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2026-10-14

Japan now asks for your nationality when you register real estate (from 5 October 2026) ― it applies to Japanese citizens too, it is not shown on the public record, and you must file it even if you live abroad

From 5 October 2026, anyone who becomes the registered owner of real estate in Japan ― by purchase, inheritance, gift or new construction ― must declare their nationality (国籍等) as part of the registration application. It is not a rule for foreigners only: Japanese citizens declare "Japan". The nationality is kept as internal information at the Legal Affairs Bureau and does not appear on the certificate of registered matters (登記事項証明書) that anyone can obtain. If you leave it out, the bureau will ask you to correct the application. This article explains what documents to attach, what happens if you live overseas, and whether existing owners need to do anything, based on the Ministry of Justice circular.

About this translation ― This page is an English translation of an article originally written in Japanese by KuraLab's operator, a licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士) and administrative scrivener (行政書士) in Japan. The Japanese original is the authoritative text; where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. The article explains Japanese law and procedure in general terms as of the date shown. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation ― please confirm with a licensed professional in Japan. Japanese terms are kept in parentheses so you can search for them. Read the Japanese original

"The judicial scrivener asked me to send a copy of my residence card. My identity has already been verified ― what is it for?" In the second week of October, a buyer in a second-hand condominium sale asked me that. She is a Chinese national, has lived in Japan for twelve years, and holds permanent residency. It was three days before closing, and the judicial scrivener (司法書士, the professional who files the registration) was preparing the paperwork. The answer is short: "Since 5 October, there is a rule that you declare your nationality when the registration is filed." This article explains that rule, based on the Ministry of Justice circular to the Legal Affairs Bureaus.

Three conclusions first. One: the rule is not only for foreigners. Everyone who becomes the registered owner of real estate, Japanese citizens included, declares their nationality. Two: the nationality you declare does not appear on the certificate of registered matters (登記事項証明書), the document anyone can obtain for a fee. It is internal information held by the Legal Affairs Bureau. Three: if you file without it, the bureau will contact you and ask you to correct the application (補正). The application is not rejected outright, but it stops until you respond.

Formally, the change adds "nationality etc." (国籍等) to the "search information" (検索用情報) system. Search information started on 21 April 2025. A registered owner can file in advance their name, the reading of the name (for foreign nationals, the name in Roman letters), address, date of birth and e-mail address; after a move or a name change, the Legal Affairs Bureau checks the resident register and updates the address on the title register by its own authority. (The duty to register address changes, which began in April 2026, is covered in another article.) Nationality is now the sixth item. The legal basis is the Ministerial Ordinance amending the Real Property Registration Rules (Ministry of Justice Ordinance No. 23 of 2026, promulgated 31 March 2026), in force from 5 October 2026. The instruction to the bureaus is the Civil Affairs Bureau Director-General's circular of 4 September 2026, Minji No. 872.

The "etc." in "nationality etc." covers territories that are not states. The circular names "Taiwan" and "the West Bank and Gaza Strip" as defined in Article 1 of the Order for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. Country names follow the list of countries and regions on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Who files, and when? Natural persons (individuals) who apply for registration of ownership ― preservation, transfer, correction and so on ― file the declaration as part of that application (同時申出, simultaneous filing). Buyers, heirs, recipients of a gift, people registering a newly built house for the first time: all of them. Corporations are outside the scope. The circular states that an owner "who has an address outside Japan must also declare search information including nationality as part of the application information." If you buy Japanese real estate while living overseas, or inherit it from abroad, you still file.

What do you attach? A copy of a document proving nationality. For Japanese citizens, a copy of the resident record (住民票) showing the registered domicile (本籍), or a copy of the supplementary family-register record (戸籍の附票). For foreign nationals, a copy of the resident record showing nationality, a copy of the passport, a copy of the residence card (在留カード), a copy of the special permanent resident certificate, and so on. That is why the buyer at the start was asked for her residence card. If a Japanese citizen provides their resident-record code (住民票コード) as proof of address and the bureau can confirm Japanese nationality through the Basic Resident Register network, no nationality document is needed. For a passport copy, writing that it is a true copy of the original is enough; you do not need the procedure for the return of originals. An expired passport cannot be used.

How does the bureau record it? The circular sets four categories. A Japanese citizen is recorded as "Japan". A person whose documents show they are not Japanese but do not show which country is recorded as "other than Japan". A person whose nationality cannot be determined is recorded as "nationality unknown". A stateless person is recorded as "stateless". If the documents show two or more nationalities, all of them are recorded. One caution: "other than Japan" and "nationality unknown" are convenience categories for the bureau's own records. An applicant cannot write "other than Japan" on the application. You write the name of your country.

