Japanese translator in Tbilisi

Last reviewed: 13 November 2026 · facts checked against official sources

We translate koseki extracts, diplomas, immigration packages, contracts, company extracts and medical reports from Japanese into Georgian and from Georgian into Japanese, and we provide interpreters for notaries, negotiations and conferences. The translation is done directly from the original, without going through English, by a translator registered with a notary for the Japanese-Georgian pair, and the notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature. The standard turnaround is one working day, and a notarised translation of a document received during working hours can be ready in 1-2 hours in express mode. The key rule: Japan and Georgia are both parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, so the apostille is attached to the original before translation in the country that issued it, and in Georgia no apostille is placed on a notarised translation. Upload a scan on the website, tell us the receiving body, and the same day we will give you the turnaround and the form of certification you need.

Who comes to us for Japanese translation

• Georgian sumo wrestlers, judoka and rugby players and their families: residence status, marriage, child registration, contracts
• MEXT scholarship holders and students at universities in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and other cities
• Engineers and IT specialists working for Japanese companies
• Georgian-Japanese families: marriage, a child's citizenship, divorce, inheritance
• Exporters of Georgian wine, hazelnuts and tea, and importers of Japanese cars
• Japanese companies, JICA and cultural foundations working in Georgia

The apostille: Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service Hall

Japan has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 1970, and the apostille is issued by the consular service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外務省) at its Tokyo and Osaka offices, in person or by post. A public document (koseki extract, 住民票, criminal record certificate, court document) receives the apostille directly. A private document (power of attorney, consent, signed statement, copy of a diploma) is first certified by a Japanese notary (公証人), then the Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局) confirms the notary's authority, and finally the Ministry adds the apostille. In Tokyo, Osaka and several other prefectures these three steps are combined into one visit (ワンストップサービス). You need to know this before the document leaves Japan, otherwise it will arrive in Georgia without an apostille.

A Georgian document for Japan is prepared like this:

1. The Public Service Development Agency (Public Service Hall) places the apostille on the original; the MIA Service Agency apostilles its own documents, such as the criminal record certificate.
2. The document is translated into Japanese including the apostille.
3. The notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature.

In Georgia the notarial certification of a translation or of a copy cannot be apostilled, so no separate apostille is placed on the translation (document route, apostille in Georgia). No apostille is placed on an identity document or its copy (except a copy of a Georgian passport certified by the issuing body), a driving licence, a private company's document (except medical and educational institutions) or customs and commercial documents. A Georgian notarial power of attorney, however, is a notarial act and can be apostilled. If a Japanese recipient wants a translation with an apostille, the Agency (and the MIA Service Agency for its own documents) translates the document itself and apostilles its own translation. Japan's Immigration Services Agency often does not ask for an apostille at all, so we do not start translating until the recipient's requirement is clear.

Koseki: there is no birth certificate in Japan

Japan does not issue birth, marriage or death certificates in the European sense. All civil status events of a Japanese citizen are entered in the family register (戸籍, koseki) kept by the municipality, and the koseki extract does the job of a certificate: the full copy (戸籍謄本) shows the whole family, the individual extract (戸籍抄本) one person. A foreigner, including a Georgian citizen, is not entered in a koseki, and their details are confirmed by the residence card (在留カード) and the certificate of residence (住民票). A Georgian body asks for a birth certificate, so we translate the koseki extract keeping its title and structure and explain in a note that in the Japanese system it is the equivalent of a birth or marriage certificate and which entry concerns the applicant. A full koseki often covers several generations and runs to 4-8 pages.

Scripts, names, dates and addresses

Japanese text uses three scripts at once: kanji, hiragana and katakana. Names are written in kanji, and the same characters can be read in different ways: 裕子 may be Yuko or Hiroko, 大野 Ono, Oono or Ohno, depending on how the person spelled the name in the passport. An official document often does not show the reading (furigana), so we ask for the Latin entry in the passport before translating. In the other direction, a Georgian name is written in katakana (Giorgi may be ギオルギ or ゲオルギ), and a Japanese body that has registered one form treats another as a different person. So we ask for the residence card or another Japanese document where the name already appears, and keep that form.

Japanese documents date years by the imperial era: Showa (昭和, 1926-1989), Heisei (平成, 1989-2019) and Reiwa (令和, since 2019). "平成30年" is 2018 and "令和7年" is 2025, and the era boundary falls mid-year: Heisei ended on 30 April 2019. In the translation we write the Gregorian date and keep the era entry in brackets, so that the notary can find the figures when comparing with the original. Addresses in Japan run from large to small (prefecture, city, ward, block, number); we keep the structure and add a Latin transcription.

