MENU

Any problems or difficulties with English/Japanese translation or overseas procedures?

We, Legal Translation Service, offer you excellent translation and meticulous services, to give you “sense of security”.
Just call us to inquire or send request form.

Why are we different? Why are we better?

The combination of superior translation and *Gyosei-shoshi service

(*state-certified administrative procedures specialist)

 We specialize in the translation of Japanese contracts, certificates and other official documents into English (and vice versa)

 

and our gyosei-shoshi provides support with administrative procedures.

Skilled translators

Skilled translators

  • Carefully screened through rigorous testing
  • Knowledgeable about legal issues and well-versed in legal terminology
  • Skilled in the collaborative work style required to best serve our clients
Englush specialist checkers

English specialist checkers

Our senior English specialist is a highly-skilled professional editor (Canada) with comprehensive experience in editing Japanese commercial, legal, institutional and research documents.

His most recent major editorial works are:

  • Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction, Facts on File, New York (2009)
  • Encyclopedia of Contemporary Writers and Their Work, Facts on File,New York (2010)
  • Encyclopedia of the Environment in American Literature (McFarland Press, NC, 2012)
Staff

Staff

Our main translator has almost 20 years of experience in the field, including work for Newsweek magazine (Japanese edition), 5 years in nuclear fuel information Dept. of a leading trading company, and over 4 years as a coordinator for a respected translation company.

 

Our managing gyosei-shoshi, a certified administrative procedures specialist, reviews the documents from a legal point of view, providing copy-editing and proofreading support, in addition to her gyosei-shoshi  functions.

 

Click here for details of our gyosei-shoshi service which includes support for Japanese visa application, car registration, establishing companies, making contracts of divorce or estate division, etc., and agent service in acquisition of notarization, apostille, and other types of legalization for documents.

 

A sample of our rigorous approach to translation
(Japanese ⇒ English)

The Japanese‘Family Register’(or Koseki) is an essential certificate in Japan, and must be translated for a host of international purposes. Like most legal documents, it presents three different and demanding challenges to translators:

 

01.interpreting the precise meaning of the sometimes idiosyncratic Japanese expressions,

02.rendering this meaning in a language, and for a culture, very different from the original, and

03.maintaining the rigorous level of clarity and consistency required of legal documents, upon which important matters often depend.

Some examples

(a)本籍 (Honseki) :

This appears at the top of the Koseki, and means ‘place of Family Register’. It is typically translated as 'permanent domicile' (by the Ministry of Justice, for example) or 'registered domicile' (as in Japanese passports). But in fact, the Honseki need neither be permanent nor a domicile, but is merely the place where a family is registered, at any given time. Thus, its full and proper legal translation would include the technical Japanese term (also needed elsewhere in the certificate, as below) followed by a precise English paraphrase: Honseki (location of Family Register).

(b) 国籍留保の届出日(kokuseki ryuho no todokede bi) :

This appears in the Koseki in relation to children born outside Japan, and describes the date of reporting the intention to reserve Japanese nationality for the child, by signing a statement to that effect in the child’s Birth Registration form (Shusshou todoke). A clear and precise rendering would be: 'Date of notification for reserving Japanese nationality'.

(c) 送付を受けた日(soufu wo uketa hi) :

A Japanese birth may be registered at a registration office in any one of three places: (a) the Honseki, (b) the birth place, or (c) the current residence of the parents. If the parents register at an office other than in the Honseki, the accepting office would send the registration to the office in the Honseki for notification. In this case, the respective Koseki will include the statement: 送付を受けた日, which literally means 'date of reception', and is commonly so translated. But this lacks any specification of who receives or what is received, leaving English readers (and officials) significantly, and perhaps importantly, underinformed. Thus, employing its precise definition of the Honseki, as noted above, Legal Translation Service renders this: Date accepted by Honseki office.

Gyosei-shoshi service

Complementing our translation services, our administrative procedures specialist - a member of the Ibaraki Gyosei-shoshi Association - would be happy to provide procedural and documentation assistance in the following areas:

 

  • Starting a business in Japan

    • Preparing documents to establish a company or other organization
    • Filing the prepared documents with administrative offices
  • Applying for visas and naturalization

    • Changing residency status
    • Inviting a spouse or children to Japan
    • Applying for naturalization
  • Producing or preparing any other official documents

    • Writing or editing contracts, powers of attorney, certified mail, etc.
    • Attaching legal attestation to translated documents (notarization, apostille, etc.)

Non-disclosure agreement

All our translators and checkers sign a comprehensive NDA to ensure the confidentiality of any information they are privy to in the course of their work.

PAGETOP