How to obtain a koseki from outside Japan

Where do you request a koseki?

Family registers are held where the honseki is recorded, not where anyone lives, so the issuing office is the municipality of the registered domicile. Japanese missions abroad issue residence certificates, signature certificates, and certificates of personal status; the Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver states plainly that a koseki must be requested directly from the municipal office of the registered domicile. You therefore need to know which municipality that is before anything else can proceed.

If you do not know your honseki

Municipal offices will not tell you your honseki by phone or at the counter, even if you are the person recorded (Nakano City, Edogawa City, Shinjuku City). The methods they point to are these. If you are registered as a resident in Japan, request a residence certificate with the honseki shown on it from the municipality where you are registered. A driving licence that has the honseki printed on it shows it; on an IC-chip licence it is stored on the chip and can be read at a terminal in a police station by entering the licence PINs (Kawasaki City, Edogawa City). If you have never married, you are in the same register, with the same honseki, as your parents or unmarried siblings (Edogawa City).

If you have already moved abroad, we have not found an official notice that addresses this case. What is available is the removed residence record (juminhyo no johyo) from the municipality where you last lived: Taito City, for example, accepts requests for it by post from abroad, and its request form asks whether the honseki should be shown. Check the same option on your last municipality's form.

Route 1: ask a relative in Japan to request it

Nakano City lists this route first and describes it as simple and reliable, because the request and the fee payment are made inside Japan; Toshima City likewise calls it the simplest and most reliable route. A spouse, parent, or child can request at the counter or by post without a power of attorney. A sibling can do so only if the sibling or your parent is recorded in the register being requested; for your own register after you married, a sibling or anyone else needs your original signed authorisation. The certificate is posted to the representative's address in Japan, so arrange either onward international post or, if you only need it translated, a scan or photograph by email.

Route 2: request by post from abroad

Postal requests are provided for by Article 10(3) of the Family Register Act, and most Tokyo wards and designated cities publish a procedure for overseas residents. The detail varies by municipality, so check the office that holds the honseki before sending anything. The common points are these.

• What to send: a request form giving an email address they can reach you at, a copy of identification showing your current address abroad, the fee, return postage, and a return envelope. A passport copy alone is refused by most offices because it does not show an address; send a copy of a local driving licence, a certificate of residence issued by a Japanese mission, or a utility bill instead.
• Statutory fee: 450 yen per copy for a current register (zenbu jiko shomei), and 750 yen per copy for a closed register (joseki) or a pre-revision register (kaisei genkoseki), as set by Cabinet Order.
• How the fee can be paid (this is where requests fail): paying through a relative or acquaintance in Japan, by postal money order or registered cash mail, works everywhere. Paying directly from abroad does not: some municipalities accept Japanese yen in cash by international registered mail (Osaka City, Yokohama City, Funabashi City), some accept International Reply Coupons towards the fee (Setagaya City, Nakano City) while others refuse them (Yokohama City, Funabashi City), and some accept a card payment (Osaka City, Nakano City). International postal money orders were discontinued on 27 March 2020, and bank transfers and foreign currency are not accepted.
• Where it is returned, and how long it takes: only to the overseas address shown on your identification. If you left Japan without cancelling your resident registration, some offices will not post to an overseas address at all (Osaka City). Trackable EMS return is offered by some (Yokohama City charges 51 yen for the envelope). Allow roughly ten days to two weeks from request to receipt (Nakano City).

Route 3: collect it in person during a visit to Japan

• Nationwide issuance (any municipal counter): since 1 March 2024, a register for yourself, your spouse, or a direct relative can be issued at any municipal counter, not only the one holding the honseki. You have to attend in person with photographic government identification such as a driving licence, My Number card, or passport. Postal and agent requests are excluded, as are the shohon and registers that have not been computerised. It cannot be used from abroad, but it removes the need to travel to the honseki municipality while you are in Japan.
• Convenience-store issuance: with a My Number card, and where the honseki municipality participates, the certificate can be printed at a multi-copy machine in a convenience store in Japan. If your resident registration is in a different municipality from your honseki, you must register to use the service in advance. Check the J-LIS list of participating municipalities for a mark in the family register column.
• My Number card after moving abroad: since 27 May 2024, Japanese nationals can continue using a My Number card after moving overseas. The continuation has to be requested when filing the move-out notification, otherwise the card expires on the stated departure date. Those who left Japan on or after 5 October 2015 without a card can apply from abroad and collect it at a Japanese mission or a municipal counter in Japan. Adachi City states that a card kept in use this way can be used to obtain family register certificates at a convenience store during a visit to Japan.

