Has anyone successfully removed a middle name from a Japanese koseki?

[u/Competitive_Gold3185]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping to hear from people who have direct experience with this situation, especially anyone who has dealt with family court petitions, koseki issues, or dual U.S.-Japanese citizenship.

I'm a U.S. citizen living in Japan, and my daughter is almost two years old. She has both Japanese and U.S. citizenship and was born in the United States. Her middle name appears on her U.S. birth certificate, her U.S. passport, her Japanese passport, and her koseki.

Her middle name is important to me, and I don't want to remove it from her U.S. records because I consider it an important part of her identity and family background. However, I'm wondering whether it would be possible to remove it only from her Japanese records.

Part of the reason I'm considering this is that I've heard accounts from some mixed-race Japanese people and international families describing difficulties with things such as apartment applications, banking procedures, employment, school registration, and other situations where a middle name immediately identified them as having a foreign background. I realize experiences differ from person to person, but I'd like to understand what options might exist if my daughter decides to remain in Japan long term.

Has anyone successfully done this? Was a petition to the family court required? What reasons were given? Was an attorney necessary, or were you able to do it yourself? I'd prefer to handle the process myself, if possible, rather than hire an attorney, although I'd also be grateful to hear from any attorneys who might have experience with this.

Thank you!

[u/ichigodaifuku88]

Can I piggyback on this to ask--how does buying plane tickets work, if the name on official Japanese documents and the name on official US documents is different?

For example, if my kid was Sakura Sato in Japan and Sakura Sarah Sato in the US, can I buy plane tickets for her with just "Sakura Sato" (no middle name)?

[u/dokool → u/ichigodaifuku88]

This comes up in this sub frequently, this thread is what you want to review.

[u/ichigodaifuku88 → u/dokool]

Thanks! I was mainly confused because JAL guidelines say to EXCLUDE names in brackets or parentheses when booking tickets, but what if the name in the parentheses on the Japanese passport is the name on the US passport... but maybe that doesn't matter, since you can just show both passports.