My name got reversed on everything

So let’s say my first nqme is First and my second is Family
.
I think typically in Japanese documents my name should be written “Family First”. But when I arrived on April (student visa) the resident card was written “First Family” and all the following documents followed it (my number, health insurance card, student card, post office cash card …) And back then I didn’t catch the problem.

But now I am trying to make some new legal document I figured this by trying to enter ma First and Family name to separate fields. The only japanese document that I think is correct is Visa sticker on my passport.

A japanese tutor student helped my with getting all the above procedures. But his English is not so great and my japanese isn’t better we communicated using translators most of the time. That’s way I only found about it now.

So what are my options now? Do I need to redo all this again if I can or just type my name reversed from now on?

I am from very poor country and we didn’t have any online banking / online anything and the only document I have in English is my passport.

I am planning to stay in Japan after my study and maybe raise a family.

TLDR. Every document after japanese visa has my name reversed “First Family”.what should/can I do?

15 comments
  1. Start with immigration office to change your residence card based on your passport. Then go to city office and change juminhyou and work your way down to insurance card and bank accounts.

    It’s not particularly difficult, people change names all the time (e.g. when getting married), it will just take some time.

  2. How exactly does your name appear in your passport? Is it split into “surname” and “given name” sections?

    Apparently, if not, according to this comment from three years ago, they just copy the whole name field: https://old.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/lczomk/strick_name_order/

    … Even though that is wrong from most culture and possibly all cultures which use that passport format

    It may be difficult to fix on all those documents, but it think it only really matters in your government documents (residence card and my number card). It’s normal for banks and similar services to mess up names, and you should be fine to continually enter them in a weird way. It may eventually cause a problem, but who knows.

  3. My name at the bank is different from my name on my marriage certificate/wife’s koseki, which is different from my zairyu/passport. I’ve never had anyone care about the order of my names through several visa renewals etc. My advice is to learn to let it go until someone says something (in my experience, never)

  4. Your Japanese IDs, visas, etc, are written in the same order as your passport.

    So: given and middle names followed by surname.

  5. My name is First Last on all documents here. Never had an issue; as a foreigner they expect me to have them in that order.

  6. Ah well it’s who you are now, you must own it as your new Japanese identity 😂. My wife spelt my middle name wrong in katakana – I’ve accepted it’s who I am now. しょがない🤷‍♂️

  7. Residential card and driver’s license is full name family name first in upper case just like my passport.

    My individual number card has same upper case name but with a middle dot between last name and first names, something I’ve never seen anywhere else. Then there’s a slash and my name in katakana in First Family order, using only my main first name.

    All work related papers, health insurance card, and bank stuff is the same katakana.

    In my wife’s koseki, my name is passport order katakana with a comma after my last name.

    Sometimes things get a bit complicated, especially since most internet providers and such seem to prefer the katakana version of my passport name lately. I’m a bit worried that work related documents like pension papers use the informal katakana, but I asked the pension agency about it and they said that as long as you have your little book it’s not a problem.

  8. Mine is reversed too, but is that a big deal? I simply write my first name as family name all the time in all forms

  9. This happens on purpose and to everyone! It’s the Japanese way! Good luck trying to link PayPay to a bank account with a my number card. It’s next to impossible. I actually think that it is designed to be so. I have four names!! My bank got them wrong. A mix of upper and lower case letters. They should have used the name on my foreigner’s card but they also got that wrong in translation. Wrong spelling in Katakana.

  10. My passport prints <first name> <last name>

    My residence card copies that exactly.

    So now the government and the bank and whatever official paper I sign thinks my last name is my first name.

    But since they all match, it has not caused a problem for me.

  11. My name has been a headache for thirty-six years in Japan. My US passport has my long (four names) name correctly. But ALL are long (9 letters or more) names that unfortunately sound like traditional surnames (a dynastic Southern gothic thing). And there is a Roman numeral involved. And I intensely dislike my first name so I have all my life gone by one of my middle names. That is Entirely Unrecognized or Explainable to Japanese institutions. And none of their forms can hold it all. And many online apps can’t accommodate whatsoever so I can’t be on that app (looking at YOU Mizuho Bank!!).

    Most of my important cards have all kinds of crazy derivations of fragments of my names, depending on the whims of the functionary who created the card at a given office.

    I long ago just gave up. Call me anything you want but just transfer my money to my bank account.

  12. I would recommend going to the city office and asking them to correct your name. They may be able to do it on the spot, or they may need to send you a form to fill out and return. In either case, it should be a fairly simple process.

  13. If you get a credit card, might also cause some trouble. One time I wasn’t able to receive a credit card from the delivery man because the mail didn’t include my middle name but it was included in my residence card

  14. Broooo you’re thinking way to far in the future. Fix it when you get there you still need to study first, let alone find a partner, let alone discuss children, let alone wait for the child develop.

    Just *chill* and fix it if you need when you get there

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