I am a "Tourist"

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I am a "Tourist"
The UMJ Volume 3.1 (Juminhyo Special)

This article is a translated version of an article by Nakahiro Iwata that appeared in the Tokyo Shimbun June 19, 1997.

I am a "Tourist" forever. I hope for real "Internationalization" in the laws.

Anna Isozaki was born in 1968, in NY, USA. She specialized in international development at Mt.Holyoke College. In 1992 she came to Japan, where she met Ken Isozaki, who was an engineer at a major electronics company in Takasaki. They married in 1994. Now she is an assistant manager at "English Center" in Takasaki.

For Japanese citizens, the juminhyo or residence registration is used to prove one's identity and address. Before marriage, she realized that the names of foreign family members are not listed in the juminhyo. Since this causes many inconveniences and some serious troubles in daily life, she continues to appeal to the yakusho (town office). Even though we are married, my husband will be mistaken as single or divorced. Surprised by this, I went immediately to the Takasaki City Office.

I heard from an American woman friend with children,(married to a Japanese man) that a welfare worker misunderstood her children to have no mother after checking the juminhyo database at the city office, and visited her house to take care of their children.

The administrative guideline of the Jumin-Kihon-Daicho-Hou (the law covering the juminhyo) says, "In the case of a family which is mixed with Japanese and foreigners (if) it is a foreigner who is actual head of household, list that (person's) name in the comment section of the juminhyo." In March of last year Ken began to prepare for the national bar exam and Anna became the main breadwinner for the family. As "actual head of household", her name was happily listed in the juminhyo, but My name was listed, as a "comment," and it is just my name, "Isozaki Anna Husson." There's nothing indicating family relation, nationality, or gender. It seems to say, "I who am a human being simply exist." Of course I appreciate existing.

Many foreign wives living in Japan have no income, so they are not classified as the head of household. I think that this decision to list foreigners based on whether they head of household or not, or by gender, is discriminatory.

One of my friends was told by her town office, "If you are so dissatisfied, go back to America."

I've talked with people in the Takasaki City Office many times, and they've always been very kind. But they don't want to do anything that's not in their manual.

"If it's not my work it is not my business," is a government office motto... And the stronger the vertical hierarchy becomes, the less responsibility anyone on the chain of command feels....

In the local offices, everyone says, "Oh! That's terrible, isn't it? Good luck. We can't do anything without orders from the prefectural or the central government, though." "If you can change our upper hierarchy, we will do what they say."

So other foreign wives and I went to the Prefecture office. They said, "It's the local city's, town's, or village's problem. We cannot tell them what to do."

Another friend went to the "Jichisho", (Central government Ministry of Home Affairs, responsible for the juminhyo) but after she was given only 5 minutes to talk, she was told, "We'll think about it." Now I don't know where to go or who to talk to.

Foreigners who are not listed on the juminhyo still meet all the same obligations as "jumin" ("residents") of their city, town, or village.

For example juminzei (residence tax). The prefecture collects and benefits from its tax on our residence.

Foreigners can document their status and address in their gaikokujin touroku (Foreign Registration), but that certifies their individual identity only. Furthermore, people who don't have a permanent visa can list only the name of the head of their household (not their children's names) on their Foreign Registration. There is no substitute for a public document to certify family relations like the juminhyo.

For example, I always have to carry a Foreigner's Registration Card, and if I don't I have to pay a fine. I have to be careful even when I go across the road in front of our house to buy juice from the vending machine.

I am married to a Japanese citizen and have lived in Japan more than 4 years. I'm not a tourist.

Maybe some people say, "So, become a Japanese citizen!" But is that such a simple thing?

I think there should be some legal and social middle ground between the status of a tourist and a naturalized citizen.

"International exchange" is not just a welcome party for newly arrived foreigners in Japan. If we can show (by acknowledging foreign family members on the juminhyo) that Japanese people and foreigners really are living together, working together, and learning from each other, wouldn't that be a step towards real "internationalization?"

International marriages According to population statistics published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of registered international marriages where either the husband or wife is a non-Japanese national was 6,045 in 1975, 12,181 in 1985 and 27,727 in 1995, which is an increase of almost 5 times during a 20 year period. Among the international marriages registered in 1995, 20,787 of these or almost 75% were marriages where the husband was a Japanese national and the wife was a non-Japanese national. Filipino wives represented 35% of these foreign wives, the largest number for any nationality. In Gunma Prefecture, there were 393 registered international marriages in 1994 of which 329 or about 80% were cases where the husband was a Japanese national and the wife was a non-Japanese national. Filipino wives represented 40% of those foreign wives, the largest number of any nationality. (According to the Prefectural Health and Welfare Office.)