[brianypopmusic]

My fiancee and I both want to move to Japan, and we have done alot of research, but are coming up blanks on trying to move to Japan. My questions keep coming up with very few answers.
I know that to become a citizen, you have to live in Japan for 5 years, but still be considered American until you are accepted as a citizen over there.
Now, I also know that you have to be considered a good citizen, but i have a misdemeanor on my record for something small and wasn't my fault...(please no jokes)..
Do we live there five years, then apply, or do we apply first in order to live there, then live for set amount of years, then apply for final citizenship? How does it all work?

What is the difference between becoming a permanent resident vs naturalization?

finally, how does one "Demonstrate" proper american culture to the japanese...we were told by a friend this.." Jack applied for this right after college and got turned down because they didn't feel he represented American Culture strongly enough (too interested in Japaneese Culture apparrently)....is this true? can they turn you down because of this?

finally, how does one demonstarte proper contribution to society in life over there? Do i have to be a teacher or write contributions to medical journals or things like that?