Japanese Society

I have just read a comment by a girl who has two nationalities, namely the British and the Japanese one. She wrote too that she has to decide which nationality she takes after the age of 21 due to Japanese law. Why Japanese law doesn't accept two or more nationalities? I would love to know the reason.

I have just read a comment by a girl who has two nationalities, namely the British and the Japanese one. She wrote too that she has to decide which nationality she takes after the age of 21 due to Japanese law. Why Japanese law doesn't accept two or more nationalities? I would love to know the reason.

I think Kallisto you are referring to the thread Re: What nationality are you?(...)

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The idea of having dual-citizenship somewhat muddies the situation of who is 'truly' Japanese.
That would be my speculation, but there are increasing crumbles from people in both the Diet and public about rectifying this law.
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I've been studying Japanese for 4 years, I would say that I am between N2 and N1. It would be very very difficult (although I wouldn't say impossible) to be N1 level in 3 years. It will take an immense amount of daily dedication, mostly on reading (so kanji, and grammar are best to focus on to pass the test) ganbare!

ALT work is a popular choice, and being able to speak Japanese is a bonus. If you get to N1 level, you'd be able to do translation work, which pays a lot My advice is to let your studies guide you to the area of Japanese studies that you'll become interested in, and eventually find work in that area. Good luck

Thanks, I appreciate it

Speaking Japanese as an ALT is optional?! That was surprising. I did some searching and apparently so... you can teach English in Japanese schools without knowing how to speak Japanese D: I suppose it would be fine during elementary school, but at junior and senior high, having lessons taught entirely in English may be asking a bit much from the students IMO. I found this ALT's site quite interesting http://lostteacherinjapan.weebly.com/

In any case, I'll definitely take your advice. I want to let my interests direct my learning, which hopefully direct me to good work opportunities. Thanks again for the insight.

In elementary school you usually teach alone but in junior and senior high school you will almost always teach with a Japanese teacher of English. In junior high school you ALWAYS teach with another teacher. At high school, there is always another teacher in the classroom but sometimes they will sit back and let you teach by yourself.

The Japanese law is always on my mind. And I consider what will happen under certain circumstances. Let's say, just hypothetically, there is a Japanese who is 20 years old and left Japan (who has the only nationality) in the same age and moved to England for instance. Then he lives over eight years there and he wants to acquire the English citizenship, he is 28 years old by now. Is it still possible for Japanese embassy to intervene?

(...) If the Japanese Embassy or some other Japanese body dealing with citizenship found out about this they could threaten to withhold that persons citizenship unless they renounce their English citizenship.

And what do you think about that? as far as I know its allowed in many countries to take a multi citizenship. I stick to it: in my point of view the law is conservative.

And what do you think about that? as far as I know its allowed in many countries to take a multi citizenship. I stick to it: in my point of view the law is conservative.

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If you go back not too long ago in Japan, I believe that you had to change your surname to a Japanese one if you wanted to become a nationalised citizen and if you were of Korean ancestry you had to carry id with you with your thumb print on it. I’m glad both these things have changed.
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Really? that is a horrible imagination! do I have this right that I would have to give my German surname up and to accept a Japanese replacement, if I would have to take a Japanese citizenship? I'm glad too that this rule in the Japanese law was abolished.

All in all I agree to your comment, especially the part of ethnicity. No matter what nationality is written in my passport, it cannot replace my true ancestry. You have convinced me.

(...) As the previous poster said, Japan is evolving (though slowly) all the time and many of the conservative throwbacks from when Japan was not as "international" as it is now, are being challenged. Although Japan is still almost homogenous, year-on-year more and more foreign nationals are settling there and more mixed marriages are occurring. It's almost inevitable that in the future pressure will be placed on the government and things will change. At the moment, there is no real pressure and so no incentive for politicians to chase this issue.

From this point of view I must admit that I was wrong to Japan. I didn't know the changes in Japan. So I take my view about the island country back. Japan is less conservative than I thought.

I passed N1 3.5 years after starting learning Japanese. I think that the level of N1 is heavily overestimated. I would call it intermediate level.

In other words: Japan is a very proud nation which want to keep pedigree Japanese people both in and out of Japan. No matter what you say: this law is obsolete and racist. The times in which Japan believed in superiority towards other nations of Asia (and the world) are over. This law is a remnant of this time. In my opinion no country in the whole world has the right to fix the nationality of (Japanese) people, especially I consider it is out of Japan.

I've passed N1 too. I can also agree that it is more of an intermediate level. It does not mean you can just jump into reading novels/newspapers without any hitch. Also it does not test your speaking/writing at all.