I will be applying for naturalization soon by myself. Really appreciate if any one can share their experience about test examples and interview questions? Thank you
I would highly recommend going through an administrative scrivener. The process is extremely time-consuming and you really need to dot every i and cross every t. When you consider how much work you would have to miss to get everything in order, it just makes sense to go through a scrivener.
I did it sometime back, so things might have changed now. The Japanese test was pretty basic, Convert Katakana to Hiragana, Kanji to Hiragana( & vice versa), write a small essay about your favorite place in Japan (Using Kanji as much as possible). And the interview was mainly about confirming your documents & your current situation. I did all by myself
As long as you have regular (stable) income with at least three years of working period ( job change within a year is actually okay if income stays similar or going up ), and no criminal record of yourself or your family member in Japan (the government refers this as “good behavior”) , then it should be just time taking paperwork only including translation of the certified documents from your country of origin. You can contact Homukyoku and ask for the 事前相談. You will be receiving the list of things necessary for the application eventually. If you live near the embassy of your origin, it will be a lot easier than you imagine.
If your Japanese is good enough to understand all the following, you can do it yourself. If you don’t understand much of the following you should discuss with the scriber first. Note that if you fail, you are prohibited to apply again for a certain period of time.
You will be assigned a case worker who will meet with you every step of the way. It might feel as though it’s an interview – and in a way it kind of is – but what you need to know is that your case worker is on your side and his job is to make sure you meet the requirements and he will give you instructions or advice as necessary. Do everything he tells you to do, and do it exactly how he tells you to do it.
That being said, all of the “work” involved in naturalization is just gathering personal documents like your birth certificate, bank statements, and things like that. You will have to provide birth certificates of your immediate family and your parents marriage license also – this is for the creation of your 戸籍 as this info is recorded there. The 戸籍 is the proof of Japanese citizenship, and it is basically your new Japanese birth certificate (As well as your marriage license, if you get married). Another commenter recommended a scrivener. Personally I don’t see how a scrivener could be useful since all they can do in this situation is gather documents on your behalf, but if you don’t have any family remaining in your country of origin then it may be helpful, otherwise don’t bother.
The process itself isn’t actually bad at all. A lot of people make it sound scary but it’s really not. As for the Japanese test, it’s stupidly easy – just transcribe some words between hiragana and katakana, and do a reading passage and answer a few multiple choice questions about what you read. The reading passage is only a few sentences. The test itself is a joke, really. The real Japanese test is the regular meetings with your case worker and the interview with the officer overseeing your case – if you can’t get through those meetings then good luck but the fact that you’re considering naturalization in the first place means that you’re probably at a high enough level that it should be fine. You don’t need to be amazing. If your case worker thinks you’re not at a high enough level then they will mention it and recommend waiting a while and working on your Japanese.
After you finish you will have to update your name on EVERYTHING, that’s more work itself than the actual naturalization process but it’s also the fun part because it’s when random strangers at city hall / the drivers license renewal center / the bank / Japanese passport center etc make comments like “congratulations”, “thanks for choosing Japan” or “You’re Japanese now”. This is also the part of the process where random foreigners make it their duty to inform you that you’re not *actually* Japanese, as well as informing you of what Japanese people *actually* think about you despite their inability to even communicate with Japanese people due to a language barrier, but don’t worry about them they’re just stuck in the bubble.
**tl:dr – Listen to your case worker. He’s on your side, he wants to help you. Do everything he says, exactly how he says it.**
One last bit of advice, when it comes to choosing a name, you may or may not want to pick an extremely natural Japanese name. There are a million Japanese websites for picking baby names that give recommendations of kanji options that pair well together based on meaning and stroke order. Think about the name you want and then search it on some of those websites to view possible kanji options. You might find a combo you like that doesn’t appear on the website you use (The site I used recommended *AB* and *XY*, but I liked *AY* because it was really natural based on when I was born) so ultimately I recommend that whatever you settle on, make sure you run it by some close friends to make sure it appears normal. I’m quite proud of how well I did picking a suitable name for myself and I just wanted to add this point so you don’t turn out like a certain famous gardener who has a bit of an oddball name. He seems like a cool guy, but when I hear his name I can’t help but cringe a bit.
4 comments
I would highly recommend going through an administrative scrivener. The process is extremely time-consuming and you really need to dot every i and cross every t. When you consider how much work you would have to miss to get everything in order, it just makes sense to go through a scrivener.