Once you have the register

Ask the municipality for the tohon rather than the shohon. Canada's IRCC, for example, asks Japanese nationals in family-class applications for the koseki tohon together with the kaisei genkoseki tohon. Other authorities do not always say which form they want, so the tohon, which shows everyone recorded in the register, is the safer request.

We do not need the original. Send a clear scan or photograph through the order form and you receive the English translation with a signed certificate of accuracy, in PDF and Word, within 48 hours of payment. Two points save a round of emails when you order:

• Photograph every page, including the last page, which carries the certification statement, the mayor's name, and the official seal.
• Names are written as each person's passport shows. Give the passport spellings for yourself and the others in the register, such as your spouse, children, or parents, in the notes field of the order form; anyone without a passport, or whose spelling you do not give, is romanised in Hepburn.

Sample pages, the format, and answers to these points in more detail are on the koseki translation page.

Who can request a register?

Under Article 10 of the Family Register Act, a copy may be requested by the person recorded in the register, their spouse, their direct ascendants (parents, grandparents), and their direct descendants (children, grandchildren). The Act sets no nationality requirement: what counts is being recorded in the register, being the spouse of someone recorded in it, or being their direct ascendant or descendant. Shinjuku City, for example, states that a foreign spouse may request the register as the spouse of the person recorded in it. A descendant who is not recorded in the register should ask the municipality which documents it needs to show the relationship.

A sibling can request the register without a power of attorney only if the requester or the requester's parent is recorded in it (for example, the parents' register). For a married sibling's own register, or for a cousin or unrelated person, a signed power of attorney is needed, or else a third-party request under Article 10-2 that states a concrete reason, such as an inheritance procedure, which municipalities examine strictly.

Questions that come up

• Can a Japanese embassy or consulate issue my koseki? No. Japanese missions abroad issue residence certificates, signature certificates, and certificates of personal status, but they do not issue koseki and do not order them on your behalf. The request has to go to the municipality that holds the register.
• Should I ask for the tohon or the shohon? The receiving authority has the final say. Canada's IRCC, for example, asks Japanese nationals in family-class applications for the koseki tohon together with the kaisei genkoseki tohon. Other authorities do not always say which form they want, so the tohon (zenbu jiko shomei), which shows everyone recorded in the register, is the safer request. Nationwide issuance at a counter other than the registered domicile also cannot be used for the shohon.
• Can I apply online and have it posted to my address abroad? We have not found a municipality that does this, as of October 2026. The online application services we checked (Yokohama City, Meguro City) post the certificate only to the applicant's registered address in Japan. Some municipalities do accept a card payment for the fee alone on a postal request from abroad (Osaka City, Nakano City).
• I am tracing Japanese ancestors. Which register do I need? Earlier generations are usually recorded in other registers: a closed register (joseki) once everyone has left it, or a pre-revision register (kaisei genkoseki) kept when the format was changed. A postal request to the municipality of the registered domicile works for these as well, at 750 yen per copy. Nationwide issuance at another counter covers computerised joseki and kaisei genkoseki tohon only, and convenience-store issuance does not list them.

Sources

Last reviewed 8 September 2026; corrections and additions reviewed 3 October 2026.

• Ministry of Justice, Amendment to the Family Register Act (in force 1 March 2024) — nationwide issuance
• Ministry of Justice, Identity verification at family register counters
• e-Gov, Family Register Act (Articles 10, 10-2, 10-3, 120-2)
• e-Gov, Cabinet Order on standard local government fees (Appended Table, item 8)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Certificates issued by Japanese missions abroad
• Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver, Family register and nationality Q&A
• J-LIS, Obtaining family register certificates for your registered domicile (convenience-store issuance)
• My Number Card portal, Using a My Number card outside Japan
• Adachi City, Continued use of the My Number card after moving abroad
• Setagaya City, Requesting family register certificates by post from abroad
• Nakano City, Postal requests for family registers from abroad
• Toshima City, Obtaining a family register certificate while living abroad
• Nakano City, How to find your registered domicile
• Edogawa City, How to find your registered domicile
• Kawasaki City, How to find your registered domicile
• Taito City, Requesting a residence record (including removed records) from abroad
• Shinjuku City, Family register Q&A (foreign spouses, siblings, registered domicile)
• Edogawa City, Requesting a sibling's family register
• Edogawa City, Who can request a family register certificate
• Osaka City, Postal requests for family register certificates from abroad
• Yokohama City, Postal requests for family register certificates from outside Japan
• Funabashi City, Requesting a family register certificate by post from abroad
• Yokohama City, Online applications for family register certificates
• Meguro City, Online applications for family register certificates
• IRCC, Tokyo Visa Office Additional Document Checklist, Family Class (IMM 3041 E)

Municipal procedures and accepted payment methods change. Check the current notice published by the municipality holding the honseki before you send a request.