What if you file without it? The circular says the bureau "shall request the applicant or their representative to make a correction." The same applies if you state that you do not intend to declare. If the correction is not made within the period set by the registrar, the bureau records the nationality it can determine from the attached documents. So the flow is: the application is not rejected; it pauses; you are contacted; if you still do not respond, the bureau decides from the documents.

Do existing registered owners have to do anything? No. There is a procedure for filing search information separately from a registration application (単独申出, separate filing), and owners "may" file it ― it is optional. The amendment makes it possible to record nationality through this separate filing, and to record a new nationality after naturalisation or loss of nationality. The separate filing can be made online or on paper, needs no seal or electronic signature, and carries no registration and licence tax. If the bureau cannot confirm the nationality you declare, the filing is dismissed.

How far can the nationality be seen? Quoting the circular: "Nationality information recorded as search information is held as internal information and is not subject to disclosure under the Real Property Registration Act." It does not appear on the certificate of registered matters or in the online registration information that anyone can obtain for a fee. At the same time, the circular goes on to say that registration information including nationality is expected to be provided to a national database called the "real estate base registry" and used for information sharing among government agencies. Your neighbour and the real estate agent cannot see it; the government can use it internally. That is the nature of this information.

Why did it start? The circular gives two reasons. One is to grasp the actual state of real estate ownership by foreign nationals. The other is inheritance. When a registered owner dies, which country's law governs the succession is decided by Article 36 of the Act on General Rules for Application of Laws: the national law of the deceased. Even for property in Japan, if the deceased was a Chinese national, Chinese law in principle decides who the heirs are and what they receive; if Korean, Korean law. Inheritance registration became mandatory in April 2024, but without knowing the owner's nationality, the bureau cannot even begin to examine who the heirs are. Having the nationality on file from the start makes inheritance registration less likely to stall. That is the second reason.

From here, what I have seen on the ground. In the sales I attend as a licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅建士), the share of buyers who are foreign nationals has clearly grown compared with ten years ago. Most are permanent residents or spouses of Japanese nationals and can read the contract in Japanese. Even so, when a buyer asks at the registration stage "why do you need my nationality?" and the person answering cannot explain the purpose, only distrust remains. To the buyer at the start I said this: "It is information so that the Legal Affairs Bureau knows in advance which country's law to apply when there is an inheritance. It is not on the title register, so your neighbours and the next buyer will not learn your nationality from it." She said, "Then I understand," and sent a copy of her residence card that same day.

The other place this comes up is inheritance. When a foreign national dies leaving real estate in Japan, the work starts with researching the home country's inheritance law, obtaining the home country's equivalent of family-register documents, attaching translations, and fixing the range of heirs. In one case involving a Chinese national, collecting the notarised certificates of kinship issued by a Chinese notary office took several months. The nationality declaration does not shorten that process. But because the bureau has the deceased's nationality on file from the start, the back-and-forth at the entrance of the application is reduced. If you are the heir, assume that you will still need documents from the deceased's home country.

What Japanese readers will want to know is "do I have to submit something too?" When you become the owner by purchase or inheritance, you attach one copy of the resident record showing your registered domicile or of the supplementary family-register record. For inheritance registration, the supplementary record is usually collected anyway, so the extra burden is almost nil. If you are already the owner and have no plans to transfer, you need do nothing.

Finally, timing. The circular notes that the part of the registration computer system that records nationality is "expected to be completed after the enforcement date," and that the handling of nationality declared before then will be notified separately. The system began on 5 October, but the bureau's internal machinery is still catching up. What the applicant does is unchanged: write the nationality and attach a copy of the proof. That is all.

The buyer's closing went ahead on schedule. After registration was completed, the certificate of registered matters she obtained shows, in the ownership section (甲区), her name, her address and her name in Roman letters. Her nationality appears nowhere. "It really isn't on there," she said, sounding a little relieved. It is not shown ― but the bureau has it. Once you hold both of those facts at the same time, the system stops being frightening.

Written by: 長澤 湊（licensed real-estate transaction specialist, administrative scrivener, assistant surveyor）　Content checked on: 2026-10-14

This article is a general explanation of Japanese rules and procedures, not advice on an individual case. Figures and rules are as of the date shown. For your own situation, consult a lawyer, judicial scrivener, tax accountant or administrative scrivener in Japan.

Official sources

The rules and figures in this article can be checked against the following official pages (in Japanese).

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