I’m tidying up some left over chores of my previous country, and local government officials say they need proof that my name has been changed from John Smith to 田中太郎 (Taro TANAKA). MOJ and shiyakusho say they don’t keep any records that contains my old name except for the very first honseki created. But it’s in Japanese.
I provided a copy and a translation of the 帰化者の身分証 that you use to create your koseki. The local officials like that, but they want an official translation, which MOJ obviously doesn’t provide.
Help please?
3 comments
Please looking for notaries who can assist with translations.
They can provide you with the legally valid certificates you need to officially guarantee that your translation is correct.
You should ask the question to the authorities of previous country what they mean by official translation.
You can look up how they manage foreign paperwork like birth certificate that requires translation to see what they mean by official translation.
The embassy in Japan probably has a list of accredited translator for that too
Hard to help if the only thing you’re going to say is “previous country” because it’s obviously an issue of said country, not Japan…
For many countries, official translation would mean you ask the Japanese MOFA to slap an apostille to your original and then you send it to an accredited translator (I think they need to be accredited in your previous country; your country’s embassy in Tokyo might have a list of such translators working in Japan). Note that some countries are not part of the apostille agreement, in which case you’ll need a legalization.
This is just to give you an idea what to expect. As others pointed out, it’s best to ask your previous country what they want exactly.