Foreign Children To Bankrupt Japan

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I actually think there is a rising current of nationalism going on, but I don't think it's a population-wide trend. As you imply, the hard-liners are gaining a voice and drawing a crowd. After a long period of sitting on the sidelines, Japan is beginning to to regain its national pride and confidence. Part of it is probably also a reaction to other asian nations dancing in what was once Japan's spotlight. Regaining confidence is fine as long as it's kept in perspective, but this type of resurgence usually starts with an overreaction that swings way too far to the right. I think that's what we're seeing, and that we're going to see more of it for a while. It's probably just part of the "adjustment" process. At the same time I'm pretty sure we'll see some ugly incidents, but those will function as wake-up calls that will serve to push things back toward a more reasonable groove.

Just my personal analysis, but that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it!
(Until I change my mind again.)

I think you might be right. If you go back through Japanese history, especially post-Meiji Restoration, this sort of swing to and fro regarding commoners is a pretty pronounced trend. I just hope it doesn't get as hairy as things were back in the 1930s. I hope the voice of reason prevails in the end.

[GomiGirl]

So back to the allowance.. has it started yet? How much is it? Do you have to be on NHI to claim it? I seem to be always paying into the Japanese system over the last decade - it would be nice to get something back for a change.

(5.5 months preggo and counting down to when I can rort the system with my fully FG child as is my FG right.)

[Greji]

So back to the allowance.. has it started yet? How much is it? Do you have to be on NHI to claim it? I seem to be always paying into the Japanese system over the last decade - it would be nice to get something back for a change.

(5.5 months preggo and counting down to when I can rort the system with my fully FG child as is my FG right.)

I just received the paperwork to file with the yakuba for my daughter's oldest child to receive this stipend and my daughter's family has been relocated to the states for about ten years now. I can see many problems coming with the administration of this program.

I think I will just submit a copy of the Chicago phone book as a list of my dependents and see if they want to pay me anything.

[Mulboyne]

Well, what do you know, the Mainich is reporting (Japanese) that a Korean man in his 50s made an application at a Hyogo ward office for 554 children, worth 86 million yen annually. He apparently had documentation saying that he and his Thai wife had adopted these kids from a Thai orphanage. he also had his own child so the total application was for 555 kids.

The important point is that the application was refused. What remains unclear is whether it was made by an idiot or whether it was made by someone who was being sponsored to make a political point.

[Behan]

I think I will just submit a copy of the Chicago phone book as a list of my dependents and see if they want to pay me anything.

But that would be OK because they are really all your children....

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Nikkei: End To Child Care Payments Eyed For Foreigners' Kids Abroad

The government should ensure that foreign residents do not receive child care allowances for offspring not living here, Government Revitalization Minister Yukio Edano said Sunday. Generally, foreign residents with children living overseas can receive this benefit if the kids are registered in their home countries. But the child care allowances "are for children living in Japan," Edano said, admitting that payments for foreign residents' children left overseas "are a mistake." "We're working to prevent abuses and are preparing to make revisions next fiscal year," he said. Edano added that "the Japanese people cannot understand why allowances are being paid for kids without Japanese citizenship who are living abroad." It is uncertain whether conditions enforced by the Welfare Ministry, such as at least two reunions a year, have been successful in preventing abuses of the system.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Can a Japanese citizen with childeren living abroad claim the benefit?

[Mulboyne]

Can a Japanese citizen with children living abroad claim the benefit?

That was my first question too. I rather suspect they'll be allowed.

[Samurai_Jerk]

That was my first question too. I rather suspect they'll be allowed.

I wonder how many J's are scamming the system.

[Mulboyne]

Some detailed numbers are now in for June.

• There were a total of 9,315,183 applications for the new child allowance of which 162,922 (1.74% of the total) were made by foreign residents.
  
  
• Payments covered 15,316,214 children of which 249,902 (1.63%) were foreign. (N.B. Children of the roughly 1.5 million government workers in Japan were not included in this survey* [see Edit 2 below].)
  
  
• 9,113 of these claims were for children living abroad of which 7,294 came from foreign residents.
  
  
• Overseas claims covered 13,278 children of whom 10,656 were foreign. (No foreign children living overseas will be covered next year)
  
  
• Out of these 10,656 foreign children living abroad, 1,195 were not already registered for existing child allowance payments.

I'm uncertain how children have been designated "foreign" in this survey where one of the parents is Japanese. Any child covered by the allowance is too young to have to choose between nationalities. Many will not yet even have a passport issued by either country.

It's possible that "foreign" refers only to households where both parents are non-Japanese, in which case there would be some undercounting of kids we might think of as foreign and who will probably take an overseas passport in the future (unless they "avoid" that issue).

However, they might have designated a child foreign if the applicant was non-Japanese. Since we know that the greater part of mixed marriages are between Japanese men and foreign women, if the mothers made the application then there might be an overcounting of "foreign" children. I would assume that the majority of kids brought up in Japan in such relationships will live as Japanese citizens.

Of course, some of those mothers may have been alert to potential problems and ensured that the applications were made in the name of the father which would reduce any overcounting.

Alternatively, the survey may have looked at the nationality of the head of the household anyway. In that case, some foreign men who are registered under the wives' names may have had their children counted as Japanese even if they made the application themselves.

Perhaps some board members, who went through the application process, will be able to shed more light on how these classifications might have worked.

