{"schemaVersion":1,"passportCode":"JP","passportUrl":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/japan","scope":"Selected country-topic summaries; not a complete account of citizenship law or personal tax liability. These facts do not change mobility scores.","review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"90f71dfca024ea50291e636cf47d13eab98772af76411db7dd863d81a93604a0","notes":"Independently opened all 11 cited official sources and checked all 22 facts in the four bounded topics. The three Japanese justice sources returned HTTP 200 through direct fetch after the web tool returned 403. The 27 March 2026 ministerial announcement expressly distinguishes the unchanged five-year statutory domicile condition from the generally ten-year integration assessment effective 1 April; the updated Asahikawa guidance corroborates that policy and practical Japanese conversation, reading and writing, without a claimed exam equivalence. Age, lawful residence, livelihood, conduct, nationality-loss exceptions and personal application remain qualified. NTA No. 2875 and No. 2010 identify their law date as 1 April 2026 and support the separate domicile/residence tests, foreign-national five-of-ten-year non-permanent tax category, remittance/source distinctions and treaty caveat. SEM sources support Swiss qualifying residence, three-of-five-year recency, C permit, youth credits, permit exclusions, cantonal variation, distinct B1 oral/A2 written minima, accommodations, final approval and dual-nationality qualification. Downloaded the FTA 2025 edition PDF and independently inspected text and rendered pages: printed page 28 is PDF page 30; printed 27, 52 and 54 support tax-level and wealth statements. Its residence thresholds are not presented as replacing domicile. The 5 March 2026 Zurich allocation tables distinguish natural from legal persons and support only the expressly scoped cross-border allocation/rate-progression statement. The 19 August 2026 FTA announcement supports 2032 as a future individual-tax reform, not current rules. Scope and limitations preserve the stated editions and do not assert personal eligibility, complete tax liability, guaranteed processing or a passport-dependent tax rate. No candidate or production data was edited by this reviewer; approval binds only the exact candidate bytes and does not constitute deployment approval."},"reviewScope":"A common review is provided only when all topics share one approval. Otherwise consult each topic's review; no collection means no review.","reviews":[{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"90f71dfca024ea50291e636cf47d13eab98772af76411db7dd863d81a93604a0","notes":"Independently opened all 11 cited official sources and checked all 22 facts in the four bounded topics. The three Japanese justice sources returned HTTP 200 through direct fetch after the web tool returned 403. The 27 March 2026 ministerial announcement expressly distinguishes the unchanged five-year statutory domicile condition from the generally ten-year integration assessment effective 1 April; the updated Asahikawa guidance corroborates that policy and practical Japanese conversation, reading and writing, without a claimed exam equivalence. Age, lawful residence, livelihood, conduct, nationality-loss exceptions and personal application remain qualified. NTA No. 2875 and No. 2010 identify their law date as 1 April 2026 and support the separate domicile/residence tests, foreign-national five-of-ten-year non-permanent tax category, remittance/source distinctions and treaty caveat. SEM sources support Swiss qualifying residence, three-of-five-year recency, C permit, youth credits, permit exclusions, cantonal variation, distinct B1 oral/A2 written minima, accommodations, final approval and dual-nationality qualification. Downloaded the FTA 2025 edition PDF and independently inspected text and rendered pages: printed page 28 is PDF page 30; printed 27, 52 and 54 support tax-level and wealth statements. Its residence thresholds are not presented as replacing domicile. The 5 March 2026 Zurich allocation tables distinguish natural from legal persons and support only the expressly scoped cross-border allocation/rate-progression statement. The 19 August 2026 FTA announcement supports 2032 as a future individual-tax reform, not current rules. Scope and limitations preserve the stated editions and do not assert personal eligibility, complete tax liability, guaranteed processing or a passport-dependent tax rate. No candidate or production data was edited by this reviewer; approval binds only the exact candidate bytes and does not constitute deployment approval."}],"coverage":{"citizenship":"reviewed_scope","taxes":"reviewed_scope"},"topics":[{"code":"JP","topic":"citizenship","title":"Japan Citizenship Requirements","summary":"Japan's five-year statutory domicile condition and the stricter ten-year integration assessment introduced in April 2026 are different requirements.","scope":"Selected ordinary adult naturalisation requirements, including the assessment policy effective 1 April 2026; not special family, birth or former-national routes.","jurisdiction":"Japan: Japanese nationality","routeType":"naturalisation","facts":[{"id":"residence","label":"Five-year statutory minimum","text":"Article 5 sets a minimum of five consecutive years domiciled in Japan with valid residence status. Meeting this statutory condition does not guarantee permission: the newer integration assessment below must also be considered.