As mentioned on Twitter this morning, *Twinkle* and I got ‘married’ again today. I was in bed, asleep in the north of England. *Twinkle* was in her local town hall, Japan.
I was happy (I mean even happier)
All she needed was our original wedding certificate, my original birth certificate and copies of my passport. With that, she created a new family register (koseki tohon) in the name of ‘Tame’. She also officially changed her name to Tame.
The Japanese certificate will take a week to arrive at our place in Japan, house, then another week to get here. The embassy in London have said that they may be able to process my visa application in a week, so if all goes smoothly I should be flying out in the first week of September.
fingers crossed.
The family registry business is kind of annoying. If the hubby and I had to do this, we’d be in trouble because the method is rigid regarding last names. We have different last names and apparently that does not compute in Japan. Both parties have to have the same last name, but legally, I’m still using my maiden name and it’d be a lie to state otherwise (and it wouldn’t match any of the legal documentation).
There has been talk of adding foreigners to the registry system, but I think it’s a bit fraught with difficulty because of cultural issues.
I guess for this second time, it’s more appropriate to say “omedetou gozaimasu”, since this was the Japanese one. 😉
Congratulations!!
I didn’t realise that you had to have the same name – although it doesn’t surprise me!, knowing what Japanese bureaucracy is like.
and arigatou gozaimasu for the omedetou! 🙂
Thanks Charlotte!
This one was a lot easier to organise tee hee 🙂
“We have different last names and apparently that does not compute in Japan.”
That’s not true.
In Japan it is possible to have two last names. My wife never changed her last name in Japan.
And, our children have her last name in Japan. When they turn 18 years of age they will have to choose one last name and one of their passports, but till then they
can have both.
But, this only works if you are a non-Japanese and are married in Japan first to a Japanese national.
Ahh Twinkle Tame has a nice ring to it! Do the Japanese pronounce it like Tar-meh?
Congrats & best wishes from a longtime reader, first time commenter!!
Jules.
I don’t mean to doubt anonymous (hey, with a name like anonymous, how can you not trust him!), but I’ve asked many people about the last name thing and I wonder if there is something about how the registration is done which is different (like he doesn’t actually belong to the family in certain legal ways).
At any rate, I’m not married to a Japanese person and I wasn’t married in Japan so it’s all rather moot.
hey Jules! Welcome to the gang!
I love it when people leave comments, especially those from people who have been ‘out there’ for a while, silent!
Yes, *Twinkle Tame* does have a nice ring to it doesn’t it?!!
Our name is pronounce ‘te-i-mu’ in Japanese – the closest they can get to the English pronunciation!
I heard that my father in law has just had a hanko (seal/stamp) made for us with our new name – what a kind gesture!
Look forward to hearing from you again in the future!
Joseph