Start with a name

Village Finder

Find the home village in Japan.

For families who know the name of the ancestor who left Japan for Hawaii, the US mainland or Canada, but not the village he or she came from
The village is the key to the family's koseki.
We search the records and find the one that names the village.
You pay only if we find it.
Every record is checked in Japan by our founder, who reads Japanese as his first language.

$99 you pay only if we find the village

We reply within a week. If we find the village, your report follows about a week after you pay.

Young Japanese women in light patterned kimono, several smiling, sit on benches outside a brick building in Hawaii, with Japanese men behind them — Japanese women and men in Hawaii, about 1910. The passenger arrival lists of those years often name the home village. Library of Congress (no known restrictions on publication).

Three steps: you send your immigrant ancestor's name, roughly when he or she arrived, and where; we find the record that names the home village; you get the village in English and Japanese, where it is today, and which city hall keeps the old koseki. — How it works, with the fictional Ando family of our samples.

What you get

The record that names your ancestor's home in Japan, with a clear copy for your family's personal use
We read the record and explain it in English. From the English spellings of the place names, often handwritten, we work out the Japanese names, with the district and prefecture.
Where that village is today, and which city or town hall keeps the family's old koseki
How a direct descendant can request the koseki from abroad, step by step (you or your family send the request; we do not request it for you)
Relatives the record names, such as a father or an uncle in Japan
Format: PDF, usually 4–6 pages. The length depends on how many records we find.

Three pages of the sample report: the cover with the immigrant's name, where he went, the record he was found in and his home village; the page with the passenger arrival list read in English; and the page with the place names in English and Japanese and the city hall that keeps the old koseki. — What you receive: three pages of our sample report, in miniature. Read the whole sample.

Two lines of a 1912 passenger arrival list at Honolulu, reconstructed for our sample: the column for the last permanent residence reads Nagaiwaya, Nishitomiku mura, and the column for the nearest relative in Japan reads Brother, Ando Kiichi, Nagaiwaya, Nishitomiku mura, Nishikunisaki gun, Oita ken. — What we look for: on many passenger arrival lists from 1907 onward, two columns name the home village and a relative in Japan. This is a reconstruction for our sample (the family is fictional); your report includes a copy of the real record.

Where we look

We search the passenger arrival lists of Hawaii, the United States and Canada. We also search directories of Japanese residents published in Japanese from the 1900s to the 1940s, records from the war years, and records the Japanese government kept on emigrants. Which of these we use depends on where your ancestor went and when.

A page of a 1922 directory of Japanese residents of the United States, printed in Japanese: each entry gives a name in large characters, then the prefecture, district and village in Japan, an American address in English, and the years of birth and arrival. — A directory printed in Japanese in 1922, 在米日本人人名辞典 (Directory of Japanese in America). Each entry gives the prefecture, district and village in Japan, then the address in America in English, such as "Guadalupe, Cal." Source: National Diet Library Digital Collections (public domain), page 104, cropped.

How likely we are to find the village

Hawaii or the US mainland, arrived between 1907 and 1924: a good chance. The passenger arrival lists of those years usually give the home village or town.
Arrived earlier, but traveled to Japan and back after 1907: also a good chance, from the list of the later voyage. Please tell us if your ancestor ever went back to Japan.
Canada, listed as the head of a family in a 1929 directory of Japanese residents of Canada: a good chance.
From Okinawa: a good chance, from a database of emigrants' records. Many Okinawan koseki were lost in 1945; if your family's was, we tell you what survives instead.
Hawaii before 1900, or arrived before 1907 and never traveled again: a lower chance. The records of that time often give only "Japan".
A wife who came to marry, often called a picture bride: the records usually give the village of her husband's family. Her own family's village is written in his family's koseki, so the next step is that koseki.

What you need to provide

Your ancestor's name (Roman letters are fine)
Roughly when he or she arrived, or was born
Where he or she went: Hawaii, the US mainland or Canada
Helpful if you know them:
- the port or ship
- any trip back to Japan
- the names of a spouse and children
- the town where the family lived
- the name in Japanese characters

Price and payment

Send your request with the form. We search and write to you within a week.
If we find the village or town, we tell you which year's record names it. Then we send you a payment link for $99, and the report follows about 1 week after payment.
If the records give only the prefecture, we tell you so, and you pay nothing.
If we find nothing, you pay nothing. We tell you which records your family could request next.
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

Once you know the village, you can request the koseki and order a Koseki Family Tree, or a Roots Report on the village and the families of your name there. Compare all services at a glance.

See a sample

The family in the sample is fictional; the kinds of records and how they are laid out are real.

Read the sample on the web

Village Finder — $99, and you pay only if we find the village. Tell us about your ancestor, and we reply by email within a week.

Find my ancestor's village