Your Visa Status After Divorce in Japan

"What happens to your visa status after you get a divorce?" I've heard a variety of opinions on this subject from forums like Gaijinpot. Some people claim that divorce, for those staying and/or working in Japan on a spousal visa, means renunciation of your status of residence (在留資格). Others assert that you are still eligible to stay in the country until the printed date (在留期間) on which that last-issued spousal status of residence expires.

To complicate the issue, until recently there was no clear legal impetus for a divorced foreign national to report the divorce to immigration. Some people seemed to just fly under the radar for as long as possible.

Recent updates to the immigration laws have made this issue much clearer:

In short, if you get a divorce, you'll need to apply for a change in status of residence as soon as possible if you intend to remain in Japan.

Popular Words to Propose With in Japan

A few recent comments from friends have set me wondering about Japanese marriage proposals. (No, I'm not planning on making one sometime soon.) My college professor once pointed out in class that a traditional way to ask a Japanese girl for her hand was with the suave line, "Will you make my miso soup for me every morning?" But it turns out that with a modern audience, that bit gets more mileage in laughs and jokes than in swoons.

So what do Japanese women these days actually want to hear? How should Japanese guys pop the question? Are any of the modern alternatives less gender-stereotyped?

Entertainment statistics giant Oricon proffers answers to all these questions and more with the results of a 2007 survey of single females:

If a Man Proposed to Me With These Words, I'd Be Happy:

From the top:

#1 ... "Let's get married."
#2 ... "Let's be together forever."
#3 ... "Let's be happy together."

#4 ... "I'll protect you for the rest of our lives."
(The submitter, in her 30s and from Osaka, explains, "I'd feel as if I were really important to him if he said that.")

#5 ... "I can't think of anyone but you."
(I want to feel that I'm number one. Kanagawa, 40)

#6 ... "Can we endure hardships?"
(I think more than anything else endurance is crucial to marriage. Saitama, 40)

#7 ... "I want you by my side for the rest of my life."
(It feels like he's giving me permission to be beside him for a long time--for the rest of our lives. Hokkaido, 30)

#8 ... "Will you be my wife?"
(Subtle proposals are romantic, too, but if he asks me clearly I'll be able to take it more straightforward. Okayama, 20)

#9 ... "Let's live our lives together."
(I don't ever want to be thrown away. Chiba, 20)

#10 ... "I need you."
(I would feel how important my presence is to him. Tottori, 40)

#11 ... "Let's make a happy home together."
(I want to be happy forever. Mie, 30)


Translation Notes:
実感　じっかん　　actually feel like, realize
苦労　くろう　　　 hard work, labor, toil
傍に　そばに　　  next to, beside, the same kanji as in かたわら
許容　きょよう　　 allowance, concession
遠まわし　とおまわし　roundabout
ときめく　　　　　makes your heart beat fast

#6, 苦労してもいいか and its comment, were the most difficult for me to put into realistic English. If you have any other suggestions for how you'd translate those, please share!

Getting Married in Japan: Changing to a Spousal Status of Residence

If you are getting married to a Japanese national and already a lawfully registerd foreigner with mid-to-long term residence, you may find it advantageous to take a trip down to the local immigratin authorities and apply for a so-called "spouse visa."

Among other advantages, becoming an offically registered spouse removes any working restrictions that a traditional visa carries. In addition, it is easier apply for permenent residency (eien jumin-ken 永遠住民権) when you are offically married to a Japanese national.

Getting Married in Japan: Registering your marriage

Since I have been a a bit or a roll with wedding topics lately, I figured that I would skip on ahead and cover the oh-so-important topic of marriage registration. This is of particular importance to foreigners due to some extra steps involved.

Getting Married in Japan: Negotiating a price

In our last wedding related article we covered the fine art of going to "wedding fairs" in order to get a first hand look at your dream wedding hall. However, all the tours and food are just the beginning. Once you have you tour and complementary food you are expected to get down to brass tacks and talk about cold, hard cash.

Getting Married in Japan: Wedding Fairs

Now that you have proposed, gotten the all important parental OK, and started your search for wedding venues you can start experiencing "wedding fairs" (ウェディングフェア also known as "bridal fairs" ブライダルフェア) at your top venues.

However, since wedding places are all inclusive (meaning they handle everything from the service to the cake), the concept of a wedding fair is very different compared to the big convention types found in North America.

Getting Married in Japan: Wedding types

The road to a happy marriage is fraught with choices. What ring do you buy? What do you say to your bride's parents? All these questions and more will likely be nagging you right up until your happy day.

Unfortunately, we here at AccessJ can't help you with these questions but we can help you make sense of the variety of wedding ceremonies available in Japan to make your life a bit easier.

Getting Married in Japan: Searching for a Venue

Continuing on from our introduction to marriage in Japan, today we will look at fun-filled process of selecting wedding venues.

If you are not a girl, chances are that embarking on a search for the perfect wedding hall is about as exciting as filing your income tax returns. But if you are an awesome husband-to-be-like myself, you will devote your every waking hour to helping your dear fiancee find the wedding venue of her dreams.

Geting Married in Japan: An introduction

I am sure that you don't need a blog post to tell you that getting married complicated business. While I am no wedding planner, I am currently going through the knot tieing process here in Japan and I figured that I would share my sage advice with all you potential bride and grooms to be.

Whether you are marrying a local or just want to have a Japanese wedding, AccessJ is here to help!

Q&A: Dating Younger Men

Last time on Q&A, we talked about lecherous old men and how they will pay young women to do terrible things like write friendly e-mails for money in this country. Today let's turn the tables a bit and look at a self-help guide for Japanese women hoping to make it with a younger guy.

Living as a Couple in Japan

Just a quick entry to draw your attention to something you may not have considered:

Whether your partner is Japanese or gaijin, you might come across some problems living together prior to marriage in some rural areas of Japan.

Contraception in Japan

The leading choice for contraception in Japan is condoms, the second most popular (almost 20%) being pulling out, followed by the rythm method. The pill languishes in last place with an audience of just over 2% of the female population (vs. 18% in the US, 25% in the UK and 52% in Germany, for example).

Not surprisingly, this leads to a fairly large number of abortions. 28% of the 300,000 or so women who underwent abortions last year claimed not being married as the primary reason.