Regarding adopting a new Japanese name

3 comments

1. >I am planning to adopt a Japanese name on my zairyu card/use it immediately instead of changing name afterwards.

   You can’t do that.

   The name on your zairyu card (and all your other documents in Japan) is the name on your passport.

   >Am I required to change my name of current legal documents such as ID card and passport?

   Yes. In order to legally change your name as a foreigner in Japan you need to change the name on your passport.

   >I also have a Chinese name with Kanji

   But do you have a Chinese, Taiwanese, or Korean passport?

   If you don’t have one of those passports you don’t have a kanji name as far as Japan is concerned.

2. hi, use your chinese name so you can in fact use kanji on various forms. it’s almost certainly going to cause less problems than an english name or japanese-sounding alias.

   also if you have a japanese sounding name and no koseki people will think you’re sus.

3. Assuming you have a Chinese name with kanji, you will use that same kanji on all of your ID. Japanese people will likely pronounce your name differently, and you can just go with that as far as how people identify you at school or you can insist they use your Chinese pronunciation.

   All of my Chinese friends just accept Japanese people calling them by the Japanese pronunciation of their name since it’s easier, but on official documents, they always use romaji/katakana of their Chinese pronunciation