AMA Podcast (S-02, E-10) with Andrew Neuman, a Japan-Based Professional and Adoptive Parent

Hear from someone who has firsthand experience with Japan's adoption system and knows what it takes to start a family across cultures in a tightly controlled environment. Japan records relatively few adoptions each year. The majority are adult adoptions tied to family succession, not placements of unrelated children. True child adoptions, especially of children from the welfare system, remain limited. Against this backdrop, foreign adoptive parents are a small but notable edge case, navigating a system that is both structurally restrictive and culturally cautious. Today, Real Gaijin was privileged to speak with a longtime Japan resident originally from California who made the momentous decision to adopt a Japanese child and raise them in a bicultural setting. Who is he? Andrew Neuman, a Japan-based professional and adoptive parent, has firsthand experience navigating the country’s complex and often opaque adoption system. His experience gives him a rare, practitioner-level perspective on the structural, legal, and cultural dynamics that shape adoption in Japan, from the constraints of the special adoption framework, which is called Tokubetsu Yoshiengumi (特別養子縁組) in Japanese, to the practical realities of raising a child across cultural and linguistic boundaries. His story provides insight into the discrepancy between policy design and lived experience, as well as the broader question of how family formation is evolving in a rapidly aging society. Please subscribe and click on 🔔, 👍 and share. ▬▬▬ CHAPTERS ▬▬▬ 00:00 Introductions and housekeeping 03:05 Andrew's path from California to Japan 08:33 Putting adoption in context, only 300 ~ 500 children per year are adopted through formal channels! 09:49 Andrew's adoption journey began in San Francisco 16:28 Emotional reaction when the call finally came that Andrew's son had been located, especially after such a long wait 18:53 Almost gave up because the wait was so long for a Japanese child; Considered adopting an African-American boy in the U.S. 21:34 Prospective adoptive parents are, essentially, forced to work with only one adoption agency at a time 22:20 Q & A: Did you find that discrimination was a problem for you or your son? 27:20 Steps taken "to widen the net" to increase the chances of being paired with an eligible child (e.g., being open to adopting a child over the age of 3) 36:21 Legal relationship that an adopted child has with their biological parents in the case of a "special adoption" in Japan 42:05 Adopting an infant is not without its challenges; Also consider adopting older children 45:51 What happens once a child "ages-out" of institutional care in Japan when he or she turns 18? 49:23 Some of the challenges of adopting in Japan (e.g., mandatory period of nurturing) 53:13 Andrew's desire to encourage more Japanese couples to consider adoption by sharing his own experience in the Japanese language 53:37 Special adoptions of biologically unrelated children vs. "regular" adoptions in Japan (e.g., adult males or mukoyoshi) 58:57 Why are there 42,000 children living in institutions in Japan who are unable to find a "forever home?" 1:02:28 Nice comment from a listener about Andrew's perspective on adopting infants 1:02:56 If you want to become an adoptive parent of a Japanese child, what should you do next? Consult your local public child guidance center. 1:09:10 Option of working with a private adoption agency 1:12:04 Final words and a big thank you to Andrew! Lets connect... ▪️Website (Substack): https://realgaijin.substack.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ▪️ Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/realgaijin.b... ▪️ Instagram:   / real_gaijin_on_substack   ▪️ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_... ▪️ Tiktok:   / real.gaijin   ▪️ X (Twitter): https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_ ▪️ YouTube: / @realgaijin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ▪️  / mark-wilt-kennedy   Copyright ⓒ 2026 Real Gaijin, All Rights Reserved.