Japan has a family registry system to keep a public record of significant events in the lives of Japanese nationals such as birth, death, marriage and divorce. Non-Japanese nationals living in Japan are also required to report birth and death to their local municipal office and may choose to report marriage and divorce as well to keep these events as a public record. Such events also have to be reported to the government of the country of the individual's origin. The process and requirements for notification may vary by country; contact your country's embassy or consulate for details.

Any documents written in languages other than Japanese must be accompanied by an appropriate translation with the name and signature of the translator indicated. Necessary documents are listed below for information purpose only and additional documents may be required. Please contact your local municipal office for details.

If you wish to officially get married in Japan, you may do so by reporting your marriage to the municipal office of either your or your spouse's area of residence. Your marriage notification becomes effective immediately following the acceptance by the office. If both you and your partner are a foreign national and wish to get married in Japan, you may do so at your country's embassy or concerned offices.

• Marriage notification form: the form needs to be signed and sealed by two witnesses (only signature is necessary if a witness is a non-Japanese national)
• Passport
• Affidavit of competency to marry/Certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage (issued by your home country's embassy or consulate in Japan or an appropriate local municipal office within your country)
• Personal seal (inkan/hanko; may be substituted by signature for non-Japanese nationals)
• Others (transcript of alien registration certificate, etc)

If both of you and your marrying partner are foreign nationals living in Japan, your marriage notification should be reported to your local municipal office that issued your or your partner's alien registration certificate. After the marriage notification is accepted, you need to change the registered information for your alien registration certificate. You may also need to change your status of residence (only if necessary).

If you wish to have an uncontested divorce in Japan, you may do so by reporting your divorce to the municipal office of either your or your divorcing spouse's area of residence. Your divorce notification becomes effective immediately following the acceptance by the office. Required documents are listed below. Your divorce notification issued in Japan may not be legally valid in your country, depending on its own regulations. If both you and your partner are foreign nationals and wish to get divorced in Japan, you may do so at your country's embassy or concerned offices.

• Divorce notification form: the form needs to be signed and sealed by two witnesses (only signature is necessary if a witness is a non-Japanese national)
• Passport
• Transcript of alien registration certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Personal seal (inkan/hanko; may be substituted by signature for non-Japanese nationals)

If your child is born in Japan, you are required to report the birth to the municipal office (city hall) of the actual place of birth, your home address, or your registered domicile (or where your or your Japanese spouse's alien registration certificate was issued if both of you are non-Japanese nationals). The notification has to be submitted within 14 days of the birth by either the mother or the father of the baby. The documents required for the notification of birth are as follows:

• Form of notification of birth
• Personal seal (inkan/hanko; may be substituted by signature for non-Japanese nationals)
• Birth certificate (attached to the form of notification of birth; to be filled out and signed by a doctor or a midwife)
• Others (health insurance certificate (hokensho) / mother-child record book (boshi kenko techo) )

According to Japanese law, a child who is born in Japan to non-Japanese parents is still considered as a foreign national and is not entitled to Japanese nationality. Couples who are both foreign nationals and have a baby in Japan are therefore required to have their baby registered for the alien registration certificate after they report the baby's birth to the local municipal office.

If a foreign national dies in Japan, a notification of death has to be submitted to the municipal office (city hall) of the place of death or the deceased's address. The notification has to be made by a family member, a cohabiter, or an other concerned individual of the deceased within seven days of the day this individual was informed of the death. The required documents for the notification of death are as follows:

• Death notification form
• Death certificate (attached to the notification form; to be filled out and signed by a doctor)
• Alien registration certificate (must be returned to the municipal office of issue) (unnecessary for related paperwork)
• Personal seal (inkan/hanko; may be substituted by signature for non-Japanese nationals)