US citizen here, have been actively preparing for a permanent move to Japan with my Japanese citizen spouse, dual citizenship toddler, and our dog for the past 6 months. We are fortunate enough to have the money and legal pathway to do it, and it has still been one of the most stressful experiences (if not the most) of my life.
We’ve had to:
Sell our house,
Sell our two cars,
Get rid of all our belongings (gave most of them away because it’s just too time consuming to try and sell everything),
Apply for a certificate of eligibility for my visa
Apply for my visa,
Get all the vaccinations and paperwork for our dog and wait 6 months after getting them done,
Make arrangements for the dog’s overseas travel,
Buy our airline tickets,
Find an apartment in Japan without being able to see it in person,
Find work in Japan,
Find a preschool for our kid in Japan,
Have to enter Japan within 3 months of my visa being issued (but NOT sooner than 180 days after the dog gets his 2nd rabies shot and bloodwork results),
Etc.
And if we make a mistake on any one of those steps or get delayed and miss our 3-month window, we have to do half of the steps again.
All while continuing to work full time and with a move from our house to the apartment in the middle.
We are close to the finish line, but it has pushed us all to the absolute edges of our mental and physical limits. And again, we are extremely fortunate to have enough savings and equity in our home to even be able to try this…
For the average US citizen, I’d say it’s nearly impossible.
Yeah, but isn’t Japan about the toughest country on Earth to emigrate to? I’d have a nervous breakdown going through all that. I have a special hatred for rules and forms and legal doings.
No? I just hate legal and governmental obligations. Day-to-day life is fine. I can hate work if it’s a “lawful” kinda place, but I don’t last in those places anyway.
For jobs I have my “Hawkeye Pierce Theory of Work”. Be so damned good they can’t get rid of you and have to let your fuckups slide. Been working great for me!
I read that you can’t hold multiple citizenships as a citizen of Japan. So I’d imagine your kid will be forced to give one up when they become an adult?
This is actually a very fun legal loophole for Japanese citizens. The Japanese law as written states you cannot gain citizenship to a country and remain a Japanese citizen, but because of US law, you aren’t voluntarily a citizen when you are born, you just are a citizen. So as long as you don’t renounce your Japanese citizenship you can remain a citizen of both.
This is actually a very fun legal loophole for Japanese citizens. The Japanese law as written states you cannot gain citizenship to a country and remain a Japanese citizen, but because of US law, you aren’t voluntarily a citizen when you are born, you just are a citizen. So as long as you don’t renounce your Japanese citizenship you can remain a citizen of both.
Dual citizenship of Japan and another country is prohibited in some cases due to the provisions for loss of Japanese nationality when a Japanese national naturalizes in another country (see “Loss of citizenship” above), and the requirement to renounce one’s existing citizenships when naturalizing in Japan (see “Naturalization” above). There are still some ways in which a person may have dual citizenship of Japan and another country, including:
They acquire multiple citizenships at birth, such as being born to a non-Japanese citizen parent and acquiring that parent’s citizenship as a result of that country’s laws or by being born in a jus soli country. However, they must choose one citizenship/nationality before the age of 22 or within two years if the second citizenship is acquired after the age of 20, or they may lose their Japanese nationality (see “Loss of citizenship” above), although this is often circumvented by dual Japanese citizens not using a foreign passport when entering or leaving Japan.
In practice, dual nationality may also be maintained with states not recognized by Japan such as in the cases of North Korean or Taiwanese dual nationality as the Japanese Ministry of Justice does not recognize either North Korean or Taiwanese citizenships.
Could have been worse, you could be a white person trying to find a place to live in Japan in person. There are lots of places that would not be open to you.
Yeah, I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of racism in Japan. Mostly micro-aggression / implicit bias type of stuff, but a few intentional instances as well.
I’ve been studying / speaking / reading / writing Japanese for 25 years. Lived there for 6 years, and used Japanese exclusively at work for 3 years after coming back to the states. So no big issues language-wise.
I was never a huge anime person until my wife and I started watching some during covid. We’re definitely anime people now.
US citizen here, have been actively preparing for a permanent move to Japan with my Japanese citizen spouse, dual citizenship toddler, and our dog for the past 6 months. We are fortunate enough to have the money and legal pathway to do it, and it has still been one of the most stressful experiences (if not the most) of my life.
We’ve had to:
Sell our house, Sell our two cars, Get rid of all our belongings (gave most of them away because it’s just too time consuming to try and sell everything), Apply for a certificate of eligibility for my visa Apply for my visa, Get all the vaccinations and paperwork for our dog and wait 6 months after getting them done, Make arrangements for the dog’s overseas travel, Buy our airline tickets, Find an apartment in Japan without being able to see it in person, Find work in Japan, Find a preschool for our kid in Japan, Have to enter Japan within 3 months of my visa being issued (but NOT sooner than 180 days after the dog gets his 2nd rabies shot and bloodwork results), Etc.
And if we make a mistake on any one of those steps or get delayed and miss our 3-month window, we have to do half of the steps again.
All while continuing to work full time and with a move from our house to the apartment in the middle.
We are close to the finish line, but it has pushed us all to the absolute edges of our mental and physical limits. And again, we are extremely fortunate to have enough savings and equity in our home to even be able to try this…
For the average US citizen, I’d say it’s nearly impossible.
Yeah, but isn’t Japan about the toughest country on Earth to emigrate to? I’d have a nervous breakdown going through all that. I have a special hatred for rules and forms and legal doings.
Doesn’t that mean you hate life in general? Every second of every day is performative nonsense.
No? I just hate legal and governmental obligations. Day-to-day life is fine. I can hate work if it’s a “lawful” kinda place, but I don’t last in those places anyway.
For jobs I have my “Hawkeye Pierce Theory of Work”. Be so damned good they can’t get rid of you and have to let your fuckups slide. Been working great for me!
I read that you can’t hold multiple citizenships as a citizen of Japan. So I’d imagine your kid will be forced to give one up when they become an adult?
This is actually a very fun legal loophole for Japanese citizens. The Japanese law as written states you cannot gain citizenship to a country and remain a Japanese citizen, but because of US law, you aren’t voluntarily a citizen when you are born, you just are a citizen. So as long as you don’t renounce your Japanese citizenship you can remain a citizen of both.
I heard its by age 22
2 decades to decide
This is actually a very fun legal loophole for Japanese citizens. The Japanese law as written states you cannot gain citizenship to a country and remain a Japanese citizen, but because of US law, you aren’t voluntarily a citizen when you are born, you just are a citizen. So as long as you don’t renounce your Japanese citizenship you can remain a citizen of both.
Not really a loophole, more like legal grey area stuff that is hard to enforce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nationality_law#Dual_nationality
Could have been worse, you could be a white person trying to find a place to live in Japan in person. There are lots of places that would not be open to you.
Yeah, I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of racism in Japan. Mostly micro-aggression / implicit bias type of stuff, but a few intentional instances as well.
Not looking forward to that.
Something you can look forward to: you get to watch anime without subtitles after you learn Japanese :P
I’ve been studying / speaking / reading / writing Japanese for 25 years. Lived there for 6 years, and used Japanese exclusively at work for 3 years after coming back to the states. So no big issues language-wise.
I was never a huge anime person until my wife and I started watching some during covid. We’re definitely anime people now.
My thing was always Japanese arcade games.