Japanese Genealogy Blog

Most of the people I help locate their Japanese ancestors are 3rd, 4th and even 5th generation Japanese. Some of those I assist are only part Japanese, but many are  still a 100% Japanese by blood. All desire to know more about their Japanese ancestors, but are baffled on how to begin.

Since many Japanese Americans have been in America for generations and most likely do not have the ability to speak or read the language, they often feel at a loss at where to even begin to find their Japanese heritage. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

• Researching your family tree is the same for you as any other American UNTIL your immigrant ancestor. So look in the same places: FamilySearch, Ancestry, are good choices to search for census records, passenger records and vital records.
• Just like any immigrant from any country looking to doing research in their mother country, you will have to know the town, village,and address, etc. that they came from, otherwise its a needle in a very big haystack. And unlike many countries, Japanese vital records are not available online and are restricted to only those who can prove direct lineage can have access. You will HAVE TO KNOW the address from where they came from, especially if they came from a big city. You can’t just say Kobe and expect to find the exact city hall (large cities have dozens) and be able to locate the records.
• Where can you find the address if you don’t know? Ask older aunts, uncles and other relatives. Look for anything in anyone’s possession that might have Japanese writing on it. Many people have a koseki record and don’t know what it is because it can look unimportant with all its boxes on it, often with some crossed out, older ones printed on a tissue type of paper, or some are purple mimeograph copies. OMGosh, dance if you find one of those! Eureka, or BONZAI since we are talking Japanese here. You hit the mother lode!
• Other sources to check for addresses are: passports, Naturalization records, internment camp records, military records, passenger records and personal letters.
• Small older villages may have been swallowed up by bigger cities and towns, you can still locate them. Try Wikipedia on the village name, you may have to try searching it in Japanese and then use a translation to read it.

In some ways doing Japanese records may seem harder, but the effort is soooo worth the effort!

Don’t get discouraged! It is possible and if you need help, I would be glad to get you going or assist you in anyway.

Here are some frequent questions about Japanese family history research that you might have as well. Hope these answers help you in your quest to find your ancestry in Japan.

I can’t find any online sources for my Japanese ancestors. Do you know any I can search?

Unfortunately there are none. Japan has very strict privacy laws and only direct line ancestors can access their records. You can use online sources like Ancestry.com to find your ancestors once they came to America though. This can help you locate their hometown in Japan, which you will need to know to find the family household registers or koseki.

What information do I need to provide to obtain a copy of my family household register or koseki?

In orders to gain access you to your ancestor’s records you to prove that you are in fact a direct descendant of the person you are requesting information about. You will need to provide the following:

• First and last name of the ancestor you are requesting information about.
• The ancestor’s address and hometown city hall of record.
• Picture ID, your passport or driver’s licence are acceptable.
• Your birth certificate (certified copy is fine)
• Birth certificates of your parents and grandparents until the immigrant ancestor. You do not need one if they were born in Japan, but you do if they weren’t.
• Pedigree chart filled out and highlighted on the chart, showing the ancestor you are seeking information on.
• Currently it is $13US for copies and postage of a koseki record. You must use a US Money Order – not your banks!
• A request form and letter regarding what you are requesting and why.
• Return self-addressed envelope

All of these forms should be written or translated into Japanese. If you write them in English, there is no telling when or if you will get a response, even having it written in Japanese a response can take a few weeks to a few months.

I only know the name of my ancestor and that he came from Tokyo? Can I find his record?

Every Japanese citizen has a hometown city hall of record and this central location is were all their family household records are kept.

Tokyo city has over 6o city hall offices and there is no central database that links them or allows searches of other office’s records. You would literally have to contact each and every office.

Also, many Japanese moved to Tokyo for employment, but they were actually born somewhere else and often their hometown is where their records are still housed, even though they moved to Tokyo.

In order to narrow it down you will have to do more searching for the actual address of your ancestor while in Japan. Old passports, old letters or documents could give you this, as well as passenger ship records sometimes hold clues to this information.

Gaining access to your ancestor’s records in Japan can be challenging and difficult, but it can be done. Finding your ancestor’s records are a wealth of knowledge about your family and heritage and worth every effort!

As the Japanese say, ganbatte! Which means ‘hang in there – you can do this!’

Contact me if you need help or have more questions!

Why did a Japanese person leave Japan for the US? Usually the Japanese male was a younger son and not the family heir. Immigrants from Japan began coming to the US in the 1880s. There was a demand for workers for mining, railroad and farm labor, but many found jobs as cooks, waiters, hotel staff and other type jobs in cities. The young Japanese males came to the Western United States not only seeking a job, but opportunity. While Japanese generally moved to the west coast, some did find job opportunities in the Midwest as well. It is a myth that these were the very poor. To immigrate cost money and many were well educated.

