When a Japanese citizen establishes a company, opens a bank account abroad, buys or sells real estate abroad, is employed by a foreign company, or marries a foreigner, it is necessary to submit documents issued by Japanese government agencies or local governments, etc., such as a copy of the registration certificate or a copy of the family registration. However, it is very difficult for foreign government agencies to determine whether these official documents are genuine or not. Therefore, there is a procedure for document certification in which Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies that the documents are genuine by providing "Authentication of Official Seal", and then the documents that have been confirmed by "Authentication of Official Seal" are submitted to a foreign embassy or consulate in Japan for "Legalization".
We provide application services for "Authentication of Official Seal" by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and "Legalization" by foreign embassy/consulate.

When submitting Japanese official documents to an institution in a foreign country, if that country has signed the "Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Hague Convention)", only the "Apostille" - a seal certifying the authenticity of the document (based on the Hague Convention) - should be obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and other procedures can be omitted.
We provide application support for apostille issuance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on your behalf.

* Click here for the latest list of countries that have signed the Hague Convention (Ministry of Foreign Affairs HP)

For private documents with a signature or seal, such as contracts, powers of attorney, and wills, a process in which a notary public certifies that the signature or seal is genuine to increase the credibility of the documents is called "notarization. When a private legal document is notarized, the credibility of the document is enhanced.
We will support the private document notarization procedure at the notary public office.