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Getting a Copy of Marriage Certificate 2013/10/16 15:13
Hello,

I am an American citizen who was married in Tokyo in 2011 at the Chuo municipal office. At the time, we had friends living there who helped us to translate. We were given 2 copies of our official marriage certificate, and took them to the embassy for an official certified English translation. We recently moved, and somehow during the move our marriage both certificates were lost. The problem we are having now is trying to figure out how to replace them. My husband and myself are not very fluent in Japanese (especially Kanji), and our friends no longer live in the country to help us out. I have always found the posters here to be very informative, and would be very grateful for any advice anyone might be able to give on how to go about obtaining copies. We do travel back to Tokyo every few years, but at the moment our new triplets keep us stateside. I have photographs with great detail of the certificates from when we first got them. I took pictures of them at our wedding, because they were so beautiful. So I am able to access all of the information on the lost certificates, but have no clue how to use the information to my advantage. Here in the states, marriage is basically a "pics or it didn't happen" type of situation. I am really hoping I can figure out a way to get copies sent to me in the states, as I don't think I'll be able to make it back any time soon.

Thank you very much for your time and response!

Amber Strika
by alynn11  

Re: Getting a Copy of Marriage Certificate 2013/10/17 14:11
Let me clarify: you got married under laws of Japan to a non-Japanese person, right?

A Marriage Certificate you mention is, to be precise, a certificate of acceptance of notification of marriage. It sounds hard for someone to receive this certificate on behalf of another person.
I suppose you and he do not have to receive this certificate together, i.e. you / he can solely receive it.

I am not sure what do you mean by "replacing" these certificates, but U.S. embassy says "Your legal marriage in Japan is automatically valid in the U.S." and this certificate "is not a formal marriage certificate issued by us, and, other than for some visa processing, is not required by us."
If you are OK to say what this certificate is required for, that might be a clue to the solution.
- http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-marriagedoc.html

by omotenashi rate this post as useful

Re: Getting a Copy of Marriage Certificate 2013/10/17 22:36
I think you want to have some marrige certificate written in Japanese for your memory.
your record will be stored at the Chuo municipal office for 50 years. you have enough time to get it. Next time you come to Japan, you go to the Chuo municipal office, ask a copy of the certificate. since you have a photopicture of your original one, it will be very helpful. At that time, you may receive a copy of a different form. The former one was a sort of certificate of receiving of marrige report, this was issued only at the recieving time. A new one may be the certificate of the current record.
As mentioned by Omotenashi, according to the privacy policies, only you or your husband can ask to issue the certificate.
by ken (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Getting a Copy of Marriage Certificate 2013/10/18 05:10
Hello,

Thank you both for your information. I had two copies of the "large certificates" as well as my certificate of acceptance of marriage. I feel very insecure not having a copy of a legal document such as a marriage certificate. Where I live in Atlanta, if I were to lose my drivers license I would be unable to replace it, as a married woman is required to submit a copy of her marriage certificate if her legal name does not match the birth name. I was hoping to get another copy as soon as possible. Here in America, if you move to another state different than where you were married, you can still call and request a copy sent to you at your new address. I was certain this would not be allowed from Japan, and that I needed to go in person, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing I could do until I go back. I am sure I will be back to Japan some time in the next few years, and at that time I will go to the Chuo office and obtain a copy at that time.

Thank you!
by alynn11 rate this post as useful

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