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Certified Japanese Medical Records Translation
Certified translation of the documents that record medical history in Japan, including the registry annotations and endorsements that carry the legal effect and that a reader unfamiliar with the system will otherwise skip.
$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 Boshi Techō holds the whole childhood record
Japan issues every pregnant woman a Boshi Kenkō Techō (母子健康手帳) — the Maternal and Child Health Handbook — a booklet that records the pregnancy, the birth, growth measurements, checkups and every childhood vaccination with its date and lot number.
For a US civil surgeon completing an I-693, that booklet is the immunisation history. Nothing else in a Japanese file has it, and applicants routinely send hospital discharge papers instead. Send the Boshi Techō, all of the vaccination pages.
Japanese vaccine names and schedules differ
Japan uses combinations and schedules that do not match the US one — BCG given by the distinctive multi-puncture stamp method, the four-in-one DPT-IPV, Japanese encephalitis as a routine childhood vaccine, and MR rather than MMR for much of the period in question.
A US reader sees gaps that are not gaps and vaccines they do not recognise. We translate the Japanese vaccine name, give the standard English designation, and reproduce the date and lot exactly rather than mapping one schedule onto the other.
The record belongs to the hospital
A Japanese karute (カルテ) — the clinical chart — is held by the medical institution, and what a patient receives is a summary, a referral letter (shōkaijō) or a certificate (shindansho) rather than the chart itself.
So "send us your medical records" produces a set of certificates. Those are legitimate documents and we name each for what it is rather than calling the set a medical record.
Dates in Japanese eras
Japanese medical documents commonly date events by imperial era — Shōwa, Heisei, Reiwa — so a vaccination recorded as Heisei 20 is 2008 and Reiwa 3 is 2021. The eras do not start on 1 January, so a year straddles two Gregorian ones.
Getting a vaccination date wrong by a year can make a dose look invalid for age. We convert each date individually and show both. See our Japanese page.
Ordering, and what the certification covers
Upload the document, choose certified translation at $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, and it comes back typically within 24 hours as a PDF formatted to mirror the original, with a signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead. Marginal annotations are translated in place, in the margin, and every seal, stamp and registry endorsement is translated with the text. See how we translate and certified versus standard.
Frequently asked questions
What should I send for an I-693?
The Boshi Kenkō Techō vaccination pages. Nothing else in a Japanese file carries the immunisation history.
Why do I not have my medical chart?
The karute is held by the institution. Patients receive summaries, referral letters and certificates, which are legitimate documents.
My record says Heisei 20.
2008. Japanese eras do not start on 1 January, so we convert each date individually rather than by formula.
Do you map Japanese vaccines to US ones?
We give the Japanese name and the standard English designation and reproduce the date and lot. We do not map one schedule onto the other.
Ready to get started?
Upload the document and receive the certified translation, typically within 24 hours.