The family registration system is used in Japan to register Japanese citizens from birth until death. In this way, the family register acts as a birth certificate, death certificate, proof of marriage and proof of divorce. It also can be used to certify Japanese citizenship.
The family register, as the name suggests, is based upon familial relationships and parents, children and spouses will all usually be listed in the same register under a shared last name. In this way, the family register is basically organized according to the nuclear family model.
When a child marries and takes his or her spouse’s name, the child will be moved out of his or her original family register and into the spouse’s family. Usually, this happens when a daughter marries into another family but it is also possible for sons to marry into a different family as well. As foreigners living in Japan do not have family registers, upon marriage to a Japanese citizen the foreign national will often be placed into the Japanese spouse’s family register.
If a couple gets divorced, usually the spouses will return to their original family registers. Children’s names will be listed on both registers but a child’s main family register will reside with the parent who has custody.
The family registration system is left up to local municipal governments and therefore each register is maintained at a city, town or village level. While many of these local governments have started to modernize their family registries through adoption of computer and internet technology, many family registries in small towns are still based on paper.