Sunday, January 27, 2008

藤田ブルック?フジタ・ブルック?それとも Brooke Masato Fujita

I was just at the local ward office to get some papers to file with a tax declaration when I remembered to ask the person at the desk a question that has been bugging me for a while.

Can I use my family name in kanji as my official name?

Being of Japanese descent, I actually do have name that is written in kanji. I can actually trace my family all the way back to somewhere in Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, in the south of Japan.

However, since I am of US citizenship, as the person at the ward office explained, my official name per my US passport shows "Brooke Masato Fujita". Using the alphabet. Right now, my Foreigner's registration card shows my name using the alphabet, but allows me to also have as 藤田ブルック as my alias. My alias is not official, which means my family cannot use their kanji name. Their names in the Japanese citizens registry (my wife and children have Japanese citizenship) are フジタ. Which sticks out like a sore thumb. Not too many average Japanese use katakana in their names.

So, since I am not Korean or Chinese, which would probably mean that my passport may show my name as 藤田, I have no way of using my kanji name officially. Unless I change my citizenship to become Japanese. And I really cannot see any advantage in changing my citizenship.

What's in name?

2 comments:

Daniel Leuck said...

Thats weird. I legally changed my name in Japan. I just walked into the ward office and filled out the paperwork. Maybe it depends on the person helping you or their mood at that time of day :-) This certainly seemed to be the case for the visa people at the British embassy in Tokyo. One lady told me I couldn't get a domestic partner visa for Mika so I came in the next day and asked a different person. She issued a five year re-entrant visa on the spot!

Buruzaemon said...

Well, on my foreigner's card, my officially listed name is my full name in English. I do have my kanji family name listed as my alias.

However, for all intents and purposes, my legal name in Japan is my officially listed name. Hence, my wife and children have their family names in katakana. Which, for a Japanese person, automatically invites all kinds of scrutiny. Only film and tv celebrities and sports stars have names in katakana. Being neither, I am interested in somehow changing/updating my legal name to my kanji family name.