[hrktb]

The name of someone if a delicate problem, but all of these are straightforward questions.

There is an "official name" and it's on your registration certificate. That's the one that goes in the 漢字名 field and that's the one that the bank will accept (my registration had both the double with latin character and the katakana in parenthesis: no questions asked, they both go, parenthesis included). The validation of the kanji name is not done on the exact range of the characters ('is it really a kanji?') but if it's double width or not, double width latin characters are OK, you could use emoji the validation would pass. Half width katana would get rejected.

Protip: if you have a shitty registration name, have it change, that's easy and that's for you own good.

[patio11]

They're not straightforward.

There is an "official name" and it's on your registration certificate.

The thing about official names is that I have so many to choose from! Alien registration certificate? MCKENZIE PATRICK JOHNATHAN. No kana because town hall called up the local immigration authorities and heard "'Nicknames' are not required for the administration of Japanese immigration law and accordingly should not be registered. You should only register him under the exact name printed on his passport." (This is official policy, but many local government authorities ignore it, including half of the clerks at Ogaki. I drew the short straw on my most recent visit though and "had to change.")

Mr. Short Straw did not, however, actually use the name written in my passport, because some genius at the US Passport Control Center thinks Irish people get an extra space in their last names and, after substantial argument with town hall, I was able to convince them that a lifetime of being addressed as Mc-san would be very inconvenient for my wife and I.

But wait there's more! As a result of marriage the McKenzie household finally exists on the books in Japan as a 戸籍, whereas before it was just little ol' me happily residing here as a foreigner. An hour of investigation with a totally different part of the Ministry of Justice later, Town Hall refused to register a 戸籍 with Latin characters, and was actually able to produce an authoritative Least Frequently Asked Questions At Ogaki City Hall internal guidelines document on what to do in the event of international marriages. So my "official" name in that part of the system is different: ミッケンジー、パトリックジョナサン. Mr. Short Straw remarked, direct quote, "Cripes, that seems like an inconvenient name to go around with. Have you considered just changing it? I've got the forms and I'm pretty sure you could be Tanaka Taro by the end of today." (Bonus points: We filed a name change for Ruriko at the same time as getting married, and hers is based on what's written in the 戸籍 and her　住民票, which gives us the wonderful circumstance where "Wife took husband's name after marriage but, important note, their names will still fail naive string compares... well, some of the time, depending on which agency and what data source we're querying.")

But wait there's more! City Hall is my single point of contact for Japanese Social Security, Japanese national insurance, and the Gifu prefectural revenue office. I think I count four different official names there unless one or more decided to change policies recently. Gifu extends its apologies but it is physically incapable of handling sole proprietors with given names which are 7 letters long because, quote, "Who does that to a child?!", so Kalzumeus Software is on the books as being owned by MCKENZIE P.

[nourishingvoid]

The decision not to manage "nicknames" (通称名) under the new immigration law because they aren't necessary from an administrative standpoint is illustrative of the disconnect between the people making these laws in Japan and the people that are subject to them. I realize that this is inevitable because foreign residents can't vote, but it's frustrating that the government doesn't seek input from them when formulating new policy that will have large effects on them.

Because of the difficulties in using foreign names with Japanese computer systems and paperwork that you mentioned, 通称名 ("nicknames") are essential for many foreign residents. Some groups have been using them for decades now, so even a cursory attempt to get feedback on the new laws would have identified this problem.

Still, some groups of special permanent residents have organized and successfully overturned some of the more odious aspects of the immigration law, like the fingerprinting requirement for alien registration. In particular, the Korean special permanent resident community has some degree of influence on policy because of their size and organization.

Given the general ignorance of the central government (and the immigration bureaucracy as a whole) towards the real needs of foreign residents, I see this decision as ignorance on the importance of 通称名 rather than an attempt to quash the rights of foreign residents. In my experience the local governments tend to be more sympathetic towards the actual needs of foreign residents, perhaps because they have more prolonged interaction with them. (Though as with every government organ in Japan, the interpretation of the law varies wildly depending on which clerk you interact with.)

Troubles like the ones you describe are a large part of why I registered 長瀬ダニエル as a 通称名 and use it for everything I possibly can.

[anonymous]

> I've got the forms and I'm pretty sure you could be Tanaka Taro by the end of today

Now I see where point 39. of your post about names comes from :).

[hrktb]

Dealing with names in Japan is really a life experience in itself. Yes, I was refering to the Alien registration certificate.

As you say, there are so many to choose from. I changed 4 times during my stay (at the end I had my name twice in the same field, one in latin characters and one in katakana, plus a 'nickname' with my wife's family name. BTW it was the best choice so far, even if it's awkward to fill bank papers with 'SOME ROMAJI NAME (カタカナ名)'. Immigration Office staff really do a shitty job at dealing with the registration, but I had it changed at the prefecture I lived. They are much more forthcoming, and will accept to use anything reasonable as a name.

[rmc]

some genius at the US Passport Control Center thinks Irish people get an extra space in their last names

Just as a point, some people with "Mc" surnames, do put a space after the X. Varies from person to person.