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The original was posted on /r/japanlife by /u/Banananabanana1 on 2023-10-04 09:41:03.

This is for all the parents with halfie daughters.

30F born Hanako Jane Smith in Australia. Dual citizen with the name Yamada HanakoJane in Japan and (Smith) on my J passport.

Got both my 10 year passports done in Australia at 20 and dreaded the day I had to renew it. I read up on the “I’m choosing Japan” thing and how to get around it.

I got married last year and had to renew my J passport and change the name. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep (Smith) because it isn’t even considered a maiden name in Japan.

Reason for wanting to keep Smith: (not sure if it’s even going to help) but I am currently pregnant with my first child and want to give it the choice of living in Australia as a citizen. In doing this, I need to provide evidence that Yamada (now Takeda) HanakoJane who gave birth is infact the same person as Hanako Jane Smith. I was scared that getting rid of Smith on every single J document I have would get me stuck with no way to link the 2 names.

Well, today I firstly went to the Aus embassy to renew my Aus passport. That took literally 3 minutes. Real good stuff Australia. Then I went to the passport center in Yurakucho and waited for 2hrs. Heart beating. Rehearsing my line “yes, I am choosing Japan. Iv been busy”. My number gets called. Lady looks at my form with a tick on “dual citizen”. Checks the next page requesting my gaijin surname in brackets.

She asks me “this is your fathers surname?” I said “yes, it’s my 旧姓 in Australia”. She says “ok, but I can’t put it down as former surname. It has to be alternative surname. Is that ok?” I say sure. She says 二重国籍の方は結婚すると2個書く人いますが、Takeda Hanako Jane (Yamada Smith) じゃなくていいですか？

I thought that was a little too much so I said just the Smith was good.

So all is good guys. She didn’t give a crap that I’m dual. Even made suggestions.

So once again, Pro tip I always give to halfie parents to be: don’t give your kid 2 surnames.

Next mission: “can HanakoJane Takeda get her kid an Aussie citizenship”