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-nationality","top20-jp-2026-assessment"],"locator":"Nationality Q9(1); minister's explanation of the unchanged five-year statutory condition","constraint":{"value":5,"unit":"years","basis":"legal_residence","cohort":"Ordinary Article 5 domicile minimum, not the complete current assessment or approval timeline"}},{"id":"integration-period","label":"Ten-year assessment policy from April 2026","text":"From 1 April 2026, the Ministry generally requires at least ten years of residence when assessing integration into Japanese society. This is a discretionary assessment policy, not an amendment replacing Article 5's five-year minimum. Individual cases remain subject to assessment.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-2026-assessment","top20-jp-asahikawa"],"locator":"27 March announcement and questions on stricter assessment; Asahikawa integration paragraph","effectiveFrom":"2026-04-01"},{"id":"language","label":"Practical Japanese ability","text":"Current Legal Affairs Bureau guidance requires Japanese conversation, reading and writing sufficient for everyday life. It does not establish a JLPT or CEFR level here; no equivalence is inferred.","state":"documented","sourceIds":["top20-jp-asahikawa"],"locator":"Integration paragraph following the Article 6–8 exceptions"},{"id":"conduct-livelihood","label":"Age, conduct and livelihood","text":"Ordinary applicants must be at least 18 and legally capable under their home law. Conduct, tax compliance and a stable family-unit livelihood matter. The April 2026 policy also lengthens the reviewed history of tax and social-insurance payments without specifying a duration in the announcement.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-nationality","top20-jp-2026-assessment"],"locator":"Nationality Q9(2)–(4); 27 March announcement on payment-history review"},{"id":"nationality","label":"Existing nationality normally must be lost","text":"Applicants normally must be stateless or lose their former nationality on naturalisation. An exception may apply where losing it is beyond their control. This is not an unrestricted dual-citizenship route.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-nationality"],"locator":"Nationality Q9(5), Article 5(2) exception"},{"id":"application","label":"Local bureau and individual permission","text":"Apply personally in writing to the Legal Affairs Bureau responsible for the home address, with identity and eligibility evidence. Constitutional-compliance conditions also apply; nationality begins when the permission is announced in the Official Gazette.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-asahikawa"],"locator":"Naturalisation definition; constitutional-compliance condition; application procedure"}],"limits":["Five years is not an assurance that an ordinary application will be approved under the current ten-year assessment policy.","Family-related relaxations, detailed evidence, prior applications and any individual exception require the responsible bureau's advice. No processing time or automatic entitlement is claimed."],"review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"90f71dfca024ea50291e636cf47d13eab98772af76411db7dd863d81a93604a0","notes":"Independently opened all 11 cited official sources and checked all 22 facts in the four bounded topics. The three Japanese justice sources returned HTTP 200 through direct fetch after the web tool returned 403. The 27 March 2026 ministerial announcement expressly distinguishes the unchanged five-year statutory domicile condition from the generally ten-year integration assessment effective 1 April; the updated Asahikawa guidance corroborates that policy and practical Japanese conversation, reading and writing, without a claimed exam equivalence. Age, lawful residence, livelihood, conduct, nationality-loss exceptions and personal application remain qualified. NTA No. 2875 and No. 2010 identify their law date as 1 April 2026 and support the separate domicile/residence tests, foreign-national five-of-ten-year non-permanent tax category, remittance/source distinctions and treaty caveat. SEM sources support Swiss qualifying residence, three-of-five-year recency, C permit, youth credits, permit exclusions, cantonal variation, distinct B1 oral/A2 written minima, accommodations, final approval and dual-nationality qualification. Downloaded the FTA 2025 edition PDF and independently inspected text and rendered pages: printed page 28 is PDF page 30; printed 27, 52 and 54 support tax-level and wealth statements. Its residence thresholds are not presented as replacing domicile. The 5 March 2026 Zurich allocation tables distinguish natural from legal persons and support only the expressly scoped cross-border allocation/rate-progression statement. The 19 August 2026 FTA announcement supports 2032 as a future individual-tax reform, not current rules. Scope and limitations preserve the stated editions and do not assert personal eligibility, complete tax liability, guaranteed processing or a passport-dependent tax rate. No candidate or production data was edited by this reviewer; approval binds only the exact candidate bytes and does not constitute deployment approval."