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Koseki Family Tree

Your registers, decoded. For families who have copies of their koseki, or can request them.

$1,000 up to 6 registers (one register = one certified document from the city office)
Delivery: About 2 months after we receive all images

What you get

  • Every register transcribed and translated, entry by entry
  • Western dates (Japanese era years converted) and today's place names
  • Family tree chart and a person-by-person index
  • "Generations": a short narrative of each generation
  • Uncertain readings marked, with our level of confidence
  • Format: A4 PDF of usually 20–40 pages, depending on the number of registers; prints on US Letter with "fit to page"
  • The length depends on how many records survive for your family; we confirm it in our order confirmation email.

What you need to provide

  • Clear photos or scans of your koseki registers.
  • A "register" is one certified document from the city office, usually a few pages long. We count documents, not pages.
  • It is either a closed register (joseki: a register everyone has left through death, marriage or moving away) or a pre-reformat register (kaisei-genkoseki: an older version kept when the legal format changed).
  • Don't have them yet? Our free guide shows how to request the registers from abroad.

Price and payment

  • Up to 6 registers are included; each additional register is +$80.
  • You pay only after we confirm your images are readable. If they are too faint or incomplete to decode, we tell you so and do not take the order.
  • Prices are in US dollars and include all our fees for the PDF.
  • Delivery times are estimates, not guarantees. Every record gets the care it needs, so if we expect a delay, we will let you know by email.

How it fits with our other services

This is for families who have a koseki, or can request one. It needs no other service first. Compare all services at a glance.

Before thisRoots Report ($390) — If you do not have your koseki yet, the Roots Report includes a request guide written for your family. The Report also helps you find your honseki, the place where the family register is kept.
After thisChronicle + Family Tree ($4,500) — The Chronicle + Family Tree weaves this family tree into a book-length history, with a short life story of each person.

See a sample

Every service has a full public sample (Chronicle + Family Tree shares the Family Chronicle and Koseki Family Tree samples). The family in the sample is fictional; the places, records and research are real.

Read the sample on the webDownload the sample as delivered (PDF, 1.5 MB)

Koseki Family Tree — $1,000. Tell us about your family, and we reply by email within two business days.

Decode my koseki