Japanese law in English, for you and for your AI.
The full, current English beside the Japanese. Read it, link to it, and let your AI cite it.
Free for personal use. For businesses, see here
140 laws in the library
, and , each with the English beside the Japanese, linked wherever they refer to one another.
All lawsWhat japanlaw.org offers
- Every provision in English and Japanese
- Up to date with every amendment
- Instant links to definitions and other laws
- AI-native your AI reads and cites it
Works with the assistants you already use
Who it helps
Anyone who has to deal with a Japanese law, in whichever language they read.

Know where you stand at work
Hours, pay, leave, dismissal. Ask in your own words; the answer shows the article it rests on, with the English beside the Japanese.
How workers use itExample question
Can my boss refuse the days I asked to take as paid leave?
ChatGPT
Your employer must give paid leave when you ask for it. They can move it to other days only if your dates would disrupt the normal running of the business.
Labor Standards Act, Article 39, paragraph (5) japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-39/par-5
Check the rules before you act
The text in force today, not last year's, and English you can hand to staff who do not read Japanese.
How employers and HR teams use itExample question
Do our part-time staff get paid annual leave too?
Microsoft Copilot
Yes. Staff who work fewer days a week get leave in proportion to their working days; the exact number of days is set by a Ministerial Order (省令).
Labor Standards Act, Article 39, paragraph (3) japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-39/par-3
Read the rules that decide your stay
Status of residence, permission to work, registering where you live: the Immigration Control Act and the rules under it, in English you can read.
How international students use itExample question
I'm here on a student visa. Can I take a part-time job?
Claude
Only with permission. To be paid for work outside what your status of residence allows, you need permission from the Immigration Services Agency, which can attach conditions such as a limit on hours.
Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 19, paragraph (2) japanlaw.org/en/immigration-control-act/art-19/par-2
Cite the exact item, send a link that opens
Lawyers, labour and social security attorneys (社労士), administrative scriveners (行政書士) and tax accountants (税理士): every answer points to the paragraph and item, with a link a client can open.
How labour and social security attorneys use itExample question
What does a 36 Agreement have to set out?
ChatGPT
Five things: which workers it covers, the period it applies to, the cases where overtime is needed, the hours that may be added per day, month and year (or the days off that may be worked), and the matters a Ministerial Order (省令) adds.
Labor Standards Act, Article 36, paragraph (2) japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-36/par-2Read it in English, the original Japanese beside it
Every paragraph of every law in the library, as in force today: English you can read, and the Japanese as published, side by side.
Notwithstanding the provisions on working hours in Articles 32 through 32-5 and Article 40 (referred to as "working hours" below in this Article) and the provisions on days off in the preceding Article (referred to as "days off" below in this Article), if an employer has concluded a written agreement with the labor union that is organized by a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is one, or with a person representing a majority of the workers at that workplace, if there is no such union, and has filed a notification of this agreement with the relevant government agency pursuant to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the employer may extend the working hours or have a worker work on a day off, in accordance with the provisions of that agreement.
使用者は、当該事業場に、労働者の過半数で組織する労働組合がある場合においてはその労働組合、労働者の過半数で組織する労働組合がない場合においては労働者の過半数を代表する者との書面による協定をし、厚生労働省令で定めるところによりこれを行政官庁に届け出た場合においては、第三十二条から第三十二条の五まで若しくは第四十条の労働時間(以下この条において「労働時間」という。)又は前条の休日(以下この条において「休日」という。)に関する規定にかかわらず、その協定で定めるところによつて労働時間を延長し、又は休日に労働させることができる。
The following particulars are to be specified in the agreement referred to in the preceding paragraph:
前項の協定においては、次に掲げる事項を定めるものとする。
Every legal term explains itself
, , and 24,082 defined terms open a plain explanation where they appear.
A link to every paragraph and item
Send someone Article 36(4) itself, not the top of a long page, and the link keeps working after amendments.
The original, a click away
Every law links back to its official text on e-Gov, the Japanese government's own database of laws.
See exactly what an amendment will change
Amendments already published but not yet in force are shown inside the law, word by word: what is added, what goes, and the day it applies.
Every change this amendment makesCivil Code民法
Takes effect on 23 June 2027, by Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc. (Act No. 45 of 2026).
Article 968, paragraph (1) changed
自筆証書によって遺言をするには、遺言者が、その全文、日付及び氏名を自書し、これに印を押さなければならない。
To make a will in the form of a holographic instrument, the testator must write the entire text, the date, and the testator's full name in the testator's own hand, and affix the testator's seal thereto.
Article 973, paragraph (3) added
保管証書による遺言に立ち会った医師は、前項に規定する旨を遺言書保管官に申述しなければならない。
The doctors present during the making of a will in the form of a storage instrument must state the indication prescribed in the preceding paragraph to the will storage officer.
Article 1024, paragraph (1) changed
遺言者が故意に遺言書等を破棄したときは、その破棄した部分については、遺言を撤回したものとみなす。遺言者が故意に遺贈の目的物を破棄したときも、同様とする。
If a testator intentionally destroys a will, etc., the testator is deemed to have revoked the part of the will that has been destroyed. The same applies if the testator intentionally destroys a thing constituting the object of a legacy.
Find a law by subject
Every law in the library, by subject, each as it stands today.
- Visas, residence and nationality 在留・国籍 30 laws
- Work and employment 労働 26 laws
- Business and companies 会社・取引 20 laws
- Pensions, insurance and welfare 社会保障 16 laws
- Tax 税 11 laws
- Family, contracts and courts 民事 11 laws
- Crime and safety 刑事 11 laws
- Consumers and personal data 消費者・個人情報 9 laws
- Constitution and government 憲法・行政 9 laws
- Housing and property 住まい・不動産 5 laws
- Driving and transport 交通 4 laws
Law changes coming soon
Amendments already published, by the day they take effect.
Every change, by date26 November 2026
地方税法
30 November 2026
1 December 2026
公益通報者保護法
所得税法
東日本大震災からの復興のための施策を実施するために必要な財源の確保に関する特別措置法
- and 2 more laws
4 December 2026
印紙税法
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Questions people ask
Is it free?
japanlaw.org is free for personal use, by anyone. Looking up the law for yourself (your leave, your overtime, what your employer may and may not do, your visa or your tax) is personal use, even while you work for a company. Use by professionals, organisations and law firms in their work, or for business, whether the website, the MCP server or the API, needs a contract with Genjido LLC: see Enterprise and the terms of use.
Is the English official?
Where the Ministry of Justice's translation matches the law in force, it is the Ministry's. Everywhere else it is this site's machine translation, and a mark on each paragraph says which. Either way it is a translation: only the Japanese text has legal effect.
Which version of the law is it?
The text in force today, updated with every amendment from e-Gov's text of the laws. Amendments that have not taken effect yet are listed on each law, and where their new wording is known, the changes are marked in it.
Is this legal advice?
No. The site is for information and is not legal advice. Check the official text on e-Gov before you rely on anything, and ask a qualified professional about your own case.
Which AI assistants work with it?
Any assistant that can add a remote MCP server: Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Harvey, Legora and others, and coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code. The setup pages give the steps for each.
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japanlaw.org is free for personal use, by anyone. When a professional, an organisation or a law firm uses it for its work, Genjido LLC, the company that runs it, sets it up with you.
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The same laws and MCP server, inside your own network.
Law-change alerts
Detailed notice when the laws you choose are amended: promulgation, the day it takes effect, the changed provisions.
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Start with one article.
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