Notarised translation from and into Japanese

What the Georgian notary certifies

A Georgian notary does not know Japanese and does not check the content of the translation: the notary confirms that the translation was signed by a translator whose qualification in the Japanese-Georgian pair is recorded in the notary's register. There are few Japanese translators registered with notaries in Georgia, and a two-step scheme is common on the market: Japanese into English first, then English into Georgian, with the notary certifying only the last step. Such a translation is formally certified, but nobody checks it against the original. Japan has no sworn or state-accredited translators: a Japanese body asks for the translator's name, address and date on the translation, and a Japanese notary only certifies the signature on the declaration (宣言書) of a translation made in Japan. You do not need to attend the Georgian notary.

Hanko, the seal certificate and digital certificates

In Japan a document is confirmed by a personal seal (判子, hanko, or 印鑑) instead of a signature, and the authenticity of a registered seal (実印) is confirmed by a municipal certificate (印鑑登録証明書). A Georgian notary looks for a signature and cannot find one, so in the translation we describe the seal impression, translate the name carved on it and explain in a note that a red seal is the equivalent of a signature in Japan; we translate the seal registration certificate as well. A translation that simply says "[seal]" in place of the seal is often returned. Many certificates in Japan are printed with the My Number card (マイナンバーカード) from the municipal portal or a convenience store terminal, without a hand-applied seal, with a verification code. For such a document we state that it was issued by an automated system, and if you need an apostille, check the form in advance; the version issued at the municipal counter is the safer choice.

Which Japanese documents need a notarised translation

• 戸籍謄本 / 戸籍抄本: koseki extract for marriage, birth and inheritance cases
• 住民票: certificate of residence for banks and the Public Registry
• 印鑑登録証明書: seal registration certificate to accompany a power of attorney or contract
• 独身証明書 / 婚姻要件具備証明書: certificate of no impediment to marriage
• 卒業証明書 and 成績証明書: graduation and grades certificates for recognition
• 登記事項証明書 and 定款: company registration extract and articles when setting up a branch
• 委任状: power of attorney appointing a representative in Georgia

Notarised translation or our bureau's stamp

State bodies, courts, banks and notaries require notarisation: for example, the MIA Service Agency in practice asks for a notarised translation of a car export certificate (輸出抹消仮登録証明書), and the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement asks for one for recognition. Private organisations, insurers and foreign universities often accept a translation certified with our bureau's stamp. We prepare both formats, and if the requirement is ambiguous we recommend the stricter one.

Powers of attorney for the Public Registry and certificate validity

For a real estate transaction the Public Registry requires a Japanese 委任状 to contain specific powers (property identifier, type of transaction) and often rejects a general "all necessary actions" wording. So before the power of attorney is signed in Japan, we prepare the Georgian wording, translate it into Japanese, it is certified and apostilled in Japan, and it goes to the Registry in Georgia with a certified translation. Japanese municipal certificates (住民票, 印鑑登録証明書) are not accepted by many bodies in Japan itself once they are older than three months, and Georgian banks and the Registry often ask for documents issued within the last six months, so we plan ordering, apostille and translation together.

Why Japanese translations get returned

• A koseki extract translated as a "birth certificate" without a note
• An era year read "directly" as a Gregorian year, which makes a person thirty years younger
• A name in kanji read without checking the passport
• A Georgian name written in a new katakana form when another form is already registered
• A hanko left undescribed, so the notary sees no signature
• An apostille requested on a diploma copy without the notary and Bureau steps
• A translation for the Immigration Services Agency without the translator's details

Translation in both directions

Japanese into Georgian

Japanese official text is built from short, nominalised formulas: 上記のとおり相違ないことを証明する ("I certify that the above is true"). Such a formula is rendered with the phrase a Georgian certificate uses in the same place, and terms with no Georgian equivalent (本籍, 筆頭者, 在留資格) are given in transcription or description with a one-time note. Large numbers in Japanese are grouped in ten-thousands (万, 億), which is where a missing zero comes from (三十万円 = 300,000 yen), so every amount is checked by two people. We do not use machine translation for documents: in the Japanese-Georgian pair it effectively works through English and distorts dates, names and 甲/乙.

Georgian into Japanese

In Japanese, politeness registers (敬語) are part of the grammar: a motivation letter, a business letter and an application to a municipality are written in different registers, and the direct Georgian tone must become more restrained in Japanese. So a Georgian-into-Japanese translation is read by a Japanese-speaking editor without the original, who marks every phrase that sounds foreign. Georgia has officially been ジョージア in Japanese since 2015 and Tbilisi is トビリシ, while names of Georgian documents are translated with the terms used in Japan for a document with the same function: an extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs becomes 登記事項証明書, a criminal record certificate 犯罪経歴証明書. The name of an institution in katakana is followed by its official Latin form. We print the text in a Japanese font and embed it in the PDF so that kanji do not appear in their Chinese variants.

