How to Get a Copy of Your Koseki Tohon

    In order to attempt to cash the American Covid Relief stimulus checks I received in the mail in early 2021, I needed to acquire a copy of my family register or Koseki Tohon. The bank I am working with was ambivalent about it being a koseki tohon, which is the family register, or a koseki shohon, the personal register. Both are forms that must be received from city hall by request and for a small fee, which was less than 500 yen in my case.


According to an internet search, this was what I was after, perhaps.

     Getting copy of a family register isn't really that challenging but going to City Hall without my husband does feel a little intimidating. Of course I can't understand all kanji on the forms and Google translate sometimes makes a mockery of what is there. Nevertheless, I picked a day when I had a little bit of extra time and went down there expecting to spend at least an hour explaining what I wanted, filling out a form, making mistakes, filling it out again and going on from there.

    To my surprise, the whole thing took less than half an hour. I asked information desk for help and they directed me to a counter. I then asked the person behind the counter for help and started to trying to fill out a form they indicated which I fumbled my way through. Afterward, the woman behind the counter came back over to check to see what I had done and then we went over it together to confirm what I meant. In the middle of this I had to pick up a number and wait for a minute, but I was still very impressed with how smoothly this was going.


The picture I took of the form so my phone could translate the hard-to-read, thoroughly xeroxed kanji. Under #3, which I think was essentially, "Why do you need this?" I chose something to do with banking.

    When I did receive the document, I noticed something that might be a hiccup. The document indicates my maiden name, but it only does so in Katakana. Given how specific the Japan post Bank was about my having kanji in my name on my bankbook, I can't really be sure what the reaction that this new bank is going to be to me trying to cash thousands of dollars worth of American checks with them trying to match up my name as given in English and the name the Japanese government recorded exclusively in katakana.

    Realizing this, I asked if it would be different if I were to apply for the koseki shohon instead and the answer I got was confusing, though that may just be my listening comprehension level. I was trying to confirm that my name would show up the same way on the other form, the koseki shohon, and the office worker I was speaking to seemed to indicate that the personal register could only be generated for my husband, the head of the household. It could be that I misunderstood but I also doubt that the other form, if it could be generated for me, would consist of any different information.

    With my question answered, I paid my 410 yen fee for the copy or the register and left. Has anyone else ever received the Koseki Shohon? Was it just this office worker not wanting to guide me through filling out another form?