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Certified Japanese Death Certificate Translation
Get your Japanese death certificate translated into English by a professional human translator, with a signed certification accepted by USCIS, courts and universities. Flat $24.95 per page and a 100% USCIS acceptance guarantee.
$24.95/page
Flat rate per page, up to 250 words. No hidden fees.
100% USCIS acceptance
Every certified translation is guaranteed to be accepted by USCIS.
24-hour delivery
Most 1-3 page documents are delivered within 24 hours. Same-day available.
The death is recorded in the koseki
Japan issues no death certificate in the sense a US office expects. A death is notified to the municipality and recorded in the koseki, the family register, where the entry is struck through. What you obtain is an extract from that register, or the shibo todoke juri shomeisho — the Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Death.
The shibo shindansho, the death diagnosis certificate, is the doctor's document and carries the cause. It is a separate document and an insurer or a court may want it. See our Japanese birth certificate page.
Era years, and struck-through entries
Japanese documents date by imperial era — Reiwa, Heisei, Showa — so a death in "Heisei 22" is 2010 and nothing on the page says so. Each is converted individually and both shown.
A koseki tohon lists everyone in the register, including entries struck through when someone died or left. All of it is translated, struck-through entries included and identified as such. See our Japanese page.
The cause of death is not interpreted
The cause-of-death block is the part of the document that most invites a translator to help, and the part where helping does the most damage. It is written by the certifying doctor, often by hand, often in abbreviations, sometimes in Latin, and frequently hedged — "probable", "consistent with", an underlying condition listed beneath an immediate one. A translation that resolves that into a single clean diagnosis has stated a cause the doctor did not.
So it is reproduced at the register it was written in. Abbreviations are expanded only where the expansion is unambiguous, and flagged where it is not. The distinction between the immediate cause, the underlying cause and contributing conditions is preserved, because insurers and courts read those lines differently. Anything genuinely illegible is marked illegible rather than guessed at — a plausible guess about a cause of death is the most expensive thing a translator can offer.
Where these go, and what each one wants
A death certificate is rarely wanted for its own sake. It goes to an estate or probate court, to an insurer, to a pension or Social Security office, to a bank closing an account, to a registrar before a surviving spouse remarries, or into an immigration file — and those ask for different things. Some want the full certificate including the medical block; some want only the fact and date of death; some want a recent certified copy rather than the original issued years ago.
Ask the office before ordering, because the answer changes what you should get from the registry, not just what we translate. Related: our general death certificate page, autopsy reports and powers of attorney.
What USCIS requires
Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), a foreign-language document must be accompanied by a complete English translation and the translator's certification that it is accurate. Every seal, stamp and marginal note is part of the document, so every one is translated.
State agencies set their own rules — see government agencies — and what our certification states is on this page.
How it works
Upload a photo or a scan of your document, pick the language pair and check out online. You never have to mail originals: a legible copy is all we need.
A professional human translator, never machine translation, translates the document word for word and mirrors the layout of the original. Every certified translation ships with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy that meets the requirements of USCIS, courts and universities.
Your translation is delivered digitally, usually within 24 hours for documents of one to three pages, and same-day delivery is available. If anything needs adjusting, we revise it.
Certified vs. standard translation
A certified translation is a word-for-word translation accompanied by a signed statement attesting to its accuracy and completeness. It is what official bodies require: USCIS, courts, universities and government agencies. Certified translations are $24.95 per page, where a page is up to 250 words.
A standard translation is for business or personal use where certification is not needed, such as CVs, client intake forms or marketing material, and is billed at the same $24.95 per page of up to 250 words.
Frequently asked questions
Which document should I order?
The koseki extract shows the death; the Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Death is the closest thing to a death certificate. The doctor's diagnosis certificate carries the cause.
My register has crossed-out entries.
Those record deaths and departures from the register. We translate them and identify them as struck through.
What year is Heisei 22?
2010. We convert each era date individually and show both.
Ready to get started?
Upload your documents and receive your certified translation, typically within 24 hours.