Naturalization..

I read that after you become Japanese citizen that you lose all other citizenships am i right? So I am American now, if I plan on becoming Japanese citizen I have to first lose my citizenship of the United States right? I am just a bit lost on the subject because I plan to move in, find a job, and settle into Japan for the rest of my life. But I still think of family so I am unsure.

You are right, officially you cannot have other nationalities next to the Japanese nationality. After getting the Japanese nationality, you have to promise that you will give up your other nationality within a certain time period. However, people have gotten away with it breaking this promise and have effectively still their original nationality as well.

However, you can move to, find a job, and settle in Japan for the rest of your life without taking the Japanese nationality. After having lived in Japan for several years, you can apply for Permanent Residency and most foreigners are content with that. Getting the Japanese nationality is a long and difficult process.

To make all of this possible, I would advice you to learn Japanese and to get a college degree, if you haven't done that already, of course ^_^

I don't know anything about your situation, of course, but sometimes we get similar questions here of people who have never been to Japan. Those people I'd normally advice to go to Japan and stay there for some time just to make sure that Japan is really the country they think it is. Lots of people have overly romantic views of Japan.

thank you for all the advise. I am about to graduate highschool and plan on going to japan on vacation to check it out over next summer. If I still think its right for me I'll continue in college to major in Japanese Language/history/culture. Then go from there, that is basically the situation at hand. Again, thank you for your advice i thought for a second that i had to choose between living in Japan or the States, not both. I do know those who have ideas about japan that are wrong, but some tend to go overboard in the other direction about how terrible it is. Half the time they are confusing it with China or North Korea which, no offence, is kind of ignorant to do.

Yes, the Japanese government does ask you to renounce your other nationalities, but this is an internal Japanese government decision. You can stil keep your prior citizenship.

If you plan to reside in Japan permanently then it is wise to become Japanese.