Japanese Passport

Japanese passports (日本国旅券, Nihonkoku ryoken) are issued to Japanese citizens to facilitate international travel. With 192 visa-free travels,[7] it is the strongest passport in the world, tied with the Singaporean passport.[8]

Japanese passport

日本国旅券

JapanpassportNew10y.PNG

The front cover of a contemporary 10 years Japanese ePassport.

Ja ic passport.jpg

Identity Information Page of a 10 years Japanese biometric Passport.

Type

Passport

Issued by

 Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

First issued

21 May 1866[1][a] (letter of request)

1 January 1926[1] (booklet)

1 November 1992[1] (machine-readable passport)

20 March 2006[2] (biometric passport)

31 August 2013[3]

4 February 2020[4][5] (current version)

Purpose

Identification

Eligibility

Japanese citizenship

Expiration

10 years or 5 years after acquisition for adults, 5 for ages under 19

Cost

¥16,000 (10 year adult passport)

¥11,000 (5 year passport for 12-year-old or over)

¥6,000 (5 year passport for 11-year-old or under)[6]

History Edit

The first travel documents for overseas travel by Japanese citizens were introduced in 1866, near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. These documents took the form of a stamped "letter of request" allowing Japanese citizens to travel overseas for business and educational purposes. The first person to be issued with a Japanese travel document was the acrobat and magician Namigorō Sumidagawa (ja:隅田川浪五郎), who received his travel document on 17 October 1866 in order to perform at the 1867 World's Fair held in Paris, France. The term "passport" was formally introduced into the Japanese language in 1878, and in 1900 the first regulations governing the usage of Japanese passports were introduced. The modern form of the Japanese passport first came about in 1926, and the first ICAO-compliant, machine-readable Japanese passports were introduced in 1992.[1]

Types of passports Edit

Ordinary passport: Issued to normal Japanese citizens.

Ordinary passports are issued in two different lengths of validity: 5 and 10 years. Japanese citizens up to 19 years of age can only be issued a 5 years passport, while those who are 20 years of age or older can choose either a 5 years (blue) or 10 years (red) passport for different registration fees.

Official passport: Issued to members of the National Diet and public servants.

Diplomatic passport: Issued to members of the Imperial Family, diplomats and their family members, and high-level government officials.

By convention, the Emperor and Empress of Japan do not hold a passport, as they cannot travel on a document issued in their own name.

Emergency passport: Issued to overseas Japanese nationals when machine-readable passports are unable to be issued by a diplomatic mission of Japan due to a malfunction and there is no time to wait for the passport to be issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, or to overseas Japanese nationals who failed to be issued a Travel Document for Return to Japan, valid for 1 year from date of issuance.

Travel Document for Return to Japan (ja:帰国のための渡航書): Emergency single-use travel document issued to overseas Japanese nationals to return to Japan, features a white cover with the Paulownia Government Seal of Japan. Invalidated immediately after use.

All Japanese passports issued after 20 March 2006 are biometric passports.

Japanese passports have the Chrysanthemum Imperial Seal of Japan inscribed in the centre of the front cover, with the Japanese characters reading Nipponkoku Ryoken (日本国旅券) inscribed above in seal script and its English translation JAPAN PASSPORT in Latin letters below the Seal. Ordinary passports valid for five years feature dark blue covers, and those valid for ten years feature crimson-coloured covers. Additionally, official passports feature dark green covers, and diplomatic passports feature dark brown covers.

Data page Edit

Photo of the passport holder

Type

Issuing country

Passport number

Surname (possibly followed by a former surname[b] or an alternative surname[c] written in brackets)

Given name (possibly followed by an alternative give name[d] written in brackets)

Nationality (Japan)

Date of birth

Sex

Registered Domicile

Date of issue

Date of expiry

Issuing authority

Signature of bearer

The information page ends with the Machine Readable Zone.