A foreign-born Japanese is a Japanese person of foreign descent or heritage, who was born outside Japan and later acquired Japanese

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

. This category encompasses persons of both Japanese and non-Japanese descent. The former subcategory is considered because of intricacies of national and international laws regarding the citizenship of newborn persons. Dual nationality is not recognized in Japan. Under

Japanese nationality law Japanese Nationality Law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automatical ...

, people who acquire dual nationality before the age of 20 must choose a single nationality before reaching age 22, and people who acquire dual nationality after the age of 20 must choose a single nationality within 2 years.

Japanese by naturalization

* Akebono Taro (b. Chad Rowan), sumo wrestler *

Bobby Ologun is a Nigerian-born television personality and mixed martial artist with Japanese citizenship. In Japan, he is known simply as . He speaks English, Yoruba and Japanese. He lives in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture. On July 26, 2007, he announced o ...

, TV talent * Chen Kenmin, TV chef * Sergio Ariel Escudero, football player *

Ofer Feldman Ofer Feldman (Japanese language, Japanese: オフェル・フェルドマン; Hebrew language, Hebrew: עפר פלדמן) is an Israeli-born Japanese Professor Emeritus of Political Psychology, and Adjunct Researcher, Doshisha University; & Affili ...

, scholar of Japanese political psychology * Tomokazu Harimoto, table-tennis player * Dido Havenaar, football player * Mike Havenaar, football player *

Hoshitango Imachi is an Argentine-born Japanese former professional sumo wrestler and professional wrestler. His highest rank was ''jūryō'' 3. Life and career A former swimming instructor, Salomón was spotted by a visiting Japanese coach at a gym in Buenos A ...

, sumo wrestler * Koizumi Yakumo (b.

Lafcadio Hearn was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legend ...

), Meiji-era author * Konishiki Yasokichi (b. Saleva'a Fuauli Atisano'e), sumo wrestler *

Kotoōshū Katsunori Karoyan Andō (; born Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov, ; born 19 February 1983), known professionally as Kotoōshū Katsunori () and in his coaching career as Naruto Katsunori (), is a Bulgarian-Japanese former sumo wrestler. He made his debut in 2 ...

(b. Kaloyan Mahlyanov), sumo wrestler * Wagner Lopes (b. Wagner Augusto Lopes), football player * Miura Anjin (b. William Adams), Edo-era mariner * Erikson Noguchipinto, football player * Debito Arudou (b. David Schofill ne Aldwinckle), blogger *

Ruy Ramos is a Brazilian-born Japanese former football manager and player. He is currently active as a television personality and '' tarento'', represented by Irving. Club career Ramos was one of the first foreign players in Japanese professional f ...

(b. Ruy Gonçalves Ramos Sobrinho), soccer player *

Rikidōzan (born Kim Sin-rak; ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan (), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu (professional wrestling ...

(b. Kim Sin-Nak), wrestler *

Kenny Omega Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983), better known by the ring name , is a Canadian-born professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AEW International Champion in his first reign. He also works as an ...

, professional wrestler * J. R. Sakuragi (b. Milton "J.R." Henderson), basketball player * Ademir Santos, football player * Alessandro Santos (b. Alessandro dos Santos), football player * Marcos Sugiyama, volleyball player * Takamiyama Daigoro, (b. Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua), sumo wrestler * Marutei Tsurunen (b. Martti Turunen), politician *

Batara Eto , formerly known as Batara Kesuma, is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (as of 2007) of mixi, a Japanese social networking site. He is currently co-founder and managing partner of East Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on Japan and ...

, co-founder of

mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded ...

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

(also known as Donarudo Kiin), scholar and translator of Japanese literature and culture

Japanese born abroad

* Takeshi Kaneshiro, actor *

Hikaru Utada , also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. She is best known by international audiences for w ...

, singer * Luiz Gushiken * Mina, singer in South Korean group Twice * Daisuke Ishiwatari, game designer * Children of the Japanese abducted to North Korea during the 1970s–80s. Although the children had Korean names at birth, they were registered as Japanese and given Japanese names when they arrived in Japan along with their returning parents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign-Born Japanese Lists of Japanese people Society of Japan Ethnic groups in Japan +

Japanese by naturalization

Japanese born abroad

See also

References