Certified and Notarized Translations of Birth Certificates and Other Official Japanese Documents
Why do I need it?
Commonwealth ex-patriots in Japan are often confronted with the need to have a certificate, such as the Japanese birth certificate for a new-born child or a marriage certificate, translated from Japanese into English for the purposes of a new passport or citizenship application (or similar).
The UK and other Commonwealth governments require that translations submitted as part of a passport or citizenship application be “certified”.
Honyaku Plus has long experience providing this service to Commonwealth ex-pats in Japan, and we have honed our operation down to a swift and painless process that enables our clients to tick this bureaucratic box with ease.
This simply means that the translator or translation company that does the translation is required to append a statement to the end of the translated document stating that, in their professional opinion, the translation represents a complete and accurate rendition of the original document. The translation company (or translator) then stamps the statement with their official company seal.
How can Honyaku Plus help?
Honyaku Plus has long experience providing this service to Commonwealth ex-pats in Japan, and we have honed our operation down to a swift and painless process that enables our clients to tick this bureaucratic box with ease.
It is worth noting that babies born in Japan actually generate two birth certificate documents: the Birth Certificate/Notification of Live Birth (出生証明書/出生届), which is a partially handwritten document provided by the hospital, and the Certificate of Receipt (受理証明書), which the new parents can collect from the city or ward office a few days after the birth, on presentation of the Birth Certificate/Notification of Live Birth.
Foreign government instructions are not always explicit as to which of these documents is required in translation, but as part of our service, we will translate and certify both at no extra cost.
Our good friend Lori Henderson (Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan) provides a useful description of her experiences of the passport application process for a new baby here:
<https://2020mumintokyo.com/2017/04/12/aka-chan-admin-iii-applying-for-babys-first-uk-passport-from-japan/>.
Well worth a read, as are the other posts on her excellent blog.
Our offer
We charge very reasonable prices for translating official documents from Japanese to English and certifying the translations as accurate. We will also provide extra copies of the certified translations on request. We typically deliver the certified translations within four business days of the placing of the order.
What is “notarization”?
Some governments (notably South Africa) may require that translated documents also be notarized (an in-person legal endorsement process that must be carried out by a specific type of para-legal, known as a notary public).
Honyaku Plus can also handle the complete translation-plus-notarization process.
We come highly recommended!
We recently received the following kind testimonial from South African Tokyo resident Lisa Meintjies:
“Honyaku Plus provided a really great service. They responded to my emails very quickly. They were able to swiftly and accurately translate and notarize my documents I needed for the Embassy. They also sent them in a timely manner. I’m really happy with the service they provided and I would really recommend using them!”
For translation-plus-notarization, our offer to clients is as follows: we will translate up to four pages’ worth of official documents from Japanese to English, and have them notarized, for a price of 20,000 yen plus 11,000 yen per notarized document (plus tax). We will also provide extra copies of the notarized translations on request. We undertake to deliver the certified translations within six business days of the placing of the order.
How to order
To place an order with Honyaku Plus, or to ask us any further questions that you might have, please contact us via e-mail, telephone, our contact form or our free quotation form.
(And last but not least, our warmest congratulations on the new addition to your family!)
