Japanese Documents Translation for UK Visas: Koseki Certificates, Era Dates, Hepburn Names and the Police Certificate

HM Passport Office's Japan profile contains a sentence that surprises most applicants: "The Japanese government do not issue birth certificates." Instead Japan keeps a family register, the koseki (戸籍), which also records the marriages of Japanese citizens, and issues certified copies of it.

So a Japanese document translation for a UK spouse visa or a child's passport is usually a translation of a koseki certificate: a dense record of the births, marriages, divorces and deaths in a family unit, dated in era years such as Heisei 30 and sealed by the mayor. Each of those features needs handling.

This guide covers the Home Office rule, which koseki certificate to order, what the translation must show, era dates, names, seals, the police certificate and driving licences.

Do Japanese documents need a certified translation for a UK visa?

Yes, unless every word is in English. Paragraph 39B(f) requires "the version in the original language and a full translation that can be independently verified", dated and signed, with contact details. See what a certification statement must include.

Routes Japanese nationals often use have their own details:

• Youth Mobility Scheme. Japanese nationals aged 18 to 30 can apply without a ballot, but must show at least £2,530 held for 28 days in a row, and GOV.UK asks for "a certified translation of any documents that are not in English or Welsh", Japanese bank statements included.
• Student visas. Japan is on the differential evidence list in paragraph ST 22.1 of Appendix Student, so if you apply from where you live or from the UK, financial documents need not be submitted with the application, though the decision maker may ask for them.
• UK ENIC. Its Translation Waiver Service accepts Japanese originals for a Statement of Comparability for a £49.20 fee, or free with Fast Track.

What is a koseki certificate, and which one do you need?

A certified copy of the family register kept by the municipal office of your registered domicile (本籍地, honseki-chi). The US State Department's schedule lists the two versions:

For most UK purposes order the full certificate, because the officer is checking a relationship: parent and child, or husband and wife (see our spouse visa document checklist). HMPO accepts the family register for "nationality and parental responsibility purposes", and records a marriage in the koseki "if one of the couple is a Japanese citizen". Where neither spouse is Japanese, the State Department lists a certificate of acceptance of notification (受理証明書, juri shōmeisho) instead, and notes these records are kept only for limited periods, 50 years for a marriage.

Getting one has become easier. Since 1 March 2024, the Ministry of Justice says, you can request full koseki certificates at any municipal counter in Japan, not only your home register's, for yourself, your spouse, parents, grandparents, children or grandchildren. You must go in person with photo ID, and individual certificates are excluded. If you cannot visit a counter in Japan, ask the municipality of your registered domicile.

What must a koseki translation show?

Everything, in the register's own order, because the value of a koseki is in its links. A complete translation includes:

• The register heading: registered domicile and the head of the register (筆頭者, hittōsha).
• Each person's entry: name, date of birth, father, mother and relationship in the family, such as 長男 (chōnan, eldest son).
• Each event: birth, marriage, divorce, adoption or death, with the date, the place and the office that received the notification.
• Removal marks: people who have left the register by marriage or death are marked as removed (除籍, joseki); the mark is translated, not skipped.
• Name readings: since 26 May 2025, registers record the phonetic reading of names (振り仮名, furigana). It is part of the entry and is translated too.
• The certification: the statement that the copy matches the register, the issue date, and the mayor's name, title and seal.

The US schedule also warns that past records may not carry over when a register moves or is computerised. If you need to prove an older event, such as a first marriage, ask the municipality for the earlier register and translate that as well.

How do you convert Japanese era dates?

By era, never by guesswork. Japanese registers date events by era name (元号, gengō) and year. The Cabinet Office publishes the orders that set them:

Three traps:

1. Split years. 2019 is Heisei 31 until 30 April and Reiwa 1 from 1 May; 1989 is Shōwa 64 for its first seven days.
2. Year 1 is written 元年 (gannen), not 1, so 令和元年 is 2019.
3. Abbreviations. Forms often shorten eras to a letter, H for Heisei or S for Shōwa, so "H30.4.1" is 1 April 2018.

