Notify Marriage Status to Japan

I was advised to notify Japan of my marriage recently when I visited the consulate for a passport. I've been living in the USA for over 30 years (since 12) and married for 18. Is this mandatory? What is the purpose of doing so? I have no plans to live in Japan. Anyone can shed some light? Thank you so much!

I assume you are Japanese.

I used to live in the UK, got married based on UK law there (still I've never removed myself from my "juminhyo" in Japan, though), and never reported my marriage to the Japanese authorities, as we planned to stay in the UK.

But things turned out so that we ended up coming back to Japan, and when I reported my marriage in the end after-the-fact to the Japanese authorities, I was given a small fine - no criminal record, though - and was explained that it was mandatory by law for Japanese nationals to report their status change (marriage, birth, death, etc.) to the Japanese authorities within 6 months.

In our case it did make sense for us in the end because eventually we converted my non-Japanese spouse's status to "spouse of Japanese national," so it was necessary for us too. But even without that need, for good recordkeeping - and in these days you never know what happens - so it's good to keep an official record of who's who and who's with who, if you know what I mean.

You can report it with the consulate, no need to reach your "honseki-chi" directly.

AK - Thank you so much for your response! Can I ask you what the small fine was?

Hi.

If I recall right it was 2,000 yen. Nevertheless when the important-looking notice came in the post I panicked and called up the court or whatsoever that was listed on the envelope - now you know what "might" be coming lol

Is this mandatory?

Yes.

What is the purpose of doing so?

To make it clear that you are married under laws of Japan.
There might be a case where whether you have legal marriage status or not counts significantly.

was explained that it was mandatory by law for Japanese nationals to report their status change (marriage, birth, death, etc.) to the Japanese authorities within 6 months.

The time frame has been 3 months since 1985 at latest. (I am not sure about older rules.)
This applies when a Japanese national being in a foreign country got made an authentic document concerning a notifiable event in accordance with the formanlities of the country.

AK & omotenashi - Thank you so much for the info! I'm relieved that it's not 2K usd! I will work on it and report my children's info as well. Have a great day!