Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "What's it like Growing Up Half White in Japan?" video.
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@freedomisbrightestindungeons Japan does have a permanent residency, nearly 845,000 people have it. Most people return to their home countries even before they are eligible to apply.
That said, of all the foreign nationals living in Japan, they are mainly Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipino, Brazilians, and Nepalese (followed by Indonesians). Sadly, the overall collective experience and social integration of the Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese was challenging, to say the least. I suspect that's why Japanese people are generally scared of changing immigration policies.
It used to be the Koreans who fled during/after the Korean War, then it became the Chinese, and now it's the Vietnamese who commit the most crimes in Japan.
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@Historian212 Frankly, if they have a foreign-father, experience may be somewhat different because the family name is often non-Japanese, automatically differentiating them from rest of the population since birth. (Nobody assumes somebody called SMITH to be Japanese.) In the entertainment industry, it was well-known that successful half-Japanese celebrities--such as SAWAJIRI Erika, SHIROTA Yu, or TAKAHASHI Maryjune--have Japanese fathers. I don't know if this is due to upbringing, culture, or genetic admixture. For whatever reason, they tend to match the beauty preference of the Japanese public.
Since Japan only uses Jus Sanguinis citizenship rule, location of birth is not relevant. You can be born in Egypt and still be a Japanese citizen. However, until legal changes in 1985 children of foreign-fathers didn't qualify for automatic Japanese citizenship at birth (unless the mother was single or divorced). In other words, Japanese government and society didn't perceive them to be natural-born Japanese.
This perception has continued since ancient times. In Japanese traditions, we mostly use the paternal family names, religions, and tombs (unless adopted into a different family). The children are a member of the father's KOSEKI or family registry (unless they are children of single-mothers and divorcees), and they will be treated as a member of the paternal family for funerals too. Thus, if you have a foreign father, those traditions may not be inherited, possibly making them disconnected from Japanese culture, traditions, and identity.
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@beatlessteve1010 That's a very interesting family history. Your Japanese writing is native-level for somebody who was adopted to a foreign family. In Japan we were historically organized by clans and identified as members of our father's clan/family since ancient times, at least from around 古墳時代, so around 3rd or 4th century. I suspect the practice is much older, but that's about when written records on various clans start.
People were known as "XYZ of 〇〇氏/clan", which is why we still use the word "氏名" when we refer to people's names. It literally means Clan Name. To date, we mostly inherit the KOSEKI, surname, tombs, religious sect, traditions, and land from the paternal lineage. As such, only those with a Japanese father have been perceived to be Japanese. It's ones of the reasons why the government didn't issue Japanese citizenship to children of foreign fathers born before 1985.
And this perception, is why half-kids with foreign fathers may be treated differently from half-kids with Japanese fathers. Basically, you need a Japanese surname to be considered Japanese in Japan. It's not about citizenship.
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