LMAO few of my friends asked me to look at it. My wife on the other hand said don't look at it. I'm just a little bit curious maybe I'll take a one-second peek?

Tatsuya,
Thank you for your helpful advice. I have questions for you when you register your kid, does your baby get dual nationality up to 21 years old? and he/she needs to choose one after that right? I'm going to JP in January so its advisable to make JP or MY passport for the baby? I've been googling around but not much info could be found about this

This post has been edited by nasizwan: Jun 23 2011, 12:32 PM

HI Guys

Heard there was an earthquake in Northeast Japan today almost same area as the March quake. Anyone have any news on this. Anyone in Japan can comment on the situation in Tokyo as I am leaving on 28/6/11 for Tokyo...

This is what I gather from CNN. Thanks for the heads up.



I think Tokyo is not highly affected.

Ok thanks. A bit concerned now as I remember there was a the NZ quake then a small quake in Japan before the March big quake. History seems to be repeating itself now with the latest NZ quake and now this one. Are we to expect a bigger quake in Japan next ??? Scary.


This post has been edited by Jetpeh: Jun 23 2011, 11:21 AM

You get a Malaysian birth certificate when she delivers. Your wife then goes to the Japanese embassy to get a Japanese birth certificate and passport made.

The next part is important: she then has to add the kids to her family register. This is called a koseki-tohon and your wife has to do this at the city hall (in Japan) where her koseki is currently maintained. In Japan, all birth matters are at the local level - the city level (ku). I'm not sure if your wife split herself from her family's koseki after marriage but now would be a good time to do so i.e. she is starting a new family record. Previously, let's say her family name's Tanabe, she would be recorded as a daughter under her father's koseki - "Tanabe". When females marry, they (usually) leave their family's register and enter their husband's register.

Since you are not a Japanese citizen, she would then start a new koseki with her as head of family. You cannot be on a koseki. You would be just an unofficial afternote at the bottom of the koseki. Your kids would then usually take her last name in Japan and be official dependents in her koseki. You have to be prepared for the fact that they might have 2 official names: their Malaysian name and their Japanese name. You would probably want them to have a Japanese name if they ever want to go back to Japan. e.g. Ryusuke Hashim and Ryusuke Tanabe. Of course she could always change her name to yours and start a koseki under Hashim (for example). However most bi-cultural families I know maintain 2 last names.

Officially they will have to choose one citizenship (both Malaysia and Japan do not recognize dual-nationality) when 21 or 20 (age of majority in Japan is 20).

Finally, you would have to get 2 passports for them if you plan to live in Malaysia. They have to enter/exit Malaysia with their Malaysian passport and vice versa with Japanese passport and Japan.


This post has been edited by tatsuyachiba: Jun 24 2011, 06:42 PM

Thanks tatsuyachiba! Can i keep myself a private copy for future reference?

Also, not sure how your wife feels about your son being able to speak Japanese. But if she is serious about this, the best way is, from the start, for her to never speak to him in any language except Japanese.

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Added on June 23, 2011, 3:48 pmOf course. You can always ping me in the future as well if or when you get to the next stage.

This post has been edited by tatsuyachiba: Jun 24 2011, 06:43 PM

@Tatsuya,
Really appreciate your informative comments! My wife's parent separated awhile ago so she has changed her last name to her mum's. I reckon we're gonna follow her last name for Japan side. For MY side, I want my kid to have my name in it but as a Muslim we don't practice last name so I really don't know how's it going to be in my kid's IC. Putting bin and my full name would make their name extremely long (did you just randomly pick Ryusuke name as an example because that's exactly my son's name gonna be LOL) I was wondering whether I can remove bin and put shorter version of my name. Another concern of mine, would it be legal in terms of legislation for both countries if the names registered in birth certificate differ from each country? Eg in Malaysian Jabatan Pendaftaran its going to be eg. Ryusuke Raemy bin xxxx xxxxxx xxxx and in Japan's registration it will Ryusuke Raemy Suzuki. Any complication arised afterward? I am really baffled about this.

It sucks to know that my name in fact your name as well would be just an unofficial note in the koseki. It doesn't mean anything to me but that shows they really alienate gaijin.

