Koseki Update (Am I Japanese)

Okay so I received a response from the Hiroshima Prefectural Government regarding our grandmothers situation, for those of you new, i’m trying to add her to her families Koseki Tohon, which is the family register. And honestly it seems promising.

They told me that adding her death was possible as long as it was deem legitimate. So here’s the catch, to be added to the Koseki Tohon you need to provide claim to citizenship and in most cases it’s’ a “blood right” in Japan. So essentially this is what they need from me.

1. Documents showing my great-grandparents citizenship status was Japan at the time of my grandmothers birth
   for this I am using the Koseki Tohon, he is listed on it and has listed some of his older children as well. I am also using an “Alien Registration” form he had to live in Hawaii. As well as his Japanese Passport which I was lucky enough to have with me.

2. My grandmothers birth certificate as well as death certificate:
   This is to provide proof of her parents name, verification of her passing
   I also need to include documents that show that she was entitled to Japanese Citizenship at the time of her birth. For this I am using:
   - Immigration Law of 1924 for USA which stated Japanese Nationals could not Naturalize
   - Organic Law of 1900 which stated Japanese Citizens in Hawaii were residents and not privileged to full citizenship of USA
   - Two US Supreme Court rulings that stated Hawaii was not entitled to full US Constitutional protection at the time as it was a territory
   As all of these documents state that her citizenship at the time of her birth 1933 was likely if not fully Japanese.

3. My mothers birth certificate to establish her connection to my grandma

4. My birth certificate to indicate my relationship to my mother then my grandma.

I need to do 3 and 4 because you can only add someone to a families Koseki Tohon if YOU have direct relationship with the person. So I need to establish I am of birth right to do so. The documents for 1 and 2 are things that need to be done to establish my grandmothers citizenship to Japan.

I’m still waiting on documents form the US Consulate in Honolulu and once I get those i’m going to include whatever is beneficial to the situation to file. Then once I gather it all I have to submit it to the town where my grandmothers Koseki was registered and wait for them to review.

SO that is my update for now…. so let’s see what happens and I will keep you all posted on the events.