Residence in Japan: the CoE and the Immigration Services Agency

Residence in Japan works through statuses (在留資格): student, engineer/specialist in humanities/international services, specified skilled worker (特定技能), spouse of a Japanese national and others. A long-term status usually starts with a Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書, CoE), which the university, employer or spouse in Japan requests from the Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁), and Georgian documents are attached to it: diploma, transcript, work experience certificate, marriage and birth certificates. The Agency asks for a Japanese translation of foreign-language documents showing the translator's name, address and date; notarisation is not mandatory there, but for a Georgian document it speeds things up, because the inspector cannot read Georgian. We prepare the translation in the format the Agency expects, with the translator's details.

Education: MEXT, 卒業証明書 and the research plan

The MEXT scholarship in Georgia runs on the recommendation of the Embassy of Japan, and the application asks for an English or Japanese translation of the diploma, transcript, research plan and recommendations, while after enrolment the university expects apostilled documents. The research plan (研究計画書) follows the structure of the Japanese academic genre: research background (研究背景), aim (研究目的), method (研究方法). A Japanese university often issues a graduation certificate (卒業証明書) and a grades certificate (成績証明書) instead of a diploma, and in Japan these are more "official" than the diploma; a Georgian body asks for a diploma, and we explain the difference in a note. Grading differs between universities (秀・優・良・可・不可 or S/A/B/C/F, GPA on a 4.0 scale), so we explain the scale by the specific university's rules (recognition of a foreign diploma). Recognition of a Georgian diploma in Japan is decided by the university or employer.

Marriage and family

In Japan a marriage is concluded by filing a notification (婚姻届) at the municipality, without a ceremony, and the Georgian partner must submit a certificate of no impediment to marriage. The Georgian certificate, the birth certificate and, after a previous marriage, the divorce document are prepared with an apostille and a Japanese translation (certificate of marital status). If the marriage is registered in Georgia, the Japanese partner submits to the Public Service Hall the 婚姻要件具備証明書 issued by Japan's Legal Affairs Bureau or embassy and the koseki extract, with an apostille and a notarised Georgian translation; then the Georgian marriage certificate goes with an apostille and a Japanese translation to the municipality so that the marriage is entered in the koseki, and this notification must be filed within three months. A child is entered in the Japanese parent's koseki by a birth notification (出生届), and for Georgia the 出生届受理証明書 or the koseki extract is translated. Japanese law does not allow dual citizenship in adulthood and requires a choice by an age set by law, which a Georgian parent should take into account early.

Business, wine and cars

In a Japanese company's registration extract the name is written in kanji, and the international Latin name may not appear at all; we give both in the translation so that a Georgian banker does not see one company as two different entities (extract from the registry). Importers of Georgian wine ask for Japanese translations of labels, certificates and technical sheets, and the label must follow the fields of the Japanese food labelling standard (原材料名, 内容量, 原産国名, 輸入者). For car imports, the vehicle identification fields in the export certificate are rendered exactly.

Legal and medical translation

Contracts and the 甲/乙 convention

In a Japanese contract the parties are defined once as 甲 (ko) and 乙 (otsu), a third party as 丙 (hei), and the rest of the text works with these characters. "Ko shall" is unreadable in Georgian, and "first party / second party" creates ambiguity, so we replace the parties with short names ("Seller", "Buyer", "Distributor") as set in the definitions clause and check consistency in every article. Standard final clauses (協議事項, 管轄裁判所) are rendered with typical Georgian formulas (translation of contracts). In a bilingual contract with both texts in two columns, numbering is synchronised, terms are defined identically and a clause states which version prevails; next to the Japanese party's seal a signature field is added for the Georgian party.

Corporate documents

The Japanese Civil Code, like the Georgian one, draws on the German model of civil law, so many concepts are close. The company extract (登記事項証明書, formerly 登記簿謄本) is issued by the Legal Affairs Bureau and shows the capital, the directors and the representative director (代表取締役). 株式会社 (kabushiki-gaisha) is a joint-stock company and translating it as "LLC" is a mistake, 合同会社 (godo-gaisha) comes close to a limited liability company, and 代表取締役 is more than a Georgian "director": it means the person with power of representation. The articles (定款), the minutes of the shareholders' meeting (株主総会議事録) and the board decision come as one package, in which the company seal (代表者印) serves as the signature. For branch registration the extract must be freshly issued and apostilled, while the minutes, as a private document, first go through a Japanese notary.

