But x08, you are looking for residency, not citizenship.

Correct me if I'm wrong... but the talk is about PR... which IS residency.

And to be honest, I would be quite happy to give up my Aussie passport. I love Japan that much. Home has never really held anything special for me except for my family being there.

Develop a skill that is usefull to Japan. The birth rate in Japan is so low that the Japanese population can hardly sustain itself. Therefore, foreign workers are being imported for labor skills. Same thing is happening in many affluent nations.

so...does twoish weeks for a vacation to see family count as an extended period of time, making the time clock restart?

It should. It sounds like you over-extended your visa. Just follow the rules and you'll be o.k. the path toward citizenship in any country could possibly take years and be very convoluted. How long in Japan?

I wouldn't even start thinking about PR. You need to worry about getting a work visa that allows you to live and work. Permanant residency is a later hurdle.

To evaluate this article, I really need to hear the real stories.

At this point, this article only mentioned about 3 extreme examples.

I know tons of people got a PR easily and it's hard for me to buy the whole story.

One thing I can agree on is that the location where you are applying to does have effects on its results.

All the people I know who got their PR rather easily reside near Tokyo.

Generally speaking, Japanese (add Chinese and Koreans) don't see citizenship in the same way as Westerners. They see it as a privelage reserved for those that are of the appropriate geneology.... not a right to those that reside in and/or contribute to the wellbeing of the nation.

It is no surprise that they have these heavy restrictions.

What is a surprise is the amount of people on this site that are so determined to get this citizenship. Surely they realise that they will never be "Japanese" in the same way that people travel to say Canada or New Zealand and become Canadians or New Zealanders.

You may not become genetically Japanese, but you will have a political voice with citizenship.
I love the town that I live in. I would like to have a say in the election of officials, and the ability to possibly run for a minor position in the future. Citizenship gives you those rights, while PR only says that you can live in Japan indefinitely. There is a MASSIVE difference. Some people may be happy to just go about their lives, but for me - my son will most likely be living in Japan for the rest of his life. He has a brain injury, and life will not necessarily be easy. I`d like to have an official voice in, say, whether they decide to implement new tax exemptions for children with disabilities (something that is currently in discussion). Or in whether they will provide additional transportation for people unable to drive... All things that you have to be a citizen to cast a vote in.

It`s not about "becoming Japanese" for everyone.

Sorry... I didn't mean to imply that people who wished for Japanese citizenship were trying to become Japanese in the sense that they wanted to be recognized and accepted as ethnically AND culturally Japanese.

Rather I'm surprised that despite the fact that the Japanese have a very culturally conservative and exclusive national identity that some non-Japanese still persist. Though I suspect it's out of ignorance for some.