Naturalization

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

If Japan turns ultra-right wing again in the future, I’d feel happier knowing I have an “out” with my British passport.

Brexit, Boris, Truss, Sunak, shipping refugees to Rwanda....

Glass houses.

I voted for Brexit, so I couldn't care less about any of the above.
I would just be happy to have another option if things didn't turn out well in Japan though!

Truly? I read about the Rwanda plan and it sounded like a comic book villains` (Suella/Sunak) plan for dealing with a real-world problem. Especially with the UK supreme courts ruling on the subject, and the conservatives plan to force the court to define Rwanda as a safe country.

I however get most of my U.K news from the Economist, which I always pegged as centralist to a fault.

[Roger Van Zant]

Brexit, Boris, Truss, Sunak, shipping refugees to Rwanda....

Glass houses.

I voted for Brexit, so I couldn't care less about any of the above.
I would just be happy to have another option if things didn't turn out well in Japan though!

Truly? I read about the Rwanda plan and it sounded like a comic book villains` (Suella/Sunak) plan for dealing with a real-world problem. Especially with the UK supreme courts ruling on the subject, and the conservatives plan to force the court to define Rwanda as a safe country.

I however get most of my U.K news from the Economist, which I always pegged as centralist to a fault.

The Economist is a good read sometimes.
Private Eye is my favorite!

[sutebayashi]

I don’t have a UK passport, but do have one of those former British colony ones.

I don’t see any attraction in giving it up, or benefit of becoming Japanese. Keeping my foreign government issued passport feels like a diversification of my country risk.

Indeed I only even bothered to get Permanent Residency in order to improve my mortgage credentials. (Ridiculous from my point of view but if it checks some bankers boxes then whatever. I remember some crazy comment from a foreign lady working at immigration to the effect that I was seeking PR for “my pride”. Totally clueless, but maybe her comment was applicable for her personal context)

I usually don’t support my home government the majority of the time (being an extremist ), but still I want to keep that passport.

At the end of the day I see myself as my self (my name is one thing I won’t change), and these government issued passports are an archaic relic to me. But like everything I use whatever options are available to my best advantage.

[Deebee]

I was asked to handwrite my essay on the spot, but I understand this is not normal and my case officer was just being nasty

You naturalized and gave up your UK citizenship? Wow.

Oh my goodness!

You have to handwrite the essay, but I kept making a mistake after a few letters, so I wrote it in pencil first and then copied over it in pen. I did this at home. If you have passed any of the Japanese level tests and have documentation, then I think that this will help them feel that you are competent speaker.

Oh ok, I see! The essay can be done at home.

[Deebee]

If you can carry on a conversation in Japanese they won't bother testing you. If it gets to the point that they do need to test you, I would recommend you spend some time studying Japanese.

To answer the question, its supposedly grade school level Japanese and should be fairly easy if you've lived in Japan 5+ years.

The Officer I spoke with told me that there will be a test so I should prepare for it up to the level of a Grade 3 elementary school kid. Guess I should get to studying indeed. I'm more worried about if I should write anything. In your opinion, is there a need to get an administrative scrivener to help with the entire process, or it's totally doable without one?

[Deebee]

I have a meeting with scrivener about naturalization this Friday. I'll ask about this too!

Thanks!

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

(plus the earthquake the next day was a bit disruptive)

Yeah, just a bit...

[zeroshiki]

If you can carry on a conversation in Japanese they won't bother testing you. If it gets to the point that they do need to test you, I would recommend you spend some time studying Japanese.

To answer the question, its supposedly grade school level Japanese and should be fairly easy if you've lived in Japan 5+ years.

The Officer I spoke with told me that there will be a test so I should prepare for it up to the level of a Grade 3 elementary school kid. Guess I should get to studying indeed. I'm more worried about if I should write anything. In your opinion, is there a need to get an administrative scrivener to help with the entire process, or it's totally doable without one?

It depends. When I was doing it I was wishing I had a scrivener helping me because at least they'd put my mind at ease of all the random disaster scenarios my mind was coming up with. But looking back, it's not really necessary as long as you follow the case worker's instructions and can get all the documentation ready. The hard part is getting all the documents from your home country and filling up all your history and financial information. A scrivener doesn't help you with that.

[Nancy]

I think that everyone already knows about it, but this site was great for me.
https://www.turning-japanese.info/p/intro.html

[adamu]

Also https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Naturalisation

Which unlike the blog, is editable by contributors, and as always I'm looking for editors