Divorce, parental authority and inheritance

In Japan a divorce often happens without a court, by notification at the municipality (協議離婚), and it is proved by a 離婚届受理証明書 or an updated koseki extract, not by a court decision; for the Georgian civil registry this must be explained clearly in the translation. In a court divorce or family court conciliation the 審判書 or 調停調書 is translated. Parental authority (親権) is arranged differently in Japanese law and, without a note, will mislead a Georgian judge. In an inheritance case the Japanese side asks for the full koseki extract, the estate division agreement (遺産分割協議書) with every heir's seal and the seal certificates, the Georgian side for the certificate of inheritance and the Public Registry extract, and the Japanese statutory shares (法定相続分) must be explained against the Georgian orders of statutory heirs.

Employment contracts for work in Japan

For employment under the specified skills or engineer status, the employment contract (雇用契約書) and the notice of working conditions (労働条件通知書) are translated into Georgian so that the candidate can read the terms in their native language. The terms 基本給 (base salary), 所定労働時間 (prescribed working hours), 社会保険 (social insurance) and 有給休暇 (paid leave) are rendered exactly, and the differences in bonuses (賞与) and the pension system are explained in a note.

Medical documents

A 診断書 (shindansho) is a Japanese doctor's medical report with the diagnosis, course of treatment and prognosis, often with era dates. In Georgia it is translated for insurance claims, status determination or continued treatment: we keep the ICD-10 codes, give the diagnosis with the Georgian term and the Latin name, and do not convert laboratory units (for example glucose in mg/dL), only noting them (translation of discharge summaries). In the medicine notebook (お薬手帳) a drug is often recorded only by its Japanese brand name in katakana, and we trace every name to its international non-proprietary name (INN). The health certificate for MEXT and universities (健康診断書) is filled in on a fixed template (胸部X線 chest X-ray, 血圧 blood pressure), and the mother and child health handbook (母子健康手帳) with the vaccination history is translated for Georgian kindergartens and schools. A medical report usually needs no apostille unless it is used in court or administrative proceedings. In an urgent clinical case we first give the doctor a working translation within a few hours, and the certified version follows later.

Simultaneous and consecutive interpreting

Why Japanese is especially hard for a simultaneous interpreter

In Japanese the verb and the negation come at the end of the sentence, and the subject is often omitted, so a simultaneous interpreter often does not know whether a sentence will be positive or negative until it ends. Two interpreters take turns every 20-30 minutes, because this is more tiring than with European languages. A direct Japanese-Georgian simultaneous interpreter is rare and needs to be booked early; if they are busy, we offer relay (Japanese-English and English-Georgian booths), which adds delay, and we tell the client so in advance. In consecutive mode a direct interpreter is almost always available. The interpreter renders keigo in Georgian through tone and softens a blunt Georgian phrase in Japanese while keeping its meaning.

Which mode when

• Conference, a talk longer than 20 minutes, a large audience: simultaneous interpreting from an ISO 4043 booth, two interpreters
• Business negotiations, a meeting at a ministry, a JICA mission: consecutive interpreting, which the Japanese side often prefers itself
• One or two Japanese participants, a court hearing, a tasting: whispered interpreting, up to two hours per interpreter
• Factory visit or tour: portable transmitter system
• Notary, court, clinic: consecutive interpreting

A Japanese citizen who buys property, sets up a company or marries in Georgia goes to the notary with an interpreter, because by law, if a party does not know the state language, the notary performs the act with an interpreter, and the interpreter's participation is recorded in the deed. At a medical visit the interpreter speaks in the first person and leaves nothing out.

Preparation, protocol and remote formats

The interpreter needs the presentations, the list of speakers with names in kanji and their readings, the agenda and a list of terms in advance. Japanese speakers often read a prepared text, which is faster and denser than spontaneous speech, so that text is the most useful material for the interpreter. The interpreter explains the protocol to the Georgian side in advance: exchanging business cards (名刺交換) is a ritual, "hai" often means "I am listening" rather than agreement, and "that will be difficult" is often a polite refusal. The time difference with Tokyo is 5 hours, so online meetings take place in the Georgian morning; in remote simultaneous interpreting the interpreter works in the Zoom interpretation channel, and we ask the Japanese speaker to use a headset microphone, because vowel length changes meaning. Book interpreters for a conference at least two weeks ahead; after the meeting we keep the same terminology in the translation of the minutes and correspondence.

Official sources

• Public Service Development Agency: apostille and legalisation: which Georgian documents can be apostilled, which cannot, and in what time
• Hague Conference: Apostille Convention member states: the current list of countries: apostille or consular legalisation
• Hague Conference (HCCH): Japan's competent authority for the apostille, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its contact details

Frequently asked questions

Do you have a Japanese document to translate, or do you need an interpreter at a notary, a negotiation or a conference? Upload a scan on the website or write to us, state the receiving body and the deadline, and the same day you will get an exact turnaround and advice on the apostille.