make a "hanko" and get it registered at city hall, then have them change your info on the "kosekitouhon". It is that simple. BUT, if you are changing your name to how it reads through out the rest of the world, then you need to go through the neccesary proceedures in your country of citizenship, or as you say become a naturalized Japanese citizen and it will be done for you.

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If you're staying in Japan for a long time, I've heard its a courtesy to get a hanko so that people can pronounce your name properly.

I.e, my name is McLeod (Mick-cloud) but I should be known as Mikuroudo in Japan.

Am I understanding you correctly?