Quick backstory: I’m half Japanese born in Japan to full Japanese mother and American father. I have 2 older siblings also born in Japan. Moved to the USA very early on in my life – I have no memory of Japan- and have remained here since.
So over the past half year give or take, I’ve been going through the process of trying to retrieve a copy of my mother’s koseki, who has been deceased for some time. I’m mostly curious to see if I and my siblings were listed on the koseki, to look into citizenship status.
I’ve gathered the documents and am about to sign the contract and payment for a third party to get the koseki for me, but at the last minute my older brother found an old koseki that has been in the family’s possession for a long time.
I showed this to the agent who informed me that the koseki was issued in ‘92, a year before I was born. But the koseki is my grandparents koseki, which lists my mother and my aunt. Since my parents had long been married and already had 2 children by the time this particular koseki was issued, does this mean my mother never established her own “household”? (And thus, there being no official record of my siblings and I in Japan?) I only venture to guess this because I understand that someone cannot both be on their parents koseki and have established their own household? Please correct me if I’m wrong here.
I just want to know if paying for this service will be pointless if I already have the information I need, considering the koseki I already have. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!
by G_dsPee