Hi all,
Currently exploring the possibility of travelling to Japan on a Japanese passport that I hold in duality with my second nationality (over the age of 22).
However, my name on my foreign passport is:
* Surname1 FirstName Middlename
Whereas my Japanese passport has:
* Surname2 (Surname1) Firstname Middlename.
Meaning at some point my plane ticket/vaccine certificate/PCR test and passport wont match.
My mother has a similar format on her passport and she has said she experienced some trouble in the past when booking and trying to fly on a ticket with only her marital surname.
Does anyone have experience travelling in a similar situation?
EDIT: I ended up getting all the documents needed to enter Japan printed with my Japanese name (Vax cert, PCR cert etc) I also booked the plane ticket in my Japanese name. The only time I used the foreign passport was clearing immigration on my way out of that country.
The PCR test on arrival procedure was annoying but no issues, highly recommend having fast track completed (green state). Immigration was practically instantaneous through and e-gate, I also asked one of the staff to stamp the passport as you may need proof of immigration to rent an apartment etc.
11 comments
Yeah, Japan is notorious for not liking documents that do not have the exact same name.
For example when foreigners do their residence card, they have to use the exact same name as in their passport and they will have to use the exact same name on all official documents, like banking and such. Then you can read story of people who have problem because they have documents like driver licence that have a different name than in their passport (for example middle name only in passport).
Can it cause problem ? Yes. Will it cause problem ? Who knows.
You’ll probably find the most helpful answers by asking this question in the [Return to Japan Facebook Group.](https://www.facebook.com/groups/returntojapan/?ref=share)
My names on my Japanese and foreign passports are completely different, and I didn’t have any trouble when I went to Japan last summer.
Make sure when you book your ticket and when you’re filling out the “Certificate of Testing for COVID-19” form that you use the information from your Japanese passport exactly. They checked to make sure that the info matched before I was allowed to board the plane last year. They weren’t checking vaccine cards at all then, so I’m not sure how that would work if they are now.
just do all that stuff using your japanese passport. ticket booking, test, etc
source: that’s what every dualie i know does
If you are traveling to Japan. You should use your Japanese passport. Do not show your secondary passport.
Your documents should all fall in the same format as the Japanese passport.
When I flew in October, they checked my passport and PCR test many times. Prior to boarding the plane and when I landed, at least 3 people have checked it.
As others have said, when traveling to Japan, do everything on your Japanese passport. The Japanese passport is what says you are a citizen and can enter Japan which is what everyone wants to confirm. The only time you really need your US passport is flying into the US.
We only ever use my son’s(US/Japan dual citizen under 18) US passport when flying into the US. When we arrive to fly from the US to Japan, we present his Japanese passport at every ID check.
You don’t show both passports, so no, it won’t be a problem.
you should only show your japanese passport for all travel to japan, since dual nationality is not recognized by japan. ive heard cases of people showing both passports and they had to decide on the spot at the border which nationality they wanted to keep
For flight bookings you don’t usually use more than two names and airline staff are used to people having more than two.
Immigration procedures upon arrival:
– First they don’t care about your flight booking. All that will matter is vaccine certificate/PCR test.
– When you are taking the PCR test you can ask it to be with your Japanese passport info. But even that is not critical.
– Given that your Japanese passport has 3 of the names that are on all the other documents, I don’t think you’ll have any issues.
Why do you have two surnames? Is one Kanji?
I just traveled to Japan using my Japanese passport (which uses my middle Japanese name as my first name) and was not a problem. My airline ticket had both my American first name and Japanese middle name if I remember correctly. I did not show my us passport but will use the US passport to enter the US