The translation shows the date as written with the Gregorian date beside it: "Heisei 30 (2018), April 1". A wrong era moves a date of birth by decades, which no caseworker will miss.

How should Japanese names be spelled in the translation?

As in the Japanese passport. Passports use Hepburn romanisation by default, but a holder can ask for other spellings, notably for long vowels. Kanagawa Prefecture's passport centre gives examples: 大野 can be ONO, OONO or OHNO; 佐藤 can be SATO, SATOU or SATOH; 優子 can be YUKO or YUUKO. It adds that a romanised name, once issued, generally cannot be changed.

That makes the passport, not a romanisation rule, the authority for the holder's name. Three more points:

• Order. HMPO notes that from 1 January 2020, certificates showing names in non-Japanese characters give the surname first. Keep the order consistent across the file.
• Bracketed names. Since April 2021, Japanese passports label bracketed names as "former surname", "alternate given name" or "alternate surname". HMPO's example is "Akira (John) Okada (Smith)". These names do not appear in the machine-readable zone.
• Furigana and passports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says passport applications should now use the koseki reading and the matching romanisation; if they differ from your current passport, you need a new passport.

For the other names in the koseki, use Hepburn consistently, and add a note wherever a reading is uncertain rather than guessing it.

Seals instead of signatures

Japanese official documents are authenticated by seals (印鑑, inkan). The US schedule says the issuing mayor's name, title and seal usually appear at the very end of a koseki certificate, and that a certificate of acceptance of notification is "not considered valid without the seal from the Municipal Office".

The translation describes each seal in square brackets: [Square seal: Mayor of Setagaya City]. Municipal offices print certificates on security paper with watermarks and heat-sensitive ink, so scan the original in colour; a faint grey photocopy loses the seal the caseworker is looking for.

How do you get a Japanese police certificate for a UK visa or job?

In Japan, from the prefectural police; abroad, through a Japanese embassy or consulate. A UK visa needs one for entry clearance as a Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker in a listed education, health or social care job, or as their partner, if you spent 12 months or more in Japan in the last 10 years since turning 18. See our police certificate translation guide.

GOV.UK's note for Japan says applicants in Japan apply in person at their prefectural police office, with about a two-week turnaround, and that people with only "Temporary Visitor" status cannot apply. UK employers ask too: the Embassy of Japan in London issues certificates where a UK authority requires one, for example for work with children or with sick, disabled or elderly people. Its process:

1. Get the fingerprint form from the Embassy and have your fingerprints taken on it at a UK police station.
2. Apply in person, by appointment, with a passport valid for at least 3 months; the Embassy may ask for a letter from the requesting authority.
3. Wait about two to three months. The service is free, and you can collect in person or by post.

The certificate (犯罪経歴証明書, hanzai keireki shōmeisho) "is written in Japanese, English, French, German and Spanish", so you may not need a translation at all; translate only what appears in Japanese alone. UKVI accepts "either an original or scanned copy". The US schedule says the certificate comes in a sealed envelope that must not be opened for American purposes, so if another country may also need it sealed, ask before you open it.

Japanese driving licences and the DVLA

Japan is a designated country, so a Japanese licence can be exchanged with the DVLA on form D1. GOV.UK's exchange tool says: "You need to provide an official translation of your licence - contact your embassy." That means the Embassy of Japan or a Japanese consulate, not a translation company, including us. See driving licence translation for the DVLA.

Why Japanese translations get questioned

• An individual certificate where the relationship needed the full one.
• An era misread, or a split year such as 2019 converted with the wrong era.
• Removed entries skipped, hiding a previous marriage the officer can see in the original.
• Names romanised by rule instead of copied from the passport, so SATOH becomes SATO.
• Seals left out, or a grey scan that loses them.
• A juminhyo offered as proof of birth.

Checklist: Japanese documents for a UK application

Questions people ask