[E476]Inspectors knock|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第34期，Asia版块。
Japanese citizenship
Getting a passport is not easy
Aug 20th 2016 | TOKYO
TO BECOME a Japanese citizen, a foreigner must display “good conduct[表现良好;品行优良]”, among other things. The rules do not specify what that means, and make no mention of living wafu[和风](Japanese-style). But for one candidate, at least, it involved officials looking in his fridge and inspecting his children’s toys to see if he was Japanese enough (he was).
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Bureaucratic discretion[1] is the main reason why it is hard to get Japanese nationality. The ministry of justice, which handles the process, says officials may visit applicants’ homes and talk to their neighbours. It does not help that wannabe Watanabes must renounce[2] any other passport: Japan does not allow dual nationality[双重国籍]. And applicants must have lived in Japan for a minimum of ten years. Other requirements—speaking Japanese, holding sufficient assets—are similar to those in many countries, but still daunting[3].
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Small wonder that[难怪] so few people naturalise[4]. Last year the government received just 12,442 applications, which take 18 months or so to process; it granted citizenship to 9,469 people, compared with almost 730,000 in America. But that at least suggests most applicants are successful. Koreans and Chinese make up[组成;构成] the vast bulk of[绝大多数的;大部分] them. New citizens are no longer obliged to adopt a Japanese-sounding name. And there is no fee to apply, in contrast with a charge of $595 in America and £1,236 ($1,613) in Britain.
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注释
[1]Bureaucratic discretion 官僚自主性，是指官僚机构或个人超越其法定的地位和职能，超越政治家的控制，在公共决策过程中发挥主导作用的现象。
[2]
Watanabes：The Watanabes are a Tokyo based Indian pop rock band with members from the UK and Japan.
wannabe ['wɔnəbi]
a person who is trying to achieve success or fame, usually unsuccessfully 梦想成功（或出名）者
The bar is frequented by wannabe actresses and film directors.
这家酒吧经常有梦想成名的女演员和电影导演光顾。
renounce：to say formally or publicly that you no longer own, support, believe in or have a connection with something 声明放弃；宣布放弃；弃绝
Her ex-husband renounced his claim to the family house.
她的前夫宣布放弃对家里房子的所有权要求。
Gandhi renounced the use of violence.
甘地声明放弃使用暴力。
[注]It does not help that wannabe Watanabes must renounce any other passport: Japan does not allow dual nationality.根据文意，Watanabes乐队中应该有人是双重国籍身份的。因此，作者说有梦想要成为像Watanabes成名的人，想要获得日本国籍就得放弃其它国籍身份了，因为日本不允许存在双重国籍身份的人。
[3]daunting ['dɔ:ntɪŋ]
making you feel slightly frightened or worried about your ability to achieve something 令人发憷的；使人气馁的
In spite of unification, the country was still faced with the daunting prospect of overcoming four decades of division.
国家虽然实现了统一，但仍然面临着弥合40年的分裂这一难题。
[4]naturalise：to make someone a legal citizen of a country that they were not born in 使加入…国籍，使归化
a naturalized US citizen
加入美国籍的公民
She has lived in Australia for a long time, and recently she was naturalized.
在澳大利亚生活多年之后，最近她加入了澳大利亚国籍。
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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