Accessibility
We want everyone to be able to read our website and the reports we deliver. That includes people who use a screen reader, a screen magnifier or a keyboard instead of a mouse. This page explains what we aim for, the limits we know about, and how to tell us if something does not work for you.
Our goal
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA. WCAG is the international standard for accessible web content, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This is our goal, not a claim that every page already meets it.
What we do
- We organize each page with headings, so you can move through it heading by heading.
- We add a short text description (alternative text) to photographs, maps and charts.
- We mark most Japanese passages as Japanese in the page code, so that a screen reader with a Japanese voice can read them aloud.
- You can enlarge the text with your browser's zoom.
Known limits
- Old Japanese documents. Images of handwritten Japanese documents, such as the 1888 (Meiji 21) government file on our home page, have a short description of what the document is. The description does not reproduce the handwritten text. In the Koseki Family Tree, we also transcribe each register entry in Japanese and translate it into English, both as text.
- Japanese characters. Our pages and reports show Japanese characters next to the English, for example the characters of a name. Depending on your settings, a screen reader may skip them or read them in an English voice.
- Family tree chart. The family tree in our sample Koseki Family Tree is a single chart with a short description. The same people are also listed in the text and in the index of people.
- PDF files. We deliver reports as PDF files. If a PDF does not work well with your screen reader, email us, and we will look for a format that works for you, such as an HTML file.
Tell us about a problem
If you have difficulty with any part of our website or a report, please email [email protected]. Tell us which page or report it was, what went wrong and, if you know, which browser or assistive technology you use. We reply within two business days.