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), martti turunen, finnish, famous example. others transliterate names phonetically similar kanji compounds, such activist arudou debito (有道 出人), american known david aldwinckle (tsurunen has adopted 弦念 丸呈), although these renderings artificial , not exist in japan otherwise. still others have abandoned native names entirely in favor of traditional japanese names, such lafcadio hearn (who half anglo-irish , half greek), used name koizumi yakumo (小泉 八雲). @ time, gain japanese citizenship, necessary adopted japanese family (in hearn s case, wife s family) , take name.

individuals born overseas western given names , japanese surnames given katakana name in western order when referred in japanese. eric shinseki, instance, referred エリック シンセキ (erikku shinseki). however, japanese parents decide use japanese order when mentioning child s name in japanese. also, japanese parents tend give children name in kanji, hiragana or katakana, particularly if japanese name. individuals born in japan, japanese name, might referred using katakana, if ve established residency or career overseas. yoko ono, example, born in japan, name 小野 洋子, , spent first twenty years of life there. however, having lived outside country more fifty years, , basing career in united states, ono referred in press オノ・ヨーコ, preserving japanese order of name (ono yōko), rendering in katakana.

there restriction (as of 2001) on use of v character in name unless @ least 1 of parents of foreign origin. closest corresponding katakana ヴ (vu), can romanized v or b. affects issuing of japanese passports or other documentation romanization of name given; letter v replaced b. affects names such kevin (ケヴィン), written kebin.

japan s christians traditionally have christian names in addition native japanese names. these christian names written using katakana, , adapted japanese phonology original latin forms rather being borrowed particular language english. peter, example, petoro (ペトロ), john yohane (ヨハネ), jacob yakobu (ヤコブ), martin maruchino (マルチノ), dominic dominiko (ドミニコ), , on. purposes in real life, christian names aren t used; example, taro aso has christian name, francis (フランシスコ furanshisuko), not well-known.