Names from other ethnic groups in Japan Japanese name
many ethnic minorities, korean , chinese, living in japan adopt japanese names. roots of custom go colonial-era policy of sōshi-kaimei, permitted many koreans change names japanese names. nowadays, ethnic minorities, korean, immigrated japan after wwii, take on japanese names, called pass names, ease communication and, more importantly, avoid discrimination. few of them (e.g., han chang-woo, founder , chairman of maruhan corp., pronounced kan shōyū in japanese) still keep native names. sometimes, however, these ethnic chinese , koreans in japan choose renounce permanent resident status apply japanese citizenship have change characters in names, because not characters legally recognized in japan naming purposes. japanese citizenship used require adoption of japanese name. in recent decades, government has allowed individuals adopt katakana versions of native names when applying citizenship, done when referring non-east asian foreigners: national diet member tsurunen marutei (ツルネン マルテイ),...