Japanese Translation

A Japanese document can carry three writing systems on one line, and the year is written by era rather than in the Gregorian count. Those two features make a document unreadable to anyone without the language.

5 min readLast updated 1 September 2026

Writing system

公的文書の翻訳証明

kōteki bunsho no honyaku shōmei

Certification of the translation of an official document

Japanese uses three systems together: kanji (characters of Chinese origin), hiragana (grammatical endings) and katakana (words and names of foreign origin). All three appear in one sentence, and which is used tells you something about a word's origin and function.

What the three writing systems do

Using three systems together is not confusion but a division of labour, and when reading a document that division carries information: a name written in katakana is telling you the name is foreign.

The three systems and where each appears
System	Used for	Where you see it on a document
Kanji	Meaning-bearing roots, names, place names	Names, addresses, institution names
Hiragana	Grammatical endings, native words	Sentence structure, explanations
Katakana	Foreign words and foreign names	Turkish names, brand names
Rōmaji	Latin-script spelling	Passports, international forms

The three systems and where each appears

Koseki: the Japanese family register

Civil registration in Japan is organised around families rather than individuals. A koseki holds a family's births, marriages, divorces and deaths in one register, tied to a registered address (honseki). It resembles a Turkish civil registry extract but is structured differently and arranges its information by a different logic.

Types of koseki
Document	Scope	When it is requested
戸籍謄本 (koseki tōhon)	The full record of everyone in the register	Procedures requiring proof of family ties
戸籍抄本 (koseki shōhon)	The record of one person only	Procedures concerning a single individual
除籍謄本 (joseki tōhon)	A closed register	Retrospective procedures after death or relocation
改製原戸籍	A register in its pre-reform format	When older records have to be traced

Types of koseki

What is most often overlooked in koseki translation is that older registers may exist in vertical, handwritten form. Not everyone who reads modern Japanese can read them. If your document is old, tell us at the outset.

Era years: the document does not say 2026

Japanese official documents give the year by imperial era. The current era is Reiwa, which began in 2019, so Reiwa 8 corresponds to 2026. What you see on the document is 令和8年, not 2026.

Recent eras and their Gregorian equivalents
Era	Began	Example
Reiwa (令和)	2019	Reiwa 8 = 2026
Heisei (平成)	1989	Heisei 30 = 2018
Shōwa (昭和)	1926	Shōwa 50 = 1975
Taishō (大正)	1912	Taishō 10 = 1921

Recent eras and their Gregorian equivalents

Name order and the hanko seal

Japanese puts the family name first: in 山田太郎, 山田 (Yamada) is the family name and 太郎 (Tarō) the given name. Passports usually preserve the order as YAMADA TARO. Turkish institutions may take this for given-name-first and fill the fields in reverse, so the translation states explicitly which element is the family name.

The second distinctive element is the seal. Japanese official documents are signed with a personal seal called a hanko or inkan rather than a handwritten signature. For important transactions a seal registered with the municipality (jitsuin) and its registration certificate (inkan shōmeisho) are used. The translation states the seal's presence, position and text; the image itself is not reproduced.

kanji, hiragana and katakana together: 3 systemskanji, hiragana and katakana together
how 2026 appears on a document: Reiwa 8how 2026 appears on a document
the hanko, in place of a signature: A sealthe hanko, in place of a signature

Japanese documents and how we render them

Frequently seen Japanese documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
住民票 (jūminhyō)	Residence record	Separate from the koseki; the two must not be conflated
印鑑証明書 (inkan shōmeisho)	Registered seal certificate	Close in function to a signature circular; the difference is noted
卒業証明書	Certificate of graduation	A separate document from the diploma itself
在職証明書	Certificate of employment	Issued by the employer and carries a seal
源泉徴収票	Annual income and withholding statement	Used as proof of income

Frequently seen Japanese documents

Frequently asked questions

My document says 令和. What year is that?

令和 is the Reiwa era, which began in 2019. The number beside it gives the year of the era: Reiwa 8 corresponds to 2026. The translation shows both the era year and the Gregorian equivalent so the institution can compare the document with its source.

Can I use my koseki in place of a civil registry extract?

Their functions are similar but their structures are not. A koseki is a family-based register and does not contain the same fields as a Turkish extract. If the Turkish institution is looking for particular information, ask in advance which type of koseki is needed: the full register (tōhon) and the single-person record (shōhon) carry different information.

My name appears in katakana. How will it come back into Latin script?

Converting back from katakana admits several Latin spellings, and we cannot choose the right one for you. Send the identity page of your passport; we use that spelling and also show the katakana form in the document.

Is an apostille enough for a document going to Japan?

Yes. Japan is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so sworn translation, notarisation and an apostille are valid. Some Japanese institutions prefer the translation to be made in Japan, so we suggest confirming with the receiving body.

How does the red seal on my document appear in the translation?

The text on the seal is read and translated and its position stated. The image is not copied. Scan in colour so the red does not wash out; a faded seal forces an illegible note in the translation.