Al のメッセージ:
> etaka <etaka@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > 2. You guys seem to be talking about different contexts anyway.
> >
> > Nope. He has "a hard time believing" what I describe happening to ME
>
> Wrong.

Then perhaps you intend something different from what you explicity
stated regarding what you believe regarding nationality and kanji in
Japan, at least as it relates to those from western countries.

> But you want to pick a fight? Go ahead - i'll bow out, thank you very
> much... ;-)

May as well, because you are clearly wrong. Even JAPANESE celebrities
sometimes talk about how their "real" names are used on documents such
as for marriage or divorce, or death, as seen in the many recent Hanada
sumo family stories, because despite whatever they may choose to call
themselves at the time (changed at least twice in the case of the
Hanada sons, the former yokozunas Takanohana/Takahanada and
Wakanohana/Wakahanada), what they are LEGALLY referred to apparently
remains the same: Hanada Koji and Hanada Masaru.

Last Friday I watched some TV rerun in which bilingual multitalent
"Maikeru"/"Maikeru Tomioka" wowed the panel and audience with the fact
his his real name is "Michael Anthony Sheridan" (Maikeru Sheridan in
katakana on his website), or at least, that is the name he was born
with.

http://www.anthony-pro.com/michael.html

Given his own rendition of his real name and the fact it is not Tomioka
Maikeru, Tomioka Masaru, or some such, it would seem that Maikeru for
some reason has chosen to declare to the Japanese government that he is
American and not a Japanese.