"Al" <al@privacy.ne.jp> wrote in message

> Hi, that looks to me like an attempt at reducing/preventing fraud:
> forged ARCs (indicating increased illegal immigration) are supposedly a
> growing problem

That sounds just logical for me. Japanese administration has no competency
in deciding names of foreigners (not even the Zainichi Koreans born here).
Also, one person has to get one steady official name, no matter how many
other names/nicknames he/she wishes to use, and one administration (the one
of your country)has to be the reference for checking..
That's not particularly to prevent *illegal immigration*, but there are so
many crooks that borrow money, get married, buy stuff they never pay, etc,
using different names each time.

BTW, your official name (like on your passport) is not written at all on
your ARC ? In what section are your kanji ?
I've just checked and my name is present 3 times in romaji on my card, one
as name, one as householder and one as signature. In fact, in the signature
space, they'd probably let me use any hanko I wish ( even 栗捨犬, and I
guess they wouldn't refrain from telling me there's a mistake and I should
write 捨犬栗). Probably anybody can print his/her kanji there. Even Eric.
Next time, I'll try to ask them to put the householder name in katakana.

> I know a Frenchman with an originally German family name
> (spelled "weiss") who lives on one of the smaller islands in Okinawa.

His only official name is WEISS. No discussion.

> His last name is written in katakana like "be-su".

ベース
Obviously, the common Japanese spelling is : ヴェイス. I'd  never have found
it.
There's also :
ヴェイッス   ベイッス   ヴァイス  ヴァィス  ウイース  ウィッス  ウィース  ワイース
Half of my town is called Weiss, and I have never heard any other
pronunciation than :
ヴァイーッス, with the  accent on the "i"
ヴァイッス without accent (the more common)
ヴァイソ- with Parisian accent.

I know a family that have 3 readings of their name for 3 siblings...and a
politician that used 3 or 4 readings along his career.  Anyone is free to
read his/her name as he/she wishes...or as he/she can convince others to
read it. In France, there is no official record of name's pronunciation.
I just whistle them.

All that to say that in his back, his name is probably written in a dozen of
different ways by Japanese people.

> he would have ended up with one of
> those other two katakana versions.

You're sure he hasn't ? Can we see his Christmas presents and the cards that
go with them ? You're never sure the Japanese have really gotten your name.

>Playing with bureaucracy can be so much fun.

The less I have to deal with them, the better.

Kuri