On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:47:04 +0900, Shannon Jacobs wrote:

> reply@newsgroup.net wrote:

>> Hi,
>> How easy is it to register a tsuushoumei (alias) at City Hall?

> Not really sure what you're asking about here, but in my case, I have a 
> kanji-based version of my name that I use for my hanko, and I don't remember 
> any problem in getting that included on my gaijin card, where it appears in 
> parentheses next to my name. I don't remember if I had to show them the 
> hanko during the process. I do remember that the custom hanko cost me about 
> 3,000 yen. I also remember a bit of trouble about opening a bank account 
> using the Japanese version of my name, but they did it anyway.

Thanks. This is the sort of thing that I'm thinking about doing.

Because all of the Kanji versions of my name are quite ugly and I don't
want to do the 'Aldwinckle' -> 'Arudou' thing (just looks weird), I would
probably just choose a new name, like 'Urashima Tarou'. In China I have a
three-character name which I use when I can (basically everything except
immigration) which was chosen for character meaning and sound and not
because it's like my passport name -- I want to do the same in Japan if I
can.

> The piece of paper that comes with the gaijin card says you have to report a 
> change of name, so it must be possible to change it. However, that might be 
> limited, perhaps to marriage. The main name changing I've heard about is in 
> case of citizenship, but in that case, the gaijin card becomes moot.

I think this kind of name change is related to your 'real name' (what's
printed on your passport), though it should be possible to change a
tsuushoumei as well. I'll have to check the procedures before registering
one, because I don't want to accidentally get stuck with something like
Urashima Tarou and be forced to naturalize to change to something else :)