Japanese
Citizenship
On Your Own ~ by Ahmad
Tijani
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| April
5, 2005
Japan
I've lived
in Japan for about seven years which is considered a long time by Japanese
people and non-Japanese alike. It is considered a long time because most
people don't come here to stay but rather to experience living in "First
World" Asia and to earn a bit of money. I had always wanted to live outside
the States and had long thought about the possibility of permanently living
outside the United States. I wasn't sure where to look but in middle school
and high school most of my best friends were from Asia as minorities tended
to stick together in my school. I got an introduction to the values of
the region through them and their families. The turning point came during
university when I was having lunch with a friend from the Philippines who
was an international student. I, like most Americans, assumed that when
he finished his studies that he would be staying on in the U.S., but the
reality was different. He told me that he was going back to Cebu. I couldn't
understand why. Surely he could have success in Baltimore or America in
general for that matter. I was about to graduate and so he gave me his
address in Cebu in case I found myself there. For years I wondered why
he was so dead set on going back to Cebu; it was four years from the day
he gave me his address before I found out why. |
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The
Golden Pavilion, Japan
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I made it
to Cebu when I was twenty-five; I was there on a month long vacation. It
was beautiful. The city and the people had a texture that Baltimore could
not begin to match. I knew then why my friend hadn't been impressed with
Baltimore. Baltimore was the dregs of industrialization, while Cebu was
a dynamic port city. I walked around and saw little stalls where people
were actually fixing things. I remembered how many times I had broken necklaces
and thrown them away, but in Cebu people took them to get fixed or sodered.
People sat outside and talked the way people used to do in East Baltimore
where I grew up.
I started to
do some research in order to find out how I could live abroad - my motivation
to do so was enhanced by an impending layoff fom my teaching job in NYC.
In New York I was going through the international want ads in pre-tech
bubble America hoping to find a job. Japan kept appearing in the want ads
of the trusty New York Times and in overseas job journals. So I
interviewed for and got an English teaching job in Japan. When I got to
Japan I never thought I would stay for more than two years. The people
who discouraged me the most on the subject of staying were other foreigners.
I kept my eye on other countries like Singapore, China(Hong Kong), and
the Philippines. I learned that Singapore is very receptive to immigration.
They even have a two year citizenship plan for professionals as well as
permanent residence. At that time Hong Kong's official policy was "Hong
Kong for the Chinese" although you could get a work permit (Ironically,
China announced plans to introduce permanent residency recently). The Philippines
is my wife's country so I could get a work permit on up to citizenship
through my wife. Meanwhile, I was working on getting a renewable one year
work visa with my wife and two children on dependant visas. Time was passing
as I had now been in Japan for four years. My Japanese speaking ability
had improved a lot from that introductory course I taken in my university
days, but it wasn't fluent yet. I was stuck teaching in a public junior
high school, a job I got through a placement company so I wasn't making
much. I was happy living in Japan; it was like the Philippines, but with
better paying jobs. However, I didn't see a visa system in Japan that was
as accessible and efficient as Singapore's. So I kept looking for other
jobs: I applied for jobs in Hong Kong and Singapore again. I applied to
the Singapore Ministry of Education for a public school teaching position.
There seemed to be a future there. I was rejected. I continued my junior
high school/elementary school job and taught classes at night to make ends
meet. Without taking any formal lessons in Japanese I was speaking conversational
Japanese by the end of my fourth year. By this time I decided to take the
Taoist position of not looking to the heavens for hope, but rather
to the grass beneath my feet. Armed with a three year visa from the Department
of Immigration in Japan I made a decision: stay in Japan and go freelance.
Soon after I marched into the local board of education and inquired about
work. I got a part-time job in elementary schools that was direct and independent.
"Direct and independent" meant a placement company would not pull from
my wages. At night and during weekends I continued to do freelance work.
With my job in the Japanese public school system and my freelance work,
I was making much better money.
The next question
I needed to answer was how would my family and I stay in Japan? I read
on the Japanese immigration website that it was possible to get permanent
residency in Japan after having lived in the country for five years consecutively.
I thought that was ticket and went down to the immigration office. I told
the immigration official that I wanted to apply for permanent residency.
He asked me a few questions to determine my eligibility but was stumped,
so he got out the book and asked a few colleagues. Another official was
familiar with my case and said, "You are not married to a Japanese woman
so your case is business. You have to live here for ten years. It's still
early for you." It didn't say that specifically on the website but I didn't
argue but rather thanked them for their time and left. I came back the
next day and talked to the same official I had talked with the day before
and told him that the Ministry of Justice's website says that you can apply
for citizenship after five years. He got the book out and read it, sometimes
aloud and said,"You're right." I said okay I want to do that and then asked
if I could do it there. He said that citizenship is not handled by immigration.
It's a different department called "homu kyoku". He wrote down the phone
number and told me where it was. It turned out to be in the same building
where I had registered my land.
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I went to
the citizenship office and met with an official. We talked for two hours
in Japanese. He asked me why I wanted Japanese citizenship and whether
I was willing to give up my American citizenship. He asked me to take a
test that measured my ability to write in Japanese. After I finished the
test, he told me I had a third graders proficiency in written Japanese
and therefore I could apply for citizenship. He told me that since my case
is that of a person without a Japanese spouse, everthing would be based
on me, not my family. He told me to prepare my tax records in Japan, my
birth certificate, my sister's birth certificate, my parent's divorce papers,
an earnings certificate from all workplaces, a snapshot example of my monthly
earnings, a certificate of citizenship issued by the U.S. consulate for
me and my children, my children's birth certificates, our family registration
certificates from City Hall, additional forms with photos of the family
and asset information, an essay about why I wanted to be Japanese - everthing
not in Japanese has to be translated into Japanese; this can be expensive
if you can't do it yourself - and finally everything has to be submitted
in duplicate form.
It took me
a year to get all the required information collected and submitted. After
many sessions with the immigration official he told me to bring my wife
and children to his office. I did and he asked her in surprisingly well
spoken English whether she cared if I, and the children, became Japanese
without her. She didn't mind because her proficiency in Japanese wasn't
good enough. He told her that she could apply when she felt ready to pass
the written test I had taken a year before. The immigration official told
me that the only things left do were to have a hearing before a judge and
for immigration officials to visit my house and take a look at things.
They will decide in June; until then I have to wait.
The following
are Ahmad's previous articles for the magazine:
 Buying
Property in the Philippines & Japan - The
Steps To Buying Real Estate
Living
In Japan ~ Restoring
A Home In The Japanese Countryside
To contact
Ahmad Click Here.
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