NEWS

Ladies and gentlemen, today we begin a series of articles on the new information regarding foreign liaison registration.

This is another difficult topic, but the rules regarding real estate owned by foreigners have changed drastically.

Please read them carefully!

Once again, as of April 1, 2024, the rules regarding the ownership of real estate by Japanese nationals, foreigners, and foreign corporations residing abroad have been drastically changed due to the amendment of laws and regulations regarding real estate registration and a Ministry of Justice Circular. With cases of overseas resident Japanese, foreign nationals or foreign corporations purchasing real estate, inheriting, receiving gifts, or becoming trustees of family trusts, this is something that professionals should be aware of.

In recent years, with the development of internationalization, there has been an increase in real estate investment in Japan by Japanese nationals residing abroad and foreign investors from other countries. Under these circumstances, while more and more owners of real estate reside in Japan, it has become difficult to identify and contact the owners, which has become a problem. Therefore, the relevant laws and regulations have been revised to clearly identify and contact the owners of real estate.

The contents of this article are as follows

■Names in real estate registrations in which foreign individuals are the owners are to be written in romaji in addition to Japanese.

For Japanese nationals residing abroad, foreign nationals and foreign corporations without a domicile in Japan, domestic contact information will be included in the registration.

For foreign corporations that do not have a Japanese corporate ID number, the country of incorporation will become a registered matter.

Instead of an affidavit as proof of address for foreign nationals and foreign corporations that do not have an address in Japan, a copy of the passport, a copy of the company certificate, etc. will be required in addition to the affidavit.

For the registration of the country of incorporation, contact information in Japan, and the country of incorporation, you should check with a judicial scrivener in advance because there are required documents.

This article explains the procedures and required documents for registering foreign real estate for Japanese nationals, foreigners and foreign corporations residing abroad, which professionals and specialists involved in transactions and inheritance of foreigners should be aware of.

Foreign individuals' names can be written in Japanese or Roman characters.
Until now, only Japanese notation in katakana and kanji has been permitted for foreign individuals' ownership information. However, this method has caused a problem in that it is difficult to verify the identity of a foreign individual because it is impossible to match the alphabetical notation of the name on the passport (passport) or residence card of the foreign individual.

In order to address this problem, the handling of names of foreigners has been revised effective April 1, 2024.

Ownership of real estate owned by individual foreign nationals is subject to concurrent Roman alphabet registration.
Names in the real estate registry for which foreign individuals are the owners will now be registered in romaji in addition to the registration of names in katakana and kanji in Japanese. As a result, the name of the foreign national who is the owner in the real estate registration will be written in both Japanese and romaji. This only applies to foreign individuals, not to foreign corporations. Even in the case of Chinese and Korean nationals, the name will be written in both Chinese characters and romaji.

However, the romaji notation is treated as supplementary information, not as a registration of ownership.

How to indicate the owner's name in Japanese
Except for foreigners from certain countries (e.g., China and Korea), names registered as owners are usually written in katakana. Therefore, even if your name is written in romaji on your passport, residence card, or other identification, it must be converted to katakana for the registration procedure. In addition, since a space (blank) is not allowed between the names, the names must be either connected or separated by “,”, “,”, or the like.

In general, names are converted to katakana and registered according to the names on identification documents such as passports and residence cards. However, it is necessary not only to simply convert the name into katakana, but also to write it in the same order as the Japanese name, i.e., first name, then last name.

Romanized Name Notation and Certification Information
The notation registered as supplementary information must be phonetic in romaji.

Any letters or symbols other than the Roman alphabet are not acceptable, and as a rule, names in the Roman alphabet must be written in all capital letters. In addition, a space must be added between names, and symbols such as “.

As with the registration of a full name, the order of registration is “family name” and then “first name”. If the name in the native language includes Roman numerals, it is possible to replace Roman numerals such as “Ⅲ” and “Ⅳ” with Roman letters such as “I” and “V”.

Roman Numerals Name Proof Information
The following documents are required to prove the romanized name in real estate registrations where the foreign individual is the owner.

Medium- to long-term foreign residents: A copy of the certificate of residence that includes the name in romanized characters.

Foreigners residing abroad: A copy of passport (passport) with Romanized name on it.

Copy of passport (passport)

In the case of a passport, the following conditions must be met

The passport must be a copy of a passport valid on the date the application for registration is received.

The passport must include pages showing the name in roman characters, the period of validity, and a photograph.

The copy of the passport must be signed or stamped with the name and seal of the person who will be the registered owner of the passport.

If there is no certificate of residence or passport (passport), a document certifying that the alien's romanized name and full name are that of the person concerned is required.


We will continue today's discussion next week.

Please read it carefully and share it with your colleagues.

Stay tuned for more next week!


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