How do I research my Japanese family genealogy?

answers1: Japanese Genealogy
answers2: This Site Might Help You. <br>
<br>
RE: <br>
How do I research my Japanese family genealogy? <br>
I am an American but am part Japanese. How would i go about searching
online for my japanese ancestry? only my grandmother ever came over to
the states. I have her real name, and the surname of her father and
where she grew up in Japan. Beyond that i have nothing. I want so
badly to learn my...
answers3: Very easy. Just go to Japan and look it up in the Koseki
family registry. If your grilfriend is a Japanese national, she is
registered already, and can simply go to the city hall office where
her record is kept, typically last place of family residence in Japan,
then work backwards to the earlier generations. At a certain point the
Koseki records run out, and then the next step is to visit the family
temples (Bodaiji) corresponding to the families of interest and find
out what records they have on the family or families. At a minimum,
this should at least be the funeral records. If your grilfriend is a
Japanese national, she already knows this already, since this is all
common knowledge. Since the family is well known, you can also simply
use the published bios. A trip to a Japanese bookstore (such as in
Kanda) or library is all that is needed is you just want to track the
family through published bios.
answers4: 1
answers5: You might find some help here, or search on Japanese
genealogy for more help. <br>
<br>
<a href="http://genealogy.about.com/od/japan/Japan.htm"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://genealogy.about.com/od/japan/Japa...</a>
answers6: You start with your self and work back...so from what is
know to the unknown and at first documenting everything you know and
looking a records you aleady have in your home and in any living
relations homes.......... <a
href="http://familytimeline.webs.com/recordsinyourownhome.htm"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://familytimeline.webs.com/recordsin...</a>
once you have all this information you will be better prepared to
look at other records.....naturlisation, travel records etc and the
links page may ( or may not) help( links to expert genealogy).....you
need to learn about the Japanese record system and then start
targeting research in the area of Japan you know they came from and
you should get more information about that from the naturlisation docs
<br>
<br>
Add: if you look on the Coats of Arms...Myths page on the website i
gave you if your great great grandfather was Samurai, then you may
find something on the link on there, also <a
href="http://www.samurai-archives.com/index.html"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://www.samurai-archives.com/index.ht...</a>
answers7: Where I live in Salt Lake City, the Mormons have the largest
genealogical library in the world. They have many records for
NonMormons. I'm not Mormon and have used their facility to do
research. <br>
<br>
They also have a website....familysearch.org...I noticed a few weeks
ago that they changed their website. I don't like this site because
it doesn't seem to work very well, but if you go to the bottom right
hand side it says...looking for previous version of
familysearch.org...and that's where you should do your search. Put in
your grandmother's name and father's surname, and see if they have any
documentation records that would help your research. Good Luck.
answers8: I am not the Family History Specialist but I can provide you
some suggestion about how you may make a start… Hope my comment will
help you. <br>
<br>
In Japan, by law, one cannot obtain sidelines, as well as, even if you
wish to obtain your direct line information, the applicant must prove
that you are directly related to the person and if you do not have a
Japanese family group registration (Koseki 戸籍), the information is
very unlikely to be released. The personal identification law is very
tight to maintain confidenciality and to prevent fraudulent
activities. <br>
<br>
So, it makes your work easy if you can find a friend who relative who
can help you find the person who is directly blood related to your
grandmother. If you have her old address and visit area and ask around
/ find the cemetery where your grandmother is buried … you may find
some information that will lead you to your grandmother's information.
i.e. You may then find the family who take care of the grave lives
etc. You could visit the local Buddism Temple (Otera お寺) and meet the
local Priest who may have a death record (Kakocho 過去帳）. In any case,
it is not that easy if you cannot handle Japanese language fairly
fluently… You need someone who can help you. i.e. Find a local
Japanese Geneaology enthusiast / advisor... <br>
<br>
The local Government Offices such as Shiyakusho (市役所) and Yakuba (役場)
that covers the area where your grandmother's birth, marriage, death
etc were registered in the family group registration (Koseki 戸籍） may
have the registration document unarchived. If you can obtain your
grandmother's document, and can prove that you are directly related to
her, you may track back some more generations. The local government
can refer you to another local government in different area if your
ancestors come from another areas. <br>
<br>
The old information (not sure how old it had to be) is archived /
possibly disposed and therefore, I suggest that you will not leave
your search too late. If you are successful, you may still find some
people, who know your grandmother, alive and can obtain more hands on
information from them. Those people may give you more advice / help to
you. Also, contacting the local government directly may help. <br>
<br>
The Geneological Library, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints in SLC, UT will be helpful. I believe they have Family History
Missionaries who are assigned by the Church to support people, from
all over the world, who need assistant in their searches. I believe
some of them can speak English as well as can deal with Japanese
language information in original / old script also. So, why not check
them out? Also, you can log on to lds.org and go to Family History.
There are lots of helpful information and support program there. (I
need to look at it also.) All the best.