One stop service

Apostille

Apostille is available at our office for private documents in accordance with the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (or the Apostille Convention) (Hague convention of October 5,1961).

If the recipient is in a foreign country which is a signatory to The Hague Convention, once an authentication is obtained at our office, you can immediately submit the document to the recipient.  

Consular authentication

If the document is sent to a foreign country which is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, our office will prepare authentication documents attested by the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which means after receipt of notary authentication, all you need to do is to go to a local embassy or consulate to obtain consular authentication before you submit it to the recipient.

Documents we notarize

We authenticate private documents (ex. agreement, assignment, deed, power of attorney, mortgage) in any language¹⁾.  

Document issued by a government organization or a municipal corporation cannot be authenticated.

1) The content of documents must be lawful. A notary might ask you to explain the contents of the documents or to submit a Japanese translation of the documents.

Identification

Besides the document you need to notarize, you are required to bring an official ID bearing a photo image of your face (ex. passport, residence card, driver’s license card). If you are signing in your capacity as a representative of a corporation, certificate of seal impression of the representative and certificate of registration of the corporation (Both must be issued within 3 months) are required.

If your agent comes to our office seeking authentication of your document（In the case where your agent takes ,with your approval, your acknowledgement and appears before us for authentication）, he/she is required to bring his/her official ID, power of attorney with your registered seal stamped and certificate of your seal impression (Must be issued within 3 months).

Witness

In the case where a document you sign requires a witness other than a notary, you need to bring such a witness to our office. Our office does not provide any witness for such documents.
The witness needs to bring his /her official ID .

Declaration

Declaration is a written statement. You can attach documents such as a copy of your passport, a copy of your driver’s license, certificate of the graduation from a university or bank certificate/statement to a declaration as an exhibit^1)2）. A notary in our office can authenticate your signature on the declaration. We can provide you a sample of a declaration by e-mail.

1)  You may declare these documents are true copies of the original in the statement. You need to show the original of these documents to the notary in charge.
2）You can attach multiple documents to a declaration.

Affidavit

In the case the document you are going to execute requires you to take an oath（or affirmation）, we can administer the oath and verify that the affidavit was properly sworn by either completing a “jurat”³⁾ on the affidavit or attaching a certificate using our fixed form sentence⁴⁾⁵⁾.

When we authenticate an affidavit, we make two originals and keep one of them at our office for 20 years, so that you can get an official copy when needed (there is a fee for copies.).

It is up to you decide whether or not to take an oath ⁶⁾. If you decide not to, we will only certificate your signature⁷⁾.

3) “Jurat” is a sworn statement concerning where, when, and before whom an oath has been　made.
4) You must personally appear, take an oath and sign in the presence of the notary.
5) In an oath, you swear, bound by your conscience, that what is stated in the instrument is true.  Civil penalty will be applied in case of perjury.  
6) You are recommended to check its necessity with the recipient.
7) Please note that even if your choice is wrong, the notarial fee you paid is non-refundable.

Time required

It will depend on the nature of the work to be undertaken. Typically time required is about 30 minutes or so.

The fees

The fees are provided by the Notary Act and the Order for Notary Fees.

・Power of attorney written in English : 9500 yen
・Private document such as an agreement, assignment, deed, mortgage written in English : 11500 yen
(If the contract amount is 10 million yen or more: 17000 yen)
・Declaration in English: 11500 yen
・Affidavit in English: 17000 yen

We take payment when we provide you with your notarized documents.
We accept cash and major credit cards.

Location

Our notary office is in the FUKOKU SEIMEI BLDG. (富国生命ビル) which stands adjacent to the Hibiya Park and is close to the following stations.
Please have a look at the map and picture available to you.

　　 Uchisaiwaicho Station (Toei Mita subway line) Exit 6　　　Directly Connected
　　Kasumigaseki Station(Chiyoda subway line, Hibiya subway line) Exit C4　   3min walk
　　Kasumigaseki Station (Marunouchi subway line) Exit B2 　　　5min walk
　　 Shimbashi Station (JR line) Hibiya Exit　　6min walk

The website of the Japan National Notaries Association (日本公証人連合会)
General information in English is available at the following website.http://www.koshonin.gr.jp/pdf/english2.pdf

Finally

You do not need to book an appointment to come to our office for notarizing documents.
We would really appreciate it if you send us the document you wish to notarize by email in advance so that we can tell you if we can accommodate your request beforehand.