A family register is created for each unit consisting of a husband and wife, and any children with the same surname, who have their registered domicile within the area of a municipality; provided, however, that when a new family register is created for a person who has entered into marriage with a person who is not a Japanese national (referred to below as a "foreign national"), or for a person who does not have a spouse, it is created for each unit consisting of the person in question and any children with the same surname.

Family registers are compiled into a registry.

①An original and a duplicate is made for each family register.

②The original is kept at the city office or town or village office, and the duplicate is preserved by the competent legal affairs bureau or district legal affairs bureau or a related branch office.

A family register is identified by the name and registered domicile of the person entered at the head of the register. The family register continues to be identified by this person even after the relevant person's name has been removed from the family register.

①A person entered in a family register (including a person whose name has been removed from the family register (excluding a person for whom all of the entries the register have been made based on the error of the mayor of a municipality and then corrected pursuant to the provisions of Article 24, paragraph (2))), or their spouse, lineal ascendant, or lineal descendant may request the issuance of a transcript or extract of the family register, or a certificate of the particulars entered in the family register (referred to below as a "family register transcript, extract or certificate").

②The mayor of a municipality may refuse the request referred to in the preceding paragraph if it is clear that the request has been made for an unjust purpose.

③A person who seeks to make the request referred to in paragraph (1) may request that the family register transcript, extract or certificate be sent to them by postal mail or by any other method specified by Ministry of Justice Order.

①A person other than the person prescribed in paragraph (1) of the preceding Article may request the issuance of a family register transcript, extract or certificate only in the cases listed in the following items. In this case, the person who makes the request must clarify the particulars specified in those items:

②Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, a national or local government agency may request the issuance of a family register transcript, extract or certificate if the agency needs it in order to perform processes prescribed by law and regulations. In this case, the official with the authority to take charge of making the request must clarify their government position, the type of processes, and the clauses of the governing law and regulations that constitute the grounds for performing processes, as well as the purpose for which the particulars entered in the family register will be used.

③Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1), an attorney (including a legal professional corporation or attorney at law/registered foreign lawyer joint corporation; the same applies in the following paragraph), a judicial scrivener (including a judicial scrivener corporation; the same applies in the following paragraph), a land and buildings investigator (including a land and buildings investigator corporation; the same applies in the following paragraph), a certified public tax accountant (including a tax accountancy corporation; the same applies in the following paragraph), a public consultant on social and labor insurance (including a corporation of public consultants on social and labor insurance; the same applies in the following paragraph), a patent attorney (including a patent attorney corporation; the same applies in the following paragraph), a marine procedure commission agent, or a certified administrative procedures legal specialist (including a certified administrative procedures legal specialist corporation) may request the issuance of a family register transcript, extract or certificate if they require it in order to execute business concerning a case or function that they have undertaken. In this case, the person who makes the request must clarify their qualifications, the type of the business, the name of the client of the case or function, and the particulars prescribed in the items of paragraph (1) regarding the relevant client.

④Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) and the preceding paragraph, an attorney, judicial scrivener, land and buildings investigator, certified public tax accountant, social insurance and labor public consultant, or patent attorney may request the issuance of a family register transcript, extract or certificate if they require it in order to conduct the following business with regard to a case that they have undertaken. In this case, the person who makes the request must clarify their qualification, the type of the case, the procedures which they are carrying out or seek to carry out as an agent in the course of their business, and the purpose of use of the particulars entered in the family register:

⑤Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (3), an attorney may request the issuance of a family register transcript, extract or certificate if the attorney needs it in order to perform their services in acting as a defense counsel in a criminal case, in acting as an attendant in a juvenile protection case or a treatment case prescribed in Article 3 of the Act on Medical Care and Treatment for Persons Who Have Caused Serious Harm to Others While in a State of Insanity (Act No. 110 of 2003), in acting as an assistant in court in a case involving a request for examination on the extradition of a fugitive, in acting as an agent appointed by the court pursuant to the provisions of Article 14, paragraph (2) of the Act on Protection of Personal Liberty (Act No. 199 of 1948), in acting as a counsel appointed by the presiding judge pursuant to the provisions of Article 13, paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Personal Status Litigation Act (Act No. 109 of 2003), or in acting as a special agent prescribed in Article 35, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 109 of 1996). In this case, the person who makes the request must clarify their qualifications as an attorney, the category of services concerned, and the purpose for which the particulars entered in the family register will be used.

⑥The provisions of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to a person who seeks to make a request referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

①When making a request prescribed in Article 10, paragraph (1), or paragraphs (1) through (5) of the preceding Article, the person taking charge of making the request must clarify their name and other particulars specified by Ministry of Justice Order that are necessary for identifying themselves to the mayor of a municipality, by showing their driver's license or by any other method specified by Ministry of Justice Order.

②For the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the person taking charge of making the request is an agent of the person making the request (or for the case of the request referred to in paragraph (2) of the preceding Article, if the person taking charge of making the request is an agent of the official with the authority to do so; referred to below as the "requesting person" in this paragraph and the following Article) or any person other than the requesting person, the person who is taking charge of making the request must submit to the mayor of a municipality a document clarifying that they are taking charge of making the request at the requesting person's direction or pursuant to the provisions of laws and regulations, by a method specified by Ministry of Justice Order.

If the request referred to in Article 10-2, paragraphs (1) through (5) has been made, and the mayor of a municipality finds that the particulars that the requesting person is required to clarify pursuant to these provisions have not been clarified, they may ask for the necessary explanations from the requesting person.

If all or part of a family register book is lost or is likely to be lost, the Minister of Justice must give instructions to take the necessary measures for its replication or supplementation. In this case, if a family registry is lost, the Minister of Justice must give public notice to that effect.

①If an entry in a family register has been made based on a false notification or other related action (meaning a notification, a report, an application, a request, entrustment, issuance of a certified copy of a certificate or logbook, or the rendering of a judicial decision; the same applies below in this paragraph), based on a notification or other related action that was made by mistake, or due to an error that the mayor of a municipality made, and the entry has been corrected pursuant to the provisions of Article 24, paragraph (2), Article 113, Article 114, or Article 116, and if a person entered in that family register (including a person whose name has been removed from that family register; the same applies in the following paragraph) requests the replication of an abridged edition of the family register without the entries containing the particulars subject to the corrections, the Minister of Justice must give instructions to take the necessary measures for that replication; provided, however, that this does not apply when a replicated family register contains errors or omissions in its entries.

②The provisions of the main clause of the preceding paragraph also apply if the mayor of a municipality has corrected, added, or deleted any characters in a family register when making an entry in it, and a person entered in the family register requests the replication of an abridged edition of the family register without the entries containing the particulars subject to that correction, addition, or deletion.

①If the names of all of the persons in a family register are removed, the family register is removed from the relevant family register book and compiled into another registry, which is preserved as a registry of removed family registers.

②The provisions of Article 9, Article 11, and the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to a registry of removed family registers and to those family registers removed.

The provisions of Articles 10 through 10-4 apply mutatis mutandis to cases in which the issuance of a transcript or extract of a removed family register or a certificate of the particulars entered in a removed family register (referred to below as a "transcript, extract, or certificate of a removed family register") is requested.