Registering oversea birth in koseki touhon

Hello,

I am a half Japanese/British national living in UK and married my British husband in November 2021. We are currently in the process of registering the marriage so I can gaddh him to my kosekitouhon. I plan to keep my Japanese maiden name for this.

We are expecting our first baby in 2 weeks time and want to ensure that he is registered so we can get his Japanese passport (within 3 months of birth). He will be born in the UK.

On his UK birth certificate, our son will have my husbandfs British surname. Is this an issue as it will not match the kosekitouhon? Or does it not matter if our marriage is registered?

Congratulations on your wedding.

So you do have a gKosekih in Japan - you might want to call the city hall in Japan (or the embassy of Japan in the UK) to make sure what process is needed.

I know that after the baby is born outside Japan, youfd need to report the birth within 3 months of the birth. Also that (if the baby obtains another nationality by (1) being born in another country or (2) being born to a parent of another nationality) you need to make a report to reserve the Japanese nationality also within 3 months, otherwise by the fact that the baby has obtained another nationality he/she might lose the Japanese nationality. (‘Ð—¯•Û‚Ì“Í‚¯)

https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/todoke/koseki/index.html


Ideally your marriage should be registered first in your gKosekih then the birth (avoids complication as to whether you were married at the time of childbirth, but you already are by the UK law, so that should be no problem once your marriage is registered).

As far as gKosekih goes, your marriage to your husband will be noted in the gremarksh column of your gKosekih as gMs. Hanako Suzuki got married to Mr. John Smith (British national) on Nov. XX 2021 according to the UK law.h (He does not get entered into the main text, as he is not Japanese, but your marriage to him will be duly noted.)
Your baby will be entered into the main text (I believe), as a Japanese national. Name difference should not matter - your koseki will have the fatherfs name mentioned in it.

Just by the way: One idea might be to (when you renew your passport) ask the Japanese authority to add your spousefs family name in parenthesis after your maiden name on your passport. Your gkosekih name (= official name) remains the same, but just for convenience (to show who you are married to, when you travel outside Japan) there is a way to have it so that it appears as (for example):
- Hanako Suzuki (Smith).
I have mine done like this. (I am a Japanese woman, my spouse is an EU national, we got married in the UK and reported our marriage later to Japan, I kept my maiden name.)

Best wishes for you and your family.