Hi, I’m David Higgins, a legal translator in Okinawa, Japan and I am going to clearly explain how to get married in Japan for those who are Brazilian Passport Holders.

Let’s clarify that getting married in Japan requires legal paper work only. Any celebration, party or ceremony is completely separate and not necessary for a marriage to be considered legal in Japan.

First: Before you arrive in Japan, you will need to retrieve a document from Brazil.

• A legally issued birth certificate from Brazil. This Brazilian birth certificate will be in the Portuguese language and Okinawa Translator will translate it into Japanese so it will be accepted at the Japanese City Office.

Second: Once you have arrived in Japan you will need to make an appointment at the Brazilian Consulate or Embassy in Japan to request a Certificate of Single Status in person. Here are a list of Brazilian Consulates and Embassies where that can be completed:

In Tokyo: Brazil Consulate, Brazil Embassy

In Nagoya: Brazil Consulate

Here is an example of the Single Status Document issued from the Brazilian Consulate in Nagoya.

• The Birth Certificate from Brazil must be translated into Japanese.
• The Single Status Document issued from the Brazilian Consulate in Nagoya is partially written in Japanese and partially written in English. The City Office where you will submit the document for marriage requires the entire document in Japanese.

At Okinawa Translator, we provide that service. You can scan or photograph the documents and send them to our email address and we will get to work translating the document into Japanese for you.

If you plan to marry a US citizen, your fiancé must obtain the following:

A single affidavit notarized at either a US legal services office, US Embassy or US Consulate.

A passport, birth certificate or naturalization document is required. In most cases the passport does not need to be translated into Japanese but the birth certificate or naturalization document would need to be translated from English to Japanese.

At Okinawa Translator, we provide that service. You can scan or photograph the documents and send them to our email address and we will get to work translating the document into Japanese for you.

Once the translations are finished, we will complete your marriage application. The marriage application must be completed only after all documents have been translated into Japanese. These translated documents must mirror the information provided in the originals. The advantages of having all the documents translated at one time by the same translator will be avoiding possible discrepancies that may occur otherwise and create delays in processing.

The marriage application must have two witnesses. My wife Hazuki and I can be your witnesses and due to the fact that we are both Japanese residents, we do not have to physically accompany you to the city office. If you want to choose your own witnesses, you will need to submit their full names, birth dates, nationalities and local addresses to us. They must physically accompany you to the city office on the day that you get married.

When the above mentioned steps are completed, you will submit your documents to a city office closest to your residency in Japan. If you submit your documents to a town or village office, they may or may not require additional documentation to be translated and submitted. As a result, we strongly suggest that you consult with our office for the appropriate city office for submitting your documents. This will ensure that all submission procedures run in a smooth and timely manner.

The certificates that you receive will be written in the Japanese language. We will translate your marriage certificate into English and provide you with several certified copies in English so you can use these to successfully report your marriage to the authorities in your home country.

If you have any questions about getting married in Japan, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are experts at this process and can alleviate the unnecessary stresses that obtaining multiple language documents can occur during one of the most important experiences in your life. – Dave ( davidvincenthiggins@gmail.com )