If you had to guess, which U.S. city has the largest population of Japanese-Americans? There’s a good chance you said “San Francisco,” and that’s not far off—but San Fran, or “Soko,” as it was known to the first wave of Japanese immigrants, only comes in third. Honolulu tops the list, followed closely by second-place Los Angeles.
Like many immigrants, Japanese folks coming to California in the 1880s had difficulty finding their place, both figuratively and literally. Did you know that the first Japanese people to arrive in San Francisco lived in the city’s Chinatown before developing a Japantown to call home? That was the only place they were accepted. Happily, today’s Japanese-American population is widespread in CA and around the country.
No matter where they settled or where their descendants have chosen to live since, America’s Japanese communities share several close-knit commonalities, including their surnames.
The Most Common Japanese Last Names
One out of every 65 Japanese people is named Sato, while one out of 68 is called Suzuki. Rounding out the top five are Tanaka, Watanabe, and Takahashi. According to raw figures, there are some 300,000 unique Japanese surnames, but that’s a simplified statistic. It doesn’t consider the fact that many family names are nearly the same in the original kanji, but have been romanticized or pronounced differently. These slight (and often insignificant) differences drive up the total number of Japanese surnames.
Japanese Names and Credit Report Mixups
These inherent pitfalls of translating a term or name from kanji, along with confusingly discrete pronunciations, have another consequence and one that impacts the daily lives of many Japanese-Americans each day. Given how easy it is to mix up two similar Japanese surnames, there are frequent mixups involving Japanese people’s personal details and financial account information.
That kind of snafu can result in something called a mixed-file credit error. Essentially, that’s when one person’s credit records get mashed up with someone else’s. Mixed-file errors often occur when fathers and sons are distinguished only by “Sr.” and “Jr.” or when other identifying details (middle initial, date of birth, state of residence, etc.) are also conflated or swapped.
It’s also common for people with “ethnic” names, especially if there is only a limited pool of surnames used by folks of that ethnicity or nationality.
Mixed-file credit problems tend to be tricky for consumers to untangle on their own—but luckily, it’s easy for them to find help. Attorney Adam Singer and his team specialize in resolving these complicated credit errors. To get started restoring your credit report (and possibly get compensated for the trouble a mixed-file report caused in your life), contact the Credit Report Law Group today by calling 212-842-2428 or click here to fill out this convenient form.