Japanese and U.S. passports

Hello everyone,

I am a 19 year old college student (turning 20 in a week) living in the U.S. My mother is a Japanese national living here as a permanent resident and my father is American.

I am preparing to study in Japan for a year, so I am planning on going ahead and getting a Japanese passport instead of a visa, as I want to be able to work in Japan some day. I have read various posts on this subject, and have determined that I can obtain a Japanese passport any time, as long as I have a koseki touhon, which I do (correct me if I'm wrong!).

I am wondering about my travels between here and Japan. I have seen some people say that I should show my Japanese passport while in Japan, and my U.S. passport while in the U.S. However, my mother thinks that this will not work, as the way in which they stamp the passports for exit/return will coincide with which passport I use i.e. If I get a stamp for exit from the U.S. in my U.S. passport, when I get to Japan, they will wonder why my Japanese passport shows nothing. I'm wondering if this really is an issue, and how I should handle this when I finally travel to Japan.

I would appreciate any help on this topic, as well as any other helpful hints on dual-citizenship. Thanks!

Ryan, please do a search on this topic, as it has been covered before.Try using a few different phrases, like dual citizenship, nationality, passports, etcetera, and a number of different threads should pop up.