So, to cut a long and complicated story short, my own parents were not legally married when I was born (although they raised me together). It never posed a problem for me in my home country in any way. Japan, however, is a different story. I’m not talking about moral attitudes, but rather a whole bunch of papers that I don’t have because I was not born “legally” and as a result I’m experiencing huge difficulties when dealing with certain matters at city hall. It’s so frustrating, and it feels like I’m being punished for decisions that were made before I was even conceived.
Can anyone shed some light on the situation? Historical, legal, whatever.
3 comments
Curious, what bunch of papers you do not have exactly? Birth certificate? I rarely have to deal with paper concerning my birth parents with the city hall here. Maybe when I need to register my parents as fuyou kazoku during kakutei shinkoku but that’s about it.
As long as your juminhyou is registered you should be good here. Or am I missing something.
If you have a Japanese parent and a non-Japanese parent and were raised overseas with the non-Japanese parent and now want to live and work in Japan under a Japanese passport or under a special visa for people with Japanese ancestry, then the simple matter is to have your Japanese parent put you on their family registry. If the Japanese parent is not in your life and you don’t have their name on your birth certificate, and none of their family (ie- your grandparents) are there to validate you as a relative, then you are sol.
Perhaps I’m totally wrong, in that case, ignore me. But the only cases I’ve come across in Japan like this involve Japanese guys who had kids with Filipino women, the kids were raised in the Philippines and never put on the guy’s family registry.
In my case, as an American raised by a never-married single mother, I’ve never had any troubles at city hall because I just need to do what other non-Japanese do.
Uh, put a helmet on your soldier.