[To] me naturalization is just an obvious extension of what somebody in my position would desire anyway - the right to vote and to legally participate in society the same as any other citizen. I am already as entrenched as any other citizen: I have a house and land with a debt of a quarter-million dollars; with a thirty-year loan I really cannot leave Japan: Moreover, naturalization has knock-on benefits that suit a person with my personality. It will enable me to stand on my rights (yes, more than I do now!) with renewed vigor - because I will indeed have more rights, as well as a firmer ground to demand even more (I can except myself from, say, this 'as a foreigner, you are a guest in our country so shut up' bullshit). And - dare I say it? - I would be able to participate in politics as a candidate if I so choose).

Starting from 1993 in Otaru, Hokkaido, and now running unchecked throughout Japan, signs saying 'Japanese Only' have gone up, making an unspoken undercurrent o…

Truth be told, having two passports in Japan is not necessarily a problem. If one lived a quiet life, one could conceivably keep renewing a non-Japanese passpo…

I guess the clarification I should make here is that Japan is as potentially racist as anywhere else, but for a developed country, the legal and social protect…

The nation guarantees the nurture, education, and comfortable maintenance of every citizen from the cradle to the grave.

The American people are sheep. They're comfortable, rich, working. It's like the Romans, they're happy with bread and their spectator sports. The Super Bowl me…

Since the days of Greece and Rome when the word 'citizen' was a title of honor, we have often seen more emphasis put on the rights of citizenship than on its r…