[I took this data from a number of Japanese news sources, mainly this Jiji report. Some of them conflict, for instance, the Nikkei thinks that 1,195 figure is the total number of foreign children living abroad registered for the allowance. I think they got that wrong and have used the Sankei's explanation of that number.]

[EDIT] I've found the original Ministry press release here (Japanese PDF) It confirms that 1,195 figure does represent the number of foreign children living overseas newly registered for this allowance. That's out of a total of 10,656. It also reveals that there were 682 Japanese children living overseas newly registered for the allowance out of a total of 2,622. I've no idea how many are new births but, proportionally, there was a greater increase in overseas Japanese children newly registered than foreign children. This again raises the question of how children are classified.

[EDIT 2] *This was mentioned in one news report but I can't see it written in the Ministry's press release.

[IparryU]

When I went to register my sons birth, they asked for a gaijin card... and they were only 1 week old at the time I registered. I showed them our juminhyou (spelling) and my wife's name (japanese) is on top...

They just couldn't understand that my kids were Japanese, they even called the Sr. Obaasan to confirm if it was ok do register w/o gaijin card.

I could figure that most of those cases were rulled "foreign children" due to the system that Japan has. But my kids are technically "japanese", they have "japanese" NHI, not gaijin NHI, and all of that sort.

Nice find Mulboyne

[Mulboyne]

[omae mona]

When I went to register my sons birth, they asked for a gaijin card... and they were only 1 week old at the time I registered. I showed them our juminhyou (spelling) and my wife's name (japanese) is on top...

They just couldn't understand that my kids were Japanese, they even called the Sr. Obaasan to confirm if it was ok do register w/o gaijin card.

I could figure that most of those cases were rulled "foreign children" due to the system that Japan has. But my kids are technically "japanese", they have "japanese" NHI, not gaijin NHI, and all of that sort.

Nice find Mulboyne

Wow. Where did that take place?

The J-authorities had no official record whatsoever that Omae Mona Jr. had any foreign blood. That is, until Mrs. Omae Mona screwed up this year on passport renewal forms and checked the box for "dual nationality". Argh.

But regarding the allowance, I suspect that there is a very different process to apply for kids on somebody's koseki versus kids that are not. Any children with one Japanese parent should be registered on a koseki. So I suspect the children with one foreign parent are being counted as Japanese (albeit with a single parent).

[Greji]

That is, until Mrs. Omae Mona screwed up this year on passport renewal forms and checked the box for "dual nationality". Argh.

They oughtta have a fucking law banning J-wives of fgs from touching any document that even vaguely mentions citizenship. Wives listen to all their cronies and relatives(none of whom had previously ever met a fg in the flesh and who get all their info from the tabloids), take all that misguided rumor information and then completely fuck up anything they touch about children, or sometimes even the danna himself. My resident rice cooker as caused more 2nd, 3rd and more trips to the shiyakusho/immigrations office to sort out shit she messed up on the kids that is unbelievable. I have been there so many times over the years that I have become better known at the counter than the local resident Chinese/Filipina/Korean/hookers.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Wives listen to all their cronies and relatives(none of whom had previously ever met a fg in the flesh and who get all their info from the tabloids), take all that misguided rumor information and then completely fuck up anything they touch.

I'm finding the same thing is true with my J-girlfriend the more serious our relationship gets. I guess it's good to find out now so I don't make the mistake of taking things to the next level and end up miserable for the rest of my life (or at least until the inevitable divorce).

[IparryU]

Wow. Where did that take place?

The J-authorities had no official record whatsoever that Omae Mona Jr. had any foreign blood. That is, until Mrs. Omae Mona screwed up this year on passport renewal forms and checked the box for "dual nationality". Argh.

But regarding the allowance, I suspect that there is a very different process to apply for kids on somebody's koseki versus kids that are not. Any children with one Japanese parent should be registered on a koseki. So I suspect the children with one foreign parent are being counted as Japanese (albeit with a single parent).

this was minato-ku my friend. didnt expect that in this ward office though..

me and wify split juminhyos so the kids can be exclusively Japanese. I of course have there SSN, Birth abroad record, and USA passports all set up, but we cant let jpn know about that.

They oughtta have a fucking law banning J-wives of fgs from touching any document that even vaguely mentions citizenship. Wives listen to all their cronies and relatives(none of whom had previously ever met a fg in the flesh and who get all their info from the tabloids), take all that misguided rumor information and then completely fuck up anything they touch about children, or sometimes even the danna himself. My resident rice cooker as caused more 2nd, 3rd and more trips to the shiyakusho/immigrations office to sort out shit she messed up on the kids that is unbelievable. I have been there so many times over the years that I have become better known at the counter than the local resident Chinese/Filipina/Korean/hookers.

LOL you even have green snot at la migra!

my wife cautious about what she checks off, anything gaijinish she avoids eventhough she has a giajin last name.

FG times hugh?

[Mock Cockpit]

me and wify split juminhyos so the kids can be exclusively Japanese. I of course have there SSN, Birth abroad record, and USA passports all set up, but we cant let jpn know about that.

Why not, what are they going to do about it?

[IparryU]

Why not, what are they going to do about it?

better safe then sorry approach.

[omae mona]

They oughtta have a fucking law banning J-wives of fgs from touching any document that even vaguely mentions citizenship.

Amen to that!!