The information in my brain (which may or may not be right) for this is... Japan does not make dual citizenship treaties with any country. The policy between the US and Japan is that you choose your citizenship based on the younger of the two national policy ages when you reach it, and that'd be the US at 18. Of course, there were two girls at my school who were born in Nebraska, moved back to Japan after having a few years in school here, and went back to Japan with their parents. They reached both age of consent here and in Japan, and never declared citizenship. The way their paperwork looked to either country was that they were still a citizen in each, and were merely tourists when leaving for the other country. Both finish undergraduate degrees here as citizens, and moved to Japan since then and possibly gotten jobs as citizens there.
Hmm... in that thinking, I'd check and see what your status is in each country. If you're still a citizen to both, you might as well not declare until one or the other forces you. :)
I'm in the same position as you, except I was born in America from two japanese parents. From what I've been told, we're going to have to choose to either be an American citizen or Japanese citizen when we're 20 years old. I've been advised to be a Japanese citizen, because it's harder to get into Japan while it's relatively easy to go to America with a Japanese passport. However, apparently there's a case of being both even when you're older then 20 by not saying anything about it and leaving it as it is, since noones really going to come check. :O Not sure about it though.
Oh I chose absolutely the opposite. I had dual citizenship until about two years ago (and I'm in my late 20s), when the Japanese government sent a letter to my "honsekichi" where a relative still lives. Traveling to each country with either passport isn't all that big of a problem. On the other hand -- It's relatively easy to get a work visa in Japan, but it's very hard to get a work visa in the United States. I know a number of Japanese people who had a hard time getting a job in the U.S. because they couldn't get an employer to sponsor them, while I know a number of Americans who went to Japan and found jobs very easily.
Well, I'm only 15 right now so I still have dual citizenship. Every once in a while the citizenship talk comes up with my parents, and they always tell me I'll have to pick when I'm 20. At school I'm sometimes asked 'So are you going to betray us and take America??' from my friends. XD; Oh, and I live in Japan right now.
There are very few lawyers who specialize on Japan and American immigration law, but they are around. They can help. If you can, I would recommend dual citizenship to anyone who can do it. Keep your options open.
I may be mistaken, but I believe that (except in cases where a child cannot get Citizenship in another country), you have to be born to Japanese parents to get Japanese citizenship by birth.
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Hmm... in that thinking, I'd check and see what your status is in each country. If you're still a citizen to both, you might as well not declare until one or the other forces you. :)
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