Registration of marriage - Japan or abroad?

BroX · 14 Apr 2007

Hi all,

I am getting married in Japan (to a Japanese). Main reason for that is that my girlfriend wants to get married in a shrine.

We both live in Sweden, and now I am wondering if there are advantages or disadvantages as to where we would officially register the marriage.

Any opinions on this are most appreciated!

Cheers, Leon.

pipokun · 14 Apr 2007

In Japan, your marriage is not officially registered at shrines or temples, but at local city halls.
I think you girlfriend wants to wear kimono at a shrine. When time and money allows, it may be an idea that you hold ceremonies at both countries.
Happiness does not split, but doubles with the ceremonies in your country and Japan, I think.

Congratulations

Mike Cash · 14 Apr 2007

In Japan, the registration of marriage and the wedding ceremony are two almost entirely unrelated things. Officially, getting married basically just involves going down to your local city hall and filling out a little paperwork. Once you finish that, boom! you're married. No ceremony of any kind is required at all...not even a simple one with a judge or justice of the peace officiating.

Go ahead and take a trip to the city hall and make the marriage official in Japan, as it will help to keep official administrative paperwork (such as family register) in order.

I'm not familiar with the laws of your country, but in addition to having my marriage officially registered in Japan, I went ahead and "remarried" my wife in the United States. So I'm actually "double married".

BroX · 14 Apr 2007

Thanks for the replies!

I know ceremony and official bit are unrelated. Ceremony in shrine has already been decided (yep with kimono, hakama and tabu, I even received the text I'm supposed to speech... better start my Japanese course soon!). Having two ceremonies is definitely not an option. It might double the happiness, but it does split my bank account!

So my question was whether it makes any difference where the official bit is done. Maybe it's a stupid question and there are no (legal?) consequences connected to that? But as I understand from Mike Cash, it is useful to register in Japan to keep the administrative record straight.

Thanks for any contributions!

Cheers

Mike Cash · 14 Apr 2007

If Swedish law allows it, register your marriage in both countries. It's easier than having in the future to arrange for copies of your marriage certificate from Japan (and translations).

Arctic · 15 Apr 2007

Couldn't you and her both get double citizenship if you were offically married in both countries? that is something you want to might look up.. It would be cool I think to have double citizen ship..

BroX · 15 Apr 2007

Arctic said:
Couldn't you and her both get double citizenship if you were offically married in both countries? that is something you want to might look up.. It would be cool I think to have double citizen ship..

No idea if that's possible. I wonder if it's that easy to get a Japanese citizenship. And I think I've read that a double citizenship for Japanese is not allowed, but I might be wrong here. Anyway, what's so cool about a double citizenship?

Cheers

Glenski · 15 Apr 2007

Couldn't you and her both get double citizenship if you were offically married in both countries?

You don't change your citizenship just by getting married. To change your citizenship takes years and many more official procedures, including changing your name.

I agree that you should register your marriage in Japan. If you plan to live here, you will find that getting a spouse visa is much easier that way, too. Your spouse will have to register her change of status on a family register, not just record the marriage at city hall. Family registers are a very official and traditional thing in Japan, so you might as well keep things in line. Go ahead and get married (officially) again in Sweden if you like.

Hiroyuki Nagashima · 15 Apr 2007

Congratulations on your wedding day
Because the English explanation of a wedding ceremony in front of a Japanese God is written in six pages of this magazine, please refer to it.

http://go-fubar.kyushu.com/mag_en/articles/97/

NekoMama7 · 18 Apr 2007

Regarding the paperwork, check with Swedish Embassy in Japan about the procedures.

Chipi · 18 May 2007

Brox.. keep us updated will you, about your decision and how everything went, ok?

..we're in a way "neighbours" (i'm finnish) so might be helpful to know

sanji · 18 May 2007

Basically, you get first married in one country, and then you register the wedding in the other. You should do this registration, as is might be useful in the future (children, ...).

It is normally much easier to get the paperwork done in the country you are living in. And then register it at the Japanese embassy.

If you choose to have the official wedding done in Japan, keep in mind that Japanese authorities will ask you an official document from your own country to justify that your marriage will be legal. Such document is not always easy to get: while US citizen just go to their embassy and sign a paper attesting they are not already married, most of the countried - especially in Europe - gather several document at their embassy in Tokyo and send them back to your home country for extra checking. This takes usually a couple of months. So if you are not living in Japan, this is not an option...

sanji

lenajiang · 19 May 2007

I can't help you deal the problem you mentioned! At here ,i wish your family happy all the time ! congratulations

Davey · 19 May 2007

register it in both countries is my advice.

Pepe · 21 May 2007

As Mike Cash and Dutch Baka have said, register in both countries. That way while in Sweden both of you are then entitled to all the perks of being married (tax breaks, lower insurance rates etc.), and if you decide to do a stint in Japan, your marriage is official there too.
How is it with registrations in Sweden - is it the same as in Germany where the happy couple goes to a small office to co-sign a marriage certificate? If so, then you can use that opportunity to invite friends that couldn't make it to the wedding in Japan.
BTW, congrats, may you two live a long and happy life together!

Registration of marriage - Japan or abroad?

BroX

後輩

pipokun

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

BroX

後輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Arctic

後輩

BroX

後輩

Glenski

Just me

Hiroyuki Nagashima

TAN

NekoMama7

Crazy Cat Lady

Chipi

Yancha

sanji

secret-japan.com

lenajiang

先輩

Davey

先輩

Pepe

先輩

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