Note: it might be possible to complete the documents and registration in one visit to the municipal office if you’re on your toes but we took 2 visits over successive days to give use time to sort out the additional translations and the witnesses.
The Japanese authorities will require a document that’s equivalent to the Certificate of No Impediment, known as a 婚姻要件具備証明書 (Kon-In yōken gubi shōmei sho). In our case, this was an affidavit provided by the British Embassy.
To obtain the affidavit:
You’ll need the following:
Note: You only need to translate the double-page spread of your passport that contains the passport number, your photo, your name, and your date of birth.
Create translations of these before you leave for Japan and take the originals and the translations with you to Japan. Google Translate seems to be good enough if you’re careful and understand what you’re doing.
At the bottom of each translated document, include the phrase “Translated by [your name]” in Japanese. For example: 翻訳する: デビッド ジョーンズ.
Attend your appointment at the British Embassy in Tokyo (near the Imperial Palace). Bring along all your documents, explain that you’re planning to marry and need the affidavits, and the Embassy official will check your documents, ask you each to swear an oath, and will then issue the affidavits. The process takes about 30 minutes, and both of you can attend the same appointment. We found them extremely helpful and friendly.
Your first visit to the municipal office is to:
There’s no need to book an appointment—just take a ticket and wait to be called.
We initially went to a branch office in our hotel’s ward (Minato) but after a little confusion they told us that although the documents looked ok we’d need to take them to the ward’s main municipal office, so you might as well do that straight away.
The affidavit you receive from the Embassy is only partially translated into Japanese. However, the Japanese officials will likely require some extra translation. They should have been able to advise you on that in Step 4.
Use Google Translate to do this, and add the translations to copies of the affidavits. The municipal office officials might make these copies for you, but it’s a good idea to have them done in advance (your hotel can help).
Complete the Marriage Registration Form, incorporating the suggestions made by the municipal office staff in Step 4. The staff might assist you, but don’t expect them to translate everything for you.
You need two witnesses to fill out a section of the registration form. The witnesses do not need to be present at the municipal office.
We asked two women staying at our hotel to be our witnesses, but this step may be challenging if you don’t know anyone in Japan – but this may be the step you find most challenging or awkward. Approaching random Japanese people to be the witnesses to your marriage is a little odd, after all.
The legal requirements for witness details differ slightly for Japanese and non-Japanese witnesses, so ask the officials for guidance during Step 4.
Our witnesses, Nishihama and Sayaka
Return to the municipal office with the completed registration form. Ensure you have the following:
As before, each translated document must include the translator’s details.
The officials will review your documents, which took about an hour in our case. If everything is in order, they will approve your marriage registration.
You won’t automatically receive a document confirming the acceptance of your marriage unless you request it.
We asked for two copies of the ‘Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Marriage’ (婚姻届受理証明書, Kon-in Todoke Juri Shomeisho), which cost around £7 each. This document is essential as it serves as proof of your marriage when you return home. It took an extra 45 minutes or so to pick these certificates up from a different desk in the same office.