Language wise, I do want them to speak Japanese but the problem is I dont speak any hahaha. We only use English as medium of conversation. I guess I better start learning especially if one day we're moving to Japan. If my wife speaks only Japanese to my kid then I wont even be able to talk to them lol.

Bonus question, how does your kid look alike? More to Japanese or Malaysian? I wonder how my kid will look alike hehe

This post has been edited by nasizwan: Jun 24 2011, 04:49 PM

I think it shouldn't be a problem if your wife speaks to them in Japanese and you speak to them in both English & Bahasa.

Kids pick up language fast.

It's the same as how we malaysians are able to speak bahasa/english/chinese eventhough our mother tongue might be only either bahasa or english or chinese!

Tokyo now hot like shit......noon time most ppl avoid sunlight. Plp flow are less....all only came out shop during night time.

@nasizwan,

The name - totally random.

As I've said, your son will have 2 legal names. One name will be legal in Japan, and the other in Malaysia. What you do in Japan is no concern of the Malaysian govt. and vice versa. Like I said earlier, this is common practise among bi-bultural Japanese kids. Don't worry about complications - there are none. Your son will get used to it e.g. answer in Japanese "my name is Tanabe Kentaro" and in English, "Kentaro Hashim" - all the bi-cultural kids I know do this automatically.

As to the koseki - this is not anti-foreigner - you too can get a koseki if you have Japanese citizenship. It's just how Japan registers its citizens - very similar to China's "hukou" system.

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Added on June 24, 2011, 5:59 pmIn actuality it is very hard. True, kids learn languages easily but what I was talking about was native fluency - that part is hard. Look at the Malaysian Chinese experience for example, most speak 3 languages but almost all do not speak any of the languages with native fluency. Mandarin (or Cantonese) - compare our mastery with someone from China/HK.


This post has been edited by tatsuyachiba: Jun 24 2011, 05:59 PM

Thanks a bunch for your reply. Its really helpful for me. (and musha too in the future)

haha, ya, that's really help a lot

So Damm Hot!! Tokyo Night Avg Temp also 28C!!

Saw an article news on malaysia news paper by online......it say about now is perfect time visit Japan. Shit....now so damm hot where got most perfect time visit Japan =.=ll

middle of high temp plus some more Japan Gov limit electricity usage.....hot like BBQ. Now 12am at Japan I naked in Room also sweating.....

Coz the journalist for the Malaysian online paper scared of cold I think. That's why he/she suggest ppl to go to Japan when the temperature is roughly the same as Malaysia.

I would rather go during winter coz the coldness is soooooooooooo nice but poor you!!

Since they limit the electricity usage, do they cut off the electricity if the household exceed certain kw of electricity used?

I reckon the writer is a guy because now its the perfect time to see jap girls wearing short skirt
and if you go Ageha they open the beach area and most girls wear bikini while partying
Good thing for men for you I dont know lol maybe topless guys?

alamak bro...I missed all...gomen neh...so how yur wife?Wat can I say as a Muslim...selalu lah mengucap 2 kalimah syahdah dan isteri juga...ajar2kan...
Bout the name as far as I know, if in Japan for Muslim/Malaysian theres no s1st name or last name...theres only 1 single name...such my daughters name Puteri Aiko Raudhah Binti my name lor....so in reg. form just put in the blank 1st name...leave it blank surname, and underline your name.
correct me if I'm wrong tatsyuya hehehe
i still bz wit my fixie4u lol huhuhuhu

Today Japan Gov announcement new policy. Limit Power Usage from now on. All factory , airport , subway , hospital....house shop everything got a limit. Over limit must penalty 100,000 Yen onward.

Now Japan used electricity like using mobile broadband...got limit usage....cannot over it.

Does anyone knows how much Lojel suitcases in Japan are? Which shop carries this brand - departmental store/individual luggage shop?

If alot cheaper than KL, confirm when I go sure will buy.

Thanks!

I like the Aiko part!

My wife has safely delivered on 30th of June, 2020hrs. Alhamdulillah it went well eventhough had to go through emergency caesarean at last minute due to slow dilation. Anyhow I've been blessed with a healthy baby GIRL!!! It was really unexpected because previous doc said its a boy. Im gonna look for that ultrasound doc . We've decided to use my wife's last name for JPN side.
She's really adorable i'll post some photos here later

This post has been edited by nasizwan: Jul 6 2011, 02:00 AM