Masayo Boston is a certified legal professional specializing in administrative procedures (gyoseishoshi 行政書士) in Fukuoka. Her focus is on helping foreigners with visa applications, naturalization procedures, and establishing companies in Japan. The text presented here is provided in its entirety by Masayo Boston. To learn more about her services and to contact her, please access her website.
This series is updated monthly, so check back for the latest articles.
Topics
What You Can Do at a Notary Public’s Office
(Post date: 2022/8/10)
What comes to mind when you hear “notary public”? Notarization is an official fraud-deterrent process that assures the parties of a transaction that a document, and the documents’ signatures, are authentic and can be trusted. The qualifications required for someone to notarize documents and signatures vary widely from country to country… Read more
International Marriage and Residence Status: How Divorce Affects Residence Status
(Post date: 2022/7/6)
“Marriage is the tomb of life.” This quote from the French poet Baudelaire is often misunderstood as a nihilistic aphorism that views marriage as something distasteful. Recently, however, I learned that the quote originally meant that marriage was “a place to be united with a loved one, to spend a lifetime together, and to end one’s life.” The divorce rate for international marriages in Japan is said to be over 50%. This figure indicates that a lot of patience is required for two people raised in different cultures to find shared values and remain married. In this article, I would like to write about the impact of divorce on the residence status of Japanese and non-Japanese internationally married couples…. Read more
Dual Citizenship and Naturalization
(Post date: 2022/6/7)
On June 2, a woman residing in Fukuoka Prefecture who had acquired American citizenship while practicing law in the U.S. took legal action asking the Japanese government to confirm her Japanese citizenship and invalidate its decision not to issue her a Japanese passport, claiming that “not recognizing dual citizenship is a violation of the Constitution.”… Read more
Japanese Yen Depreciation and Foreign Direct Investment in Japan
(Post date: 2022/5/10)
The yen is depreciating in the foreign exchange market. In the past, it was said that the yen should be bought in times of contingency or crisis, but it seems that the crisis in Ukraine has not generated interest in the yen. Since I am not an expert on economics or currency exchange, I will not comment on the causes of the current yen depreciation or future market developments. Still, there is a strong view that the current dollar/yen market trend will continue, and many pessimistic reports are floating around… Read more
Seeking Refuge in Japan from Ukraine: Evacuee or Refugee?
(Post date: 2022/4/4)
My name is Masayo Boston, and I will try to fill attorney Mr. Atsushi Miyake’s shoes by undertaking the writing of this column from this month. I am a certified legal professional specializing in administrative procedures (gyoseishoshi 行政書士) here in Fukuoka. My focus is on helping foreigners with visa applications, naturalization procedures, and establishing companies in Japan. This month’s topic concerns those from Ukraine seeking refuge in Japan… Read more
