Japanese family register translation
A koseki is Japan's family register, and it is the record USCIS, the National Visa Center, and U.S. courts usually ask for when they want proof of a birth, marriage, divorce, adoption, or parent-child relationship that happened in Japan. Corpus Localization produces complete certified English translations of koseki records with a signed certificate of accuracy.
Eligible clear standard pages start at $19.99 per page. Dense multi-generation registers, older handwritten entries, and unclear scans go through quote review first so page count and readability are confirmed before you pay.
Not sure which to use? Start an order when your koseki is clear, readable, and you know the page count. Request quote review for multi-page registers, handwriting, faint municipal seals, back-side text, or a deadline you need confirmed.
A koseki (戸籍) is not a birth certificate. Japan does not issue standalone birth certificates the way the United States does. Instead, each Japanese household is registered at a municipal office, and life events are recorded as entries against that register. One koseki can therefore contain a birth, a marriage, a divorce, an adoption, and a death, all on the same document, along with the names of everyone in the household and their relationship to the head of the register.
This matters for a filing. If a U.S. recipient asks for "your birth certificate" and you were born in Japan, the document you will be handing them is a koseki extract. The English translation has to make the record's structure legible to a reviewer who has never seen one, which means translating the register headings, the relationship fields, the municipal office details, the annotations in the margins, and the dates in the Japanese era system, not just the name and date of birth.
The translation must cover the complete visible record. A translation that extracts only the one fact you need is an incomplete translation, and an incomplete translation is the most common reason a certified document gets sent back.
Municipal offices issue several different documents from the same register. Which one you hold changes what the translation has to cover, and sometimes changes whether the document answers the question the recipient actually asked.
| Document | Japanese | What it contains | Typical length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full register copy (koseki tohon) | 全部事項証明書 / 戸籍謄本 | Every person currently on the register and every event recorded against them. This is the default request for immigration use because it shows relationships, not just one event. | 1 to 3 pages |
| Individual extract (koseki shohon) | 個人事項証明書 / 戸籍抄本 | One named person's entries only. Cheaper to obtain in Japan, but it omits the other household members, so it often fails to prove a relationship. | Usually 1 page |
| Removed register (joseki) | 除籍謄本 | A register where everyone has left, died, married out, or transferred. Used to trace a deceased relative or a historical relationship. | 1 to several pages |
| Reformatted register (kaisei genkoseki) | 改製原戸籍 | The pre-reform version of a register, kept when Japan digitized or restructured records. Often handwritten and vertical, and the entries that were not carried forward only appear here. | Varies, often handwritten |
If a recipient asked you to prove a relationship between two people, an individual extract usually will not do it. Check that you were issued the full register copy before you pay for a translation of the wrong document.
The governing rule is 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). Any document in a foreign language submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, together with the translator's certification that they are competent to translate from that language into English.
It does not require a notary. It does not require an apostille on the translation. It does not require ATA membership, a court-appointed translator, or a government translator license, and USCIS does not certify translators at all. Certified translations for USCIS purposes are certified by the translator or translation company, not by the agency.
State courts, county clerks, universities, and the National Visa Center set their own rules, and some of them do ask for notarization on top of the certificate. Check the recipient's written instruction before ordering. Corpus provides the signed certificate of accuracy; we do not provide notarization, apostille service, interpretation, or mailed physical copies.
An apostille, if your recipient asks for one, goes on the original Japanese koseki and is obtained from Japanese authorities. It is a separate process from the translation and cannot be added afterward by a translator.
Japanese family registers are the hardest certified translations to get right, and almost all of the difficulty is in the identity fields. These are the decisions we make deliberately rather than by machine default.
A koseki records names in kanji, and kanji do not have one correct reading. The same characters can be read several ways, and the register itself frequently carries no furigana to tell you which reading applies. Guessing from a dictionary default is how a translated name ends up not matching a passport.
We romanize from the spelling you already use on your passport, visa, or prior filings, and we keep the original kanji in a parenthetical so a reviewer can tie the English back to the source. Where the register shows a relationship field such as 続柄 or a spouse designation, we use it to confirm which household member a given reading belongs to. If we cannot resolve a reading from the documents provided, we ask you rather than choosing one silently.
If your koseki translation will sit in the same packet as a marriage certificate or a passport copy, the romanized names have to match across all of them. Tell us the spelling that appears on your other documents when you order and we will hold to it.
Registers date events in the Japanese era system: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa, and for older records Taisho and Meiji. We convert these to Gregorian dates and retain the original era notation so the reviewer can verify the conversion rather than take it on trust.
Municipal seals, the issuing office name, the mayor's certification stamp, and handwritten marginal annotations are all part of the record. We render them as described elements rather than dropping them, because a reviewer comparing the translation against the Japanese original will look for them.
Eligible clear standard koseki pages are $19.99 per page, and a clear standard file is typically delivered within 24 hours. A full register copy is commonly 1 to 3 pages, so most single-household orders are straightforward to price from the document itself.
Some koseki records should go through quote review before payment rather than straight to checkout. Send it for a quote if it is a reformatted or removed register, if the entries are handwritten or vertical, if the scan is faint or photographed at an angle, if there is text on the reverse side, if multiple generations or several households are involved, or if your recipient gave you specific formatting instructions.
A complete English translation of the koseki, formatted to mirror the register's structure, delivered as a digital PDF with a signed certificate of accuracy stating that the translation is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate from Japanese into English. Delivery is electronic; we do not mail physical copies.
Scan or photograph every page of the register, including the back of any page that has text on it, with all four corners visible and the municipal seal legible. A flatbed scan at 300 dpi is ideal, but a straight, well-lit phone photo of the full page is usually workable. If any part is cut off or out of focus, we will ask for a rescan before starting.
No. Japan does not issue standalone birth certificates. A birth is recorded as an entry in the family register, so when a U.S. recipient asks a Japanese-born applicant for a birth certificate, the koseki is the document that answers the request. The English translation should present the full register, not only the birth entry.
It depends on what you are proving. An individual extract shows one person's entries and is often enough for a simple identity or date-of-birth question. If you need to establish a relationship, such as parent to child or a marriage, the full register copy is usually the document that carries that proof.
Usually yes, but send it through quote review rather than ordering directly. Older reformatted registers are handwritten in vertical script and take longer to read accurately, so we want to confirm legibility and page count before you pay rather than after.
They will if you tell us the spelling on your passport when you order. Kanji readings are ambiguous and the register rarely includes furigana, so the passport spelling is the authority we use. We keep the original kanji alongside the romanization so a reviewer can check the correspondence.
Not for USCIS. 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) asks for a complete English translation with the translator's signed certification of accuracy and competence, and nothing more. Other recipients such as state courts or universities may impose additional requirements, so follow the written instruction you were given. Corpus does not provide notarization or apostille service.
A clear standard file is typically delivered within 24 hours. Multi-page registers, handwritten records, and documents needing quote review take longer, and we confirm the timeline with you before work starts.
Upload the full register, including any page with text on the reverse. Eligible clear standard pages start at $19.99 per page with a signed certificate of accuracy included. If your record is dense, handwritten, or spans several households, request quote review and we will confirm page count and readability before you pay.
Related: Japanese translation services, birth certificate translation, marriage certificate translation, USCIS-purpose translation requirements, and certified translation pricing.
