At least from what I see online, Japanese citizenship is fairly straightforward to apply for. No need for PR to apply for citizenship, no citizenship test, etc. All you need to do is live here for five years, speak basic Japanese, and be employed, and have a clean record. Almost all applications that are in order, are approved.
Obviously, I understand why Europeans and Americans wouldn’t naturalize, as they do not want to give up their citizenship in developed countries. But I do not see why many Nepalese, Indian, Vietnamese, and Filipino workers here don’t apply for Japanese citizenship after living here for five years (and who usually speak the necessary level of Japanese, owing to working in service jobs).
They would have citizenship in a far more developed, prosperous, and stable country than their home countries. They would have the most powerful passport in the world, not just for travel but also if they wanted to move to another developed country on a working holiday/self-employed visa. And even though they’d have to renounce their old citizenship, they could easily get residence permits to go back to their home countries if they ever wanted to do so.
Back home in the US, where you need permanent residence, five years of living in the US after getting that, and a citizenship test, over 85% of those eligible to get US citizenship get it.
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Many Nepalese, etc have their applications denied for whatever reason. They can usually get by without changing citizenship. I only know middle easterners and Chinese who have changed, South East /Asians have a higher rate of denial from what they’ve told me.
They do, but, because the majority of foreigners in Japan are outside the anglo/eigosphere you don’t hear about it because you’re stuck in the anglo/eigosphere.
I am Indian and recently moved to the US to pursue a PhD after living in Japan for 5 years. I worked as a research scientist and miss my life in Japan everyday but couldn’t see myself living there longer term mostly because of career limitations. I’m also much more optimistic about the long term prospects of my own country and it didn’t make sense to lose my Indian citizenship.
The language requirement. I read that you need language skills equivalent to a ten year old, which I certainly don’t have. At first I studied hard, but I gave up because every job I worked at banned me from using Japanese, and working full time and studying just felt… onerous. Kanji is also the Devil’s work. I’ll meet the ten year PR requirement this year, so I’ll go that route. I’d also like to pick up studying again this year, because although I virtually never use it outside of reading very simple things and going to the store etc, I think it’s a valuable/necessary skill to have if I really am going to be able to stay here.
You’d face the same discrimination and you’d lose citizenry in your home country.
For India atleast, you can earn in Japan and get more value for it in India. More investment and wealth building options back home once you have the money.
Being “developed” is also subjective in recent years, In India Mainstream cities are polluted and crowded, but tier2-3 cities here are pretty clean, food grown on the ground is cheap and organic. You have a lot of solar, groundwater, fiber net(1gbps).
In terms of tech also, India is miles ahead in some aspects, for example payments/banking infra is top notch.
Also, personally for me, if war breaks out, India gets you out from anywhere, has decent military and nukes. and I feel Japan can abandon us as second class citizens in such cases, mainly from china. And all the earthquake stuff is scary for longterm.
For Japan, I mainly like clean environment, and slightly higher wages for now. But the economy here is very stagnant interms of monopolies and oligopolies in each sector of business. So a common man has less chance of rapid wealth creation.
My two cents. I love Japan as much as the next gal but Japan can only get worse from here (just casually ask any Japanese how they feel about pension), renounce your citizenship is basically get yourself a traitor stamp, and for a country that may or may not accept you as one of their own (just ask the Korean about it) is a big risk (emotionally). Many foreigner workers here come because of the strong yen (see how that work out?) so they can send it back to their home country, I don’t think they consider their earning in Japan to be as great if they actually have to spend and build a life in Japan. From the utility point of view I can see why you think it is a rational action. US citizenship has no such requirement, you can just collect them all like pokemon cards. So unless you married to a native or built root here (maybe lived happily for 10 years), I can see why many don’t want to apply for the citizenship.
I can only speak for my countrymen but I have literally never met anyone here who is more than N4 level. Acquiring citizenship is a much bigger hurdle than that.
You probably need to break free from thinking of countries as developed = rich = obviously better and developing = poor = shithole.
I’m assuming the goal for many of them is to work hard, save money, buy a decent chunk of land back home and chill (although how viable that is with the state of Japan’s economy now, i don’t know).
At least with the ones I’ve spoken to, they all love their home countries and hope to return at some point. I’m sure we’d see much more if dual nationality was on the table.
You give the percentage for the US, but not the comparison for Japan. What are the numbers?
I’m a non-Western foreigner and have lived here for five years. The reason why I moved out of my own country was not because I felt to relocate to a more developed country, but because I wanted to experience a different country. Some people keep relocating to experience places. Of course, getting Japan’s citizenship would help achieve this goal easier in the ways you have described OP, but some people are content with the citizenship they have, for many reasons, one of which could be because they know that their country is developing. They think of the term ‘developing’ as not something negative, they think that their own country is making progress and isn’t stagnant. You can call some of us patriotic? Idk. This could be why the idea of getting a citizenship of another country doesn’t cross our minds.
My reason. Japan will never see me as Japanese, so giving up my citizenship for it is like giving up the only place who welcomes me without question for a country who will never see me like their own. If they have dual citizenship, probably i will think about. I dont want to become a foreigner in my own country.
I’m a Vietnamese and know other 4 Vietnamese who have lived here for more than 10 years but 2 are already leaving to settle back in Vietnam. The reason is simple: there’s no place like home. Food is good, there’s no conflict, the country is growing but the family is the core in our culture.
And to be honest, I think I’m in the same boat. I plan on working to get enough experience for a full remote job and return to my family. Japan is good but my family is the best.
I’m guessing people don’t want to have to get a visa every time they go home to see their family.
I’m from the U.K. and this is exactly the reason why I wouldn’t take Japanese citizenship.
Imagine going back home and having a time limit on how long you can stay.
I have met many of my countrymen from a relatively developed developing country and never knew anyone who gave up their citizenship.
Japan may be more developed but nearly everyone I knew see Japan as stagnating whereas my home country is developing and growing. Therefore in terms of economic sense it might be good to earn in Japan and invest back home. As someone else pointed out here, it’s not easy to grow wealth here in Japan as well compared to back home.
Another thing is that you will never be fully integrated into the Japanese society and unless you’re comfortable with it, it might be better to hold on to your citizenship.
Many from developed countries see developing countries as some shithole places, but to us our home country is still where we came from.
To add onto what most people already said (a lot of people from countries you mentioned probably plan to return to their home country in the future, no matter how distant that future may be), I imagine a lot of people equate citizenship with nationality (which makes sense in a country that doesn’t allow dual citizenship) and that makes the decision to take a country’s citizenship a far more emotional one.
Personally, I love Japan and can definitely see myself growing old here, but I absolutely don’t feel Japanese in any way, so I don’t plan on giving up my country’s citizenship.