Life in Japan

Registering at your Local City Office

Yaaay team April 13, 2024
Aerial View of City Buildings 
After settling into your new place in Japan, remember to register at the local city or ward office. In this column, you can learn when and how to complete the registration, things to bring with you, as well as what to do when you’re unsure about whether you’ll be able to handle the process on your own.

You MUST register within 14 days of arriving in Japan!

Once you’ve moved into your apartment or share house room and recovered from the trip, it’s time to register at your local city office (or ward office if you live in the central areas of a bigger city). You must register within 14 days after moving to Japan. It’s so important to take care of the registration as early as possible.
Depending on how crowded the city office is, the registration process will take 1-2 hours. Keep in mind that most city offices are only open on weekdays and close their counters as early as 5 PM.

To register, you will need to bring the following things:
・Your residence card
・A document/note with your new address on it, including the name of the building and the number of your room
・A Japanese telephone number (if you don’t have your own number yet, you can use a number of your company)
・Your passport

The Registration Process

The following part is based on the procedures at the Setagaya Ward Office in Tokyo. Please be aware that there might be slight differences depending on where you live.

Once you’re in the building, head to the counter that says 住民登録 (じゅうみんとうろく Residence Registration) or ask a staff member to direct you to the right counter. Draw a number from one of the ticket machines and wait until your number is called. Once you’re at the counter, ask for an English registration form (or a Japanese one depending on your language skill).
After the clerk checks your residence card and passport, you will be asked to fill out the form. The form contains a space for your old address. When you register for your first address in Japan, you can either leave it blank or write the name of your home country.

Once you’re done with writing everything, return to the counter once more. The clerk will give you a moment to print your address on the back of your card and take a copy of it. If there’s nothing else to take care of, you’re done!

Certificate of Residence

As an optional part of the registration process, you can get one or multiple Certificates of Residence (住民票写し: じゅうみんひょううつし: juminhyo utsushi). 
Unlike the registration itself, this document costs a few hundred yen per copy. You won’t need it often, but many companies require their employees to provide one. Even if you haven’t heard anything from your company, it might be good to get one or two of them just to be safe (and prevent another trip to the city office).

Ask someone to accompany you if you are unsure

Foreigner-friendliness varies from office to office. For example, not all cities have English versions of the resident registration form. In these cases, you should ask for help from the clerks and they should be more than happy to assist you. 
If you’re unsure about whether you’ll be able to handle the process on your own, ask a future colleague from work or a Japanese friend to accompany you.

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