{"id":4569,"date":"2021-05-03T19:12:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T10:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/guide-to-personal-identification-documents-in-japan\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:08:10","slug":"guide-to-personal-identification-documents-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/guide-to-personal-identification-documents-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Personal Identification Documents in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As you begin your life in Japan, you will quickly start accumulating many important documents. If you are a client of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.relojapan.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Relo Japan<\/a>, we will need copies of some of these documents to assist you with your relocation services, and you may need to show them to your human resources department after you begin your job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please see the list below for short explanations of each document and what they are used for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Your Residence Card (\u5728\u7559\u30ab\u30fc\u30c9, \u201czairyu kaado\u201d)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You will receive this at the airport when you arrive. This card functions as your primary ID in Japan and proves that you are legally authorized to live here. You must carry this card on you all at times and may even be asked to show it to police officers. You must also take this card with you when exiting and entering the country. When you leave Japan at the end of your assignment, please turn it in at the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Your Insurance Card (\u4fdd\u967a\u8a3c, \u201chokensho\u201d)\u3000<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This card is for your health insurance and can double as proof of employment since your company\u2019s name is on it. Be sure to carry this card on you at all times since you may need it in the event of emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>My Number Card (\u30de\u30a4\u30ca\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\u30ab\u30fc\u30c9, \u201cmai nanbaa kaado\u201d)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This paper document functions as an individual identification number for tax and pension purposes. You will receive an application, \u500b\u4eba\u756a\u53f7\u30ab\u30fc\u30c9\u4ea4\u4ed8\u7533\u8acb\u66f8<span lang=\"EN-US\"> (kojin bango kaado kofu shinseisho), enclosed in a letter from the city hall. <\/span>You will receive this by certified mail within a month of registering your address. Whenever you move, you will need to present this card along with your residence card to your local city office so that they can update the address on the back of the card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please keep this card in a safe place and do not disclose your \u201cmy number\u201d to anyone who does not have a business or official need to know (such as your HR or the local office).<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Driver\u2019s License (\u904b\u8ee2\u514d\u8a31\u8a3c, \u201cunten menkyosho\u201d)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This one is pretty self-explanatory. The important thing to note here is that it does not replace your residence card, and you will still need to carry the residence card after receiving a driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you begin your life in Japan, you will quickly start accumulating many important documents. If you are a cl [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,61],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-4569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-relo-japan","tag-login"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51674,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569\/revisions\/51674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}