I did it sometime back, so things might have changed now.
The Japanese test was pretty basic, Convert Katakana to Hiragana, Kanji to Hiragana( & vice versa), write a small essay about your favorite place in Japan (Using Kanji as much as possible).
And the interview was mainly about confirming your documents & your current situation.
I did all by myself
As long as you have regular (stable) income with at least three years of working period ( job change within a year is actually okay if income stays similar or going up ), and no criminal record of yourself or your family member in Japan (the government refers this as “good behavior”) , then it should be just time taking paperwork only including translation of the certified documents from your country of origin. You can contact Homukyoku and ask for the 事前相談. You will be receiving the list of things necessary for the application eventually. If you live near the embassy of your origin, it will be a lot easier than you imagine.
If your Japanese is good enough to understand all the following, you can do it yourself. If you don’t understand much of the following you should discuss with the scriber first. Note that if you fail, you are prohibited to apply again for a certain period of time.
帰化許可申請に必要となる主な書類は、次のとおりです。
１ 帰化許可申請書（申請者の写真が必要となります。）２ 親族の概要を記載した書類３ 帰化の動機書４ 履歴書５ 生計の概要を記載した書類６ 事業の概要を記載した書類７ 住民票の写し８ 国籍を証明する書類９ 親族関係を証明する書類10 納税を証明する書類11 収入を証明する書類
You will be assigned a case worker who will meet with you every step of the way. It might feel as though it’s an interview – and in a way it kind of is – but what you need to know is that your case worker is on your side and his job is to make sure you meet the requirements and he will give you instructions or advice as necessary. Do everything he tells you to do, and do it exactly how he tells you to do it.
That being said, all of the “work” involved in naturalization is just gathering personal documents like your birth certificate, bank statements, and things like that. You will have to provide birth certificates of your immediate family and your parents marriage license also – this is for the creation of your 戸籍 as this info is recorded there. The 戸籍 is the proof of Japanese citizenship, and it is basically your new Japanese birth certificate (As well as your marriage license, if you get married). Another commenter recommended a scrivener. Personally I don’t see how a scrivener could be useful since all they can do in this situation is gather documents on your behalf, but if you don’t have any family remaining in your country of origin then it may be helpful, otherwise don’t bother.
The process itself isn’t actually bad at all. A lot of people make it sound scary but it’s really not. As for the Japanese test, it’s stupidly easy – just transcribe some words between hiragana and katakana, and do a reading passage and answer a few multiple choice questions about what you read. The reading passage is only a few sentences. The test itself is a joke, really. The real Japanese test is the regular meetings with your case worker and the interview with the officer overseeing your case – if you can’t get through those meetings then good luck but the fact that you’re considering naturalization in the first place means that you’re probably at a high enough level that it should be fine. You don’t need to be amazing. If your case worker thinks you’re not at a high enough level then they will mention it and recommend waiting a while and working on your Japanese.
After you finish you will have to update your name on EVERYTHING, that’s more work itself than the actual naturalization process but it’s also the fun part because it’s when random strangers at city hall / the drivers license renewal center / the bank / Japanese passport center etc make comments like “congratulations”, “thanks for choosing Japan” or “You’re Japanese now”. This is also the part of the process where random foreigners make it their duty to inform you that you’re not *actually* Japanese, as well as informing you of what Japanese people *actually* think about you despite their inability to even communicate with Japanese people due to a language barrier, but don’t worry about them they’re just stuck in the bubble.
**tl:dr – Listen to your case worker. He’s on your side, he wants to help you. Do everything he says, exactly how he says it.**
One last bit of advice, when it comes to choosing a name, you may or may not want to pick an extremely natural Japanese name. There are a million Japanese websites for picking baby names that give recommendations of kanji options that pair well together based on meaning and stroke order. Think about the name you want and then search it on some of those websites to view possible kanji options. You might find a combo you like that doesn’t appear on the website you use (The site I used recommended *AB* and *XY*, but I liked *AY* because it was really natural based on when I was born) so ultimately I recommend that whatever you settle on, make sure you run it by some close friends to make sure it appears normal. I’m quite proud of how well I did picking a suitable name for myself and I just wanted to add this point so you don’t turn out like a certain famous gardener who has a bit of an oddball name. He seems like a cool guy, but when I hear his name I can’t help but cringe a bit.