Getting married as a dual-citizen

Hi. I'm a dual citizen (Japanese-American) that is trying to get married in Japan to a local national. I don't want to get married under my Japanese name. I've heard the city office will not file the paperwork unless I renounce my Japanese citizenship. Is there any way of getting married to her as a American without giving up my Japanese citizenship?

If you want to live here as a Japanese then you have to use your Japanese name. If you don't like your Japanese name, you can try to legally change it.

Why don't you want to use your name?

So you want to get married to your Japanese spouse-to-be as an American, right? (It's not a matter of name.) Then it will just be a matter of an American getting married to a Japanese.

And I assume you want to get married in Japan, meaning according to the Japanese law? The city hall doesn't even have to know that you hold American citizenship too.

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-7114.html

Whoops, I meant to say that "The city hall doesn't even have to know that you hold Japanese citizenship too."

Ok, I guess I misunderstood the question.

You can get married as a Japanese national. It's what you're supposed to do. You should do everything here as any other Japanese would do.

If for whatever reason you want to get married as an American, I guess you could do it. I think it would appear as though you're an illegal immigrant. If they accept it, you'll be registered under your wife's koseki.

Getting married in Japan is easy regardless of citizenship, but some offices have different requirements. For most, a document from the American embassy that is notarized and saying you are not currently married and are legally sound to do so is one requirement. It is easy to get, but you have to physically go to the embassy.

Then, since you are marrying as an American, note you'll have to deal with visa issues to not cause problems for yourself. You will need to apply for a spousal visa from immigration, and transfer whatever visa you have now into that. If you don't have a visa in your American passport (i.e. you entered Japan on your Japanese passport/never left), that may cause some issues because they will wonder how you got into the country. So you may need to leave once on your Japanese passport and re-enter on your American.

BTW, by going to city hall and registering your marriage under your Japanese name, it doesn't mean they'll require you to renounce your American citizenship provided you don't actually TELL them you have it... my husband is a dual American-Japanese citizen as well, and he simply changed over everything to his Japanese name and is now living here as a Japanese citizen. No flags were raised; he was never asked about his citizenship at all or asked any questions as to why he was suddenly changing his name. I think living in Japan is a lot easier as a Japanese citizen since you don't have to worry about visas or anything. Consider your options carefully and choose what works best for you.

Japanese government do not allow dual nationality.
if you get married in Japan as an American, you(one person) are playing two persons in Japan. in addition to your ignoring of the declaration, I think your playing is illegal. if the ministry of Justice knows this, you may lose your Japanese nationality.
in the worst case, you may lose your Japanese nationality, and you may lose your visa status on your US passport, because you violate Japanese law in Japan.

Did you enter the country as an American or as Japanese?

Japanese government do not allow dual nationality.

Yes they do in some situations, even openly. And we don't know enough of this situation to say if anything else you've written holds, most of which looks like opinion rather than fact.

外国の国籍と日本の国籍を有する人（重国籍者）は，２２歳に達するまでに（２０歳に達した後に重国籍になった場合は，重国籍になった時から２年以内に），どちらかの国籍を選択する必要があります。選択しない場合は，日本の国籍を失うことがありますので注意してください。

１．国籍の選択をしなければならない人

above is the official statement by Japanese government.
you are reading the English-translated version. But the OFFICIAL statement is Japanese version. the meaning of Japanese version is very clear.

Yes, we are all familiar of the immigration law. And while it may seem clearly written on the books, as with all laws, the enforcement is not nearly so clear cut.

Yes, immigration does have the power to revoke your Japanese citizenship by administrative review. However, at least through 2009 it doesn't seem as if this power was ever exercised. Some see this lack of enforcement as tacit approval of a sort of don't ask don't tell stance on the matter.