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Well getting married in Japan is easy and free if you decide to just
hand in the documents! If you decide to have a big party then it might
be free as your Japanese guests will all give you, not presents, but
money! The better the friend, the more they're "supposed" to give! This
is a custom I don't really like! Suppose your best 4 friends decide to
get married in 1 month, then half of your monthly salary would be gone!
Anyway, even Japanese have come to "dislike" this custom as there are
no specific rules on how much to give, so they've come up with a 会費
(kaihi, entrance fee) system. Here the guests pay an amount decided
beforehand, also crazy to western standards I think.... Anyway, back to
business.
To get married in Japan and if you decide to go the free way, then you go
to City Hall, get the needed papers (婚姻届 konintodoke), fill it out,
sign or stamp, have two witnesses sign or stamp, hand it in again and
within 10 minutes you're married to Japanese law. This marriage is also
valid in the Netherlands, you don't need to notify the authorities. As
a foreigner you do need to proof though that you're not married at that
particular moment in time. You do this by contacting your nearest
Embassy or Consulate and ask them what they need to issue a
"certificate of not being married". In the Dutch case you need to
submit the following:
1. recent birth certificate (recent uittreksel geboorte)
2. recent citizen's registration (recent uittreksel bevolkingsregister)
3. a copy of your passport
4. a small fee (about 35 euros)
5. if you're divorced then a divorce certificate is also needed
6. if you've lived abroad for a long time, get a certificate of not
being married in the countries you've lived in after you came of age and submit these.
With the above documents the certificate will be issued. Submit this
together with the "konintodoke", your passport and your alien
registration card (if you have one) and that's it, your married!
Congratulations!
If you decided to have a big party then it's custom for the bride and
groom to go to City Hall during the party and submit the papers as
explained above (there usually is an after-hours window). Without
submitting the papers you're not married, even if you had a ceremony!
Two foreigners can also get married using the method above!
If you're Dutch then you might want to register your marriage in The
Hague as this simplifies getting a marriage certificate. If you
register your marriage then you can get a marriage certificate that's
written in Dutch, English, German and French whereas the Japanese
certificate is always in Japanese only and you probably need a
translation! Needed for registration:
1. konintodoke (婚姻届)
2. konintodoke-jurisyoumeisyo （婚姻届受理証明書)
3. family register of the Japanese national
4. birth certificate of the Dutch national
5. a signed request for registration
The Japanese documents need to have Apostille stamps and translation.
We offer you the service where we will get the needed stamps and take
care of the translations. We'll also send all the documents to the
Netherlands. Cost for this service is 20.000 yen, this is including
postage (EMS express). If you'd like to use our services then please
drop me a line by email (my address can be found here) .
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