},"url":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/japan/citizenship","disclaimer":"General information, not legal advice or a finding of eligibility. Requirements depend on the route, applicant and filing date. Verify the official instructions before applying."},{"code":"JP","topic":"taxes","title":"Japan Tax Residence and Foreign Income","summary":"Japan's individual tax framework distinguishes residence, non-permanent tax residence and non-residence; nationality affects one category but does not replace residence tests.","scope":"Baseline individual income-tax categories in NTA guidance as at 1 April 2026; not a remittance calculation, treaty opinion or immigration-status determination.","jurisdiction":"Japan: individual income tax","facts":[{"id":"residence","label":"Domicile or one year of residence","text":"A resident has a domicile in Japan or has continuously maintained a residence there for at least one year. Domicile means the objective centre of living, so residence can arise before a year has passed.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-tax-residence"],"locator":"Domestic-law treatment: domicile and residence definitions"},{"id":"nonpermanent","label":"A specific foreign-national category","text":"Non-permanent tax residence applies only to residents without Japanese nationality whose total Japanese domicile or residence was at most five years within the preceding ten years. It is an income-tax category, not an immigration permit.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-tax-scope"],"locator":"Resident income scope, subsection (2) and classification table"},{"id":"worldwide","label":"Ordinary residents and worldwide income","text":"Residents outside that non-permanent category are taxed on income arising both in and outside Japan. A Japanese national cannot use the foreign-national non-permanent category simply by recently returning.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-tax-scope"],"locator":"Resident income scope, subsections (1) and (2)"},{"id":"remittances","label":"Non-permanent residents and foreign income","text":"Their taxable scope includes income other than statutory foreign-source income, plus foreign-source income paid in Japan or remitted there. This is not a blanket exemption for overseas earnings; source and remittance rules need individual analysis.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-tax-scope"],"locator":"Resident income scope, subsection (2)"},{"id":"nonresidents","label":"Non-resident and treaty scope","text":"Non-residents are taxed on Japanese-source income. Applicable treaties can affect residence and taxing rights; the NTA describes treaty residence tie-breakers separately from the domestic test.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-jp-tax-scope","top20-jp-tax-residence"],"locator":"Non-resident income scope; treaty treatment"}],"limits":["Rates, local inhabitant taxes, social insurance, specific securities rules and filing deadlines are outside this baseline.","The passport does not by itself determine residence or the final tax bill."],"review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"90f71dfca024ea50291e636cf47d13eab98772af76411db7dd863d81a93604a0","notes":"Independently opened all 11 cited official sources and checked all 22 facts in the four bounded topics. The three Japanese justice sources returned HTTP 200 through direct fetch after the web tool returned 403. The 27 March 2026 ministerial announcement expressly distinguishes the unchanged five-year statutory domicile condition from the generally ten-year integration assessment effective 1 April; the updated Asahikawa guidance corroborates that policy and practical Japanese conversation, reading and writing, without a claimed exam equivalence. Age, lawful residence, livelihood, conduct, nationality-loss exceptions and personal application remain qualified. NTA No. 2875 and No. 2010 identify their law date as 1 April 2026 and support the separate domicile/residence tests, foreign-national five-of-ten-year non-permanent tax category, remittance/source distinctions and treaty caveat. SEM sources support Swiss qualifying residence, three-of-five-year recency, C permit, youth credits, permit exclusions, cantonal variation, distinct B1 oral/A2 written minima, accommodations, final approval and dual-nationality qualification. Downloaded the FTA 2025 edition PDF and independently inspected text and rendered pages: printed page 28 is PDF page 30; printed 27, 52 and 54 support tax-level and wealth statements. Its residence thresholds are not presented as replacing domicile. The 5 March 2026 Zurich allocation tables distinguish natural from legal persons and support only the expressly scoped cross-border allocation/rate-progression statement. The 19 August 2026 FTA announcement supports 2032 as a future individual-tax reform, not current rules. Scope and limitations preserve the stated editions and do not assert personal eligibility, complete tax liability, guaranteed processing or a passport-dependent tax rate. No candidate or production data was edited by this reviewer; approval binds only the exact candidate bytes and does not constitute deployment approval."},"url":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/japan/taxes","disclaimer":"General information, not personal tax advice. Nationality, tax residence and source of income are different questions. Consult the tax authority or a qualified adviser for your circumstances."