How To Get Married In Japan – Philippines Passport Holder

My husband and I got engaged last December 2018. Exactly six months later we wanted to get married. But it is not as easy as you think when it comes to processing the right documents especially if both of you are a foreigner marrying in a foreign country of Japan.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can get married in Japan as a Philippines passport holder with a tourist visa – and an active military service member base in Japan.

For Philippines passport holder you need to gather the following documents:

• Valid Passport with Japan Visa (Original and Photocopy)
• Local Birth Certificate (Original and Photocopy)
• DFA Authenticated PSA issued Birth Certificate (Original and Photocopy)
• DFA Authenticated PSA issued Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) (Original and Photocopy)
• Three (3) passport size photo

For your military fiance, he needs to gather the following documents:

• Single Affidavit for Marriage notarized by their Legal Office
• Intent To Marry
• Valid Passport with SOFA Order stamp (Original and Photocopy)
• Three (3) passport size photo

Once you have all the documents already, both of you and your fiance should go to Philippines Consulate to get necessary documents for a Philippines passport holder:

• Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage (LCCM) from Philippines Embassy in Tokyo – we processed my LCCM from Philippines Consulate here in Okinawa before but they just recently closed last month of September 2019. So all Philippines passport holders should directly go to Philippines Embassy in Tokyo and other Philippines Embassy’s jurisdiction here in Japan to process LCCM.
• Affidavit of Civil Status
• LCCM/Notarization Fee – ‎¥ 9,750 (yen)

Turn around time of getting your LCCM and Affidavit of Civil Status is 5 business working days.

After you have gathered all the documents above you need to translate all the English documents to Japanese. We highly recommend Okinawan Translator to translate all your documents. They are the ones who translated all our documents including processing our marriage application Kon’in Todoke in a fast and very efficient time. David and his wife stand as a witness to our marriage application too! Since they are both Japanese residents they do not have to be present at the handover of marriage application. For expedite translation, we pay ¥ 5,000 (yen) per document. Here is their contact information if you need Okinawan Translator Services:

www.okinawatranslator.com
[email protected]
Address: 10-20 Station Minato 201, Minato, Chatan Town,
Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 904-0114
Phone: (+81) 50-5534-5965

After you’ve done and received all the translations in Japanese you are good to go to submit your marriage application anywhere in Okinawa! We decided to submit our marriage application at Chatan Town Office on July 16, 2019, after lunch! ?

After a brief examination of the documents submitted, you sign the application form in front of the official. You have now officially signed your wedding certificate. Then the officer will check your documents. If everything is ok, you are officially married. Congratulations!

Here are some questions they asked from us the time we submit our marriage application:

• What is your full name
• Where do you live here in Japan
• Verify your parent’s full name and address

After a short check, you pay 900 Yen (300 Yen per copy) and are now the proud owner of a Japanese marriage certificate!

We picked up our marriage certificate after 2 days wearing the same clothes we wear the last time we submit it! And voila! The marriage certificate is in Japanese! ? And then we go back to Okinawan Translator to translate our marriage certificate from Japanese to English! ?

Once you have collected all the documents from city hall including marriage notification report (Konintodoke no Kisai Jiko Shomeisho) and marriage certificate, you then need to submit Report of Marriage to Philippines Consulate.

Conclusion: The marriage at the Japanese registry office isn’t quite as romantic as you might think, as there is no extra room, but you did get married in the country of the Land of the Rising Sun. In general, since Philippines Consulate in Okinawa is closed already, you should also assume that you will need at least two months to prepare before you have all your documents.

Hopefully, our article might be helpful for some people who would like to get married in Japan, and if you have any questions and clarrifications please comment below. Thank you!☺