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More than 20 years ago, with her decision to immigrate to the USA, she was struck from her Japanese family’s record. Article 11 of Japan’s Nationality Law, forbidding dual citizenship, meant that her Japanese citizenship was now gone. For all that she knew, being struck off the record meant there was no longer a record of her ever being a Japanese citizen in the first place.
Many of you will recall our November 2022 newsletter, where we told you the story of Hiroko Komaki, a Japanese immigrant to the United States who has spent many years witnessing about Jesus’s love through her life and work. Hiroko is our first short-term worker for the Japan project, and after we launched in November of 2023, it was time to figure out how to get a visa for Hiroko to join us here in Japan.
It is not easy to get a long-term visa to Japan. Our visa took a good amount of time and work, and unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we were not able to get this same visa for Hiroko. Tourist visas are not viable. So we were left pouring over visa options online for many hours, trying to figure out what to do.
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We last saw Hiroko when AFM’s short-term training ended in the summer of 2022.
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After many hours of research, Michael came across visas for descendants of Japanese nationals. There are different requirements if you are a fourth-generation descendant than if you are a second-generation descendant, for instance. As it turns out, there was a visa specifically for those who used to be first-generation Japanese citizens but had immigrated to other countries. To get this visa, you must submit a record of being struck off your family record, among other papers. Wait — there was a record of getting struck off the family record? We discussed the idea with Hiroko, and despite it being a long shot, we decided to see what we could find. At the very least, doing more research would let us know what records did and didn’t exist, which might give us other visa ideas.
Hiroko’s sister, Sachiko, went to the local town hall in her hometown to request the family record on Hiroko’s behalf. Unfortunately, Sachiko needed a handwritten form of permission from Hiroko to do so! So, she mailed the papers to Hiroko from Japan, who filled them out and mailed them right back. Sachiko then returned to the local town hall and requested the family records for Hiroko, hoping there would be some ancient record of being removed from the family registry.
Well, there was no record of Hiroko being struck off the family registry. Somehow, she was still listed! We were just as confused as Hiroko and Sachiko. As much as anyone knew, this should never, ever have happened, especially with the very careful and meticulous work for which the Japanese are known. Had God allowed a mistake to happen more than twenty years ago for such a time as this?
Hiroko eagerly called the Japanese consulate in her area to discuss options. After talking with them, the recommendation was to go through the process of officially striking Hiroko off the family registry 20+ years late, then use the official paperwork from that process to apply for a first-generation Japanese visa. This meant sending more snail mail back and forth multiple times between Hiroko and Sachiko to get all the paperwork submitted and filed in both Japan and the USA and then mail the official record from Japan to the USA. We praise God for Sachiko’s willingness, ability to help, and steadfastness in accomplishing this difficult task!
With the official record of being struck off the family register in hand, Hiroko applied for her first-generation Japanese visa. There was more legwork involved, several calls between the consulate and Hiroko, and more mail between the USA and Japan, but suffice it to say that on June 14, Hiroko finally received a visa good for several years. On July 10, she finally arrived in Japan. She is spending the next couple of months with her sister Sachiko, and she will start her official duties with AFM in late September.
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Here is Hiroko on the day of her arrival in Japan.
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We are so excited to have Hiroko here in Japan. With her native-level language ability, love for others, and desire to see souls won for Christ, we know that God will use her for great things over the next two years while she is here. God used a 20+-year-old mistake to help Hiroko get here, after all — and surely even greater things are in store for her work in Japan.
Thank you to those who have faithfully prayed for Hiroko, her visa, us and the work here in Japan. Things are just getting started — and we’re looking forward to seeing what more God will do!
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Here we are with Sachiko (far right) and Hiroko after a meal to welcome Hiroko to Japan.
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Praises & Prayer Requests
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- We will be in Intermediate 3 Japanese class when you receive this newsletter. After that, we only have two more classes before moving to Yamaguchi Prefecture, the project location. Thank you for praying.
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We would love to hear back from you. You can email us at adventure@shoesatthedoor.net. We are happy to pray for any prayer requests you might have, so please feel free to send them our way.
Thank you so much for your support!
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