Refuse to be forced to fill in Chinese! Major adjustments to Japanese regulations: Doctors and other 100 qualifications can be registered as "Taiwan"

Japan and Taiwan flags side by side. The Japanese government has adjusted the registration regulations for some national qualifications, allowing applicants with certain qualifications such as doctors to register regional names such as "Taiwan" in the relevant fields. (Reuters photo)

People born in Taiwan who apply for professional qualifications in Japan may not be able to directly fill in "Taiwan" because the registration form only has a "nationality" field. After the Japanese government completed adjustments to the regulations on 322 national qualifications managed by various ministries, including the qualifications that were originally allowed to register regional names, a total of 100 items can be registered for regional names such as "Taiwan". The applicable scope includes doctors, veterinarians, nurserymen, hairdressers and other professions.

"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported that the Japanese government took stock of 322 national qualifications managed by various ministries and completed adjustments to relevant regulations. The main purpose of this reform is to change some fields that could only be filled in with nationality to "nationality, etc." or "nationality, region", and delete unnecessary registration items for some qualifications.

When the inventory is conducted in 2022, there are still 90 national qualifications whose registration fields are restricted to nationality only. The Japanese government subsequently adjusted the fields through revised government decrees, provincial decrees and other regulations, allowing applicants to fill in the name of the country or region in accordance with the registration regulations for various qualifications.

It also covers livelihood majors such as daycare and hairdressing.

This adjustment involves relevant qualifications such as doctors, veterinarians, childminders, hairdressers, and apartment building managers. Among the 322 national qualifications included in the review, a total of 100 can register regional names such as "Taiwan", including qualifications that originally allowed the registration of regional names. Not all 100 are new options this time.

There have been other adjustments in recent years to the way in which regional names are registered in Japanese official documents. The Japanese government will amend some regulations related to household registration in 2025, involving the registration method of regional names in relevant documents; the registration fields for national qualifications will be adjusted separately by competent authorities such as the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Statistics from the Japan Immigration and Residence Service show that as of the end of the fiscal year 2025, there were more than 70,000 Taiwanese living in Japan. The Japanese government is expected to report this system change to the cross-party "Japan-Taiwan Friendship Parliamentarians Alliance" (formerly known as the Japan-China Parliamentarians' Forum or the Japan-China Relations Parliamentarians' Forum) in the near future.