}],"sources":[{"id":"top20-jp-nationality","publisher":"Japan Ministry of Justice","title":"Nationality Q&A","url":"https://www.moj.go.jp/EN/MINJI/minji78.html","language":"en","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-jp-2026-assessment","publisher":"Japan Ministry of Justice","title":"Minister's press conference, 27 March 2026: stricter naturalisation assessment","url":"https://www.moj.go.jp/hisho/kouhou/hisho08_00706.html","language":"ja","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-jp-asahikawa","publisher":"Asahikawa District Legal Affairs Bureau","title":"Naturalisation guidance, updated 13 April 2026","url":"https://houmukyoku.moj.go.jp/asahikawa/page000001_00453.html","language":"ja","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-jp-tax-residence","publisher":"Japan National Tax Agency","title":"No. 2875: residents and non-residents, law as at 1 April 2026","url":"https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/gensen/2875.htm","language":"ja","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-jp-tax-scope","publisher":"Japan National Tax Agency","title":"No. 2010: individual taxpayers, law as at 1 April 2026","url":"https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/2010.htm","language":"ja","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"}],"indicators":{"scope":"These describe the publisher's statistical geography, not benefits acquired by holding its passport. Values from different years are not a like-for-like ranking. No combined quality-of-life score is calculated.","review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-22","recheckBy":"2026-12-21","candidateSha256":"39a387a50a2aabd1d22f731ee6cac6f5c5ca947272add45f874774511443a18c","notes":"Independently fetched the exact UNDP CSV, complete World Bank series and geography-registry responses, and parsed them using Ruby standard CSV/JSON rather than the author's parser. All 146 outcomes across 73 geographies match: 140 exact native values with provider names and years, and six explicit source-specific nulls (MC/MO HDI; VA/TW both). All ISO mappings and non-aggregate scopes checked, with absent registry entities explicitly qualified. Verified HDR2025/2023 latest HDI, WDI2024 observations and 2026-07-13 update, source licences, attribution, rounding disclosures and no endorsement. The initial candidate's decoded-text UNDP hash was held; this replacement preserves all independently checked observations, records explicit encodings and matches the independently downloaded original bytes: UNDP 61ed82e5b66c88dfca8ff9fac775c63981ecab6a254862af97acacc41c143117, WDI 19be3c9b22cbba7a453233aa0f98f86f0ca1437667a57e91e899d9d43e8a5784, registry d29d57f8adf954c5e2a1520a02fb2c7b45575d8db3bd327a9dff47d66914231c. Approval binds only these replacement candidate bytes; historic approvals remain unchanged."},"coverage":"reviewed_scope","observations":[{"code":"JP","providerEntityCode":"JPN","providerEntityName":"Japan","geographicScope":"Publisher-reported national statistical geography; not every overseas territory or citizen abroad","metric":"hdi","sourceId":"undp-hdr2025","period":"2023","value":0.925,"availability":"available","definition":{"label":"Human Development Index","unit":"0–1","precision":3,"description":"UNDP's development measure; not a passport or relocation score."},"source":{"id":"undp-hdr2025","publisher":"UNDP","attribution":"UNDP Human Development Report 2025, composite indices time series. Selected observations; display rounded to three decimals. No endorsement implied.","title":"Human Development Index","url":"https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/documentation-and-downloads","dataUrl":"https://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2025_HDR/HDR25_Composite_indices_complete_time_series.csv","licenceUrl":"https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use","licence":"CC BY 3.0 IGO","edition":"Human Development Report 2025","sourceSha256":"61ed82e5b66c88dfca8ff9fac775c63981ecab6a254862af97acacc41c143117","dataEncoding":"windows-1252"}},{"code":"JP","providerEntityCode":"JPN","providerEntityName":"Japan","geographicScope":"Publisher-reported national statistical geography; not every overseas territory or citizen abroad","metric":"life_expectancy","sourceId":"wb-life","period":"2024","value":84.0363414634146,"availability":"available","definition":{"label":"Life expectancy at birth","unit":"years","precision":1,"description":"Population-level period estimate; not an individual prediction or healthcare-access rating."},"source":{"id":"wb-life","publisher":"World Bank","attribution":"World Bank: World Development Indicators, SP.DYN.LE00.IN; UN World Population Prospects, national statistical offices and Eurostat. Selected observations; display rounded to one decimal. No endorsement implied.","title":"Life expectancy at birth, total","url":"https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN","dataUrl":"https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?format=json&date=2020:2026&per_page=20000","licenceUrl":"https://data.worldbank.org/summary-terms-of-use","licence":"CC BY 4.0 with World Bank additional terms","edition":"World Development Indicators, updated 2026-07-13","sourceSha256":"19be3c9b22cbba7a453233aa0f98f86f0ca1437667a57e91e899d9d43e8a5784","dataEncoding":"utf-8","geographyUrl":"https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all?format=json&per_page=400","geographySha256":"d29d57f8adf954c5e2a1520a02fb2c7b45575d8db3bd327a9dff47d66914231c"}}]}}