(spoiler text is not strictly necessary for the post, just for context or to prove rule 2 compliance)
Bet you thought you'd seen every possible combination of name combinations for a hanko huh? There was even an Indonesian guy with two whole last names.
So yeah how should I go about this? I realise for a mitomein I can do whatever the heck I want, and that is indeed what I'm going to be getting for now as a tourist, but when I say "should" I mean is there something I can do to make registration in the future (min. 8 years) as a migrant easier? Someone mentioned a year ago here that it's now harder to get a "registered alias", but someone else said you can start a history of precedents with a cheap self inking hanko, and use that to 'justify' a certain name on your registered hanko. That's the kind of tip I'm looking for. Although I guess I could just use that method to get whatever I want, within reason. But since I do have an official almost kanji name, I think it would be cool if there were like a semi-official way to do it.
My Chinese name, in "kanji" is registered with my government, and printed on my ID card and birth certificate, but not my passport. Passport only has it in "romaji". Furthermore, it's in simplified Chinese rather than traditional. Also, only 2 of the 3 "kanji" can properly convert to actual Japanese kanji.
I understand you can, in fact are strongly encouraged, to drop your middle name in a hanko. Can I take that to mean that if you have multiple given names, you can just insist that one of them is your actual first name and the rest are middle names?>! In my experience, even in official contexts, they tend to order your name however they want. Meaning, if my name on my birth certificate is John James Lee Wei Jie, some branches of the government will call me that, others will go with John Lee or Lee John James, others still Lee Wei Jie John James, and funniest of all, John James Wei Jie Lee, which is also common in banks and airlines. (in this example, the 'Wei' would be the part that doesn't convert to kanji)!<
In order from most preferred to most likely to be accepted, (depending on city ofc) by my reckoning, I think the possibilities are
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The two Chinese words that easily convert to kanji and add simple stuff to it to sound Japanese, and do the whole alias thing later on if/when I properly move.
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Just one Chinese word in kanji form (definitely will not just take the two that have corresponding kanji because that would be pronounced like "destruction" and, well, I'm not 14 anymore)
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Just one Chinese word in hiragana
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English first name in katakana (2 characters) + Chinese last name in kanji (1 character)
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English first name in katakana + Chinese last name as is
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English name converted to kanji by ateji (Any meanings of these two words together that I can find sound either awkward or overly grandiose)
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Chinese name converted to kanji by ateji (Grandiose and/or awkward meaning)
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Chinese name translated to kanji (even more grandiose than before. My parents had high expectations.)
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Just get a novelty mitomein of option 1 and not think too much because a lot can change in 8 years or more
How far down the list would I probably have to go?
by LeviAEthan512