Due to the US public’s fear of loss of jobs and the increasing numbers of Japanese immigrants, state laws were passed to prohibit the Japanese immigrants from purchasing land. The 1908 Gentlemen’s Agreement prohibited the migration of male laborers to the US, but allowed wives and children of those immigrants already here to immigrate.

Loopholes in the Agreement prompted unmarried Japanese in the US to seek mail order brides from Japan and thousands of these brides arrived between 1908 and 1924. The National Origins Act effectively closed all immigration from Japan to the United States.

When searching for your ancestors a good place to start is to search  passenger lists. Sometimes the male immigrant would return to Japan and marry a “hometown” girl arranged by his and her families and then he would return with her to America. Sometimes they were married by proxy and she went alone or she came unmarried to America and then was married on her arrival. It is important to search for both her married name and under her maiden name. Many times you can find the couple years later, returning to Japan with their children for a family visit. The visit may have been brought about by the death of a parent. All of things things can give you clues in your research.

Almost all Japanese families somewhere on their family tree you will find adoptions. It is necessary to understand that these are usually “heir adoptions” and are different than what we understand in the western world adoptions.

Samurai Warrior

It was common practice for Japanese to adopt another adult male or older child/teen, if no male heirs were present in a family. Often the case is an arranged marriage between the head of household’s eldest daughter and the 2nd or 3rd son from another (possibly related) family. Upon their marriage, the groom would take the bride’s maiden name as his own and would become her father’s heir and now his name would be added to her family’s koseki. If they divorced (which could happen if no male heir was produced) his rights to her family’s estate would be returned, he would resume his own name and return to his birth family and again to be recorded under the head of his former household’s koseki.

Heir adoption was mandatory in cases of an elderly widow who had no children. If she did not have an heir and could not because of poverty, the local authorities would provide one for her or the estate would be forfeit. Often her estate would include the family butsudan, a family alter or shrine in a special cabinet where ancestor memorials are kept and where they worship. While having a butsudan is part of the Japanese Buddhist faith, 90% of the rural Japanese homes still contain them.

Butsudan

Shinto Wedding

A father who had many sons might look to his acquaintances and extended family who were without heirs and for a sum of money they would adopt the child. Adoption was the easiest way to secure the child’s future. The child would then be raised up to not only be heir but be trained in his adopted father’s profession. The mourning period for adopted parents was the same as for birth parents.

These name changes and family changes that are recorded on the family’s koseki can quickly become confusing. Using a genealogy software program is really necessary to keep track of these changes and distinguish between direct lineage and adopted lineage. Adoptions were very common and frequent in all families and all classes.

Clients often ask me whose line should they follow, especially when the family name they inherited may be an “adopted” name. I usually recommend following the blood line. Unlike American adoption where it is usually secretive and difficult to find the birth parents, Japanese koseki records will record who the birth parents were and since they [the clients] are a direct decedent, they can have access to the records after proving their lineage.

If you are interested in reading more about heir adoptions you can read about it here.

The short answer is keizu. The longer answer is not so easy. There several reasons why it is difficult for those of Japanese ancestry living outside of Japan to trace their lineage. One of the main reasons is a lack of understanding of the language. I am not going to sugar coat it, learning Japanese is hard, BUT learning how to pronounce it is not.

There are 5 basic vowel sounds in Japanese. They are always pronounced the same unlike in English! Vowel lengths are all uniformly short:

You do not need to know everything in Japanese but learning some genealogical terms is helpful.

Glossary of Japanese genealogical terms to begin building your vocabulary.

• koseki ~  household register, includes everyone in a household under the head of house (who usually was male)
• koseki tohon ~ certified copy which recorded everything from the original record.
• koseki shohon ~ certified copy which recorded only parts from the original.
• joseki ~ expired register in which all persons originally entered have been removed because of death, change of residence, etc. A joseki file is ordinarily available for  80 years after its expiration.
• kaisei genkoseki ~ revised koseki
• honseki ~ permanent residence or registered address (i.e. person may move to Tokyo but their records remain in hometown city hall).
• genseki ~ another name for honseki
• kakocho ~ Buddist death register
• kaimyo ~ Buddist name given to deceased person and recorded in kakocho.
• homyo ~ Buddist name given to living converts, similar to homyo.
• kuni ~ country or nation
• ken ~ prefecture
• shi ~ city
• gun ~ county
• to ~ metropolitan prefecture (Tokyo-to). Similar to ken.
• do ~ urban prefecture (Hokkaido). Similar to ken.
• fu ~ urban prefecture (Kyoto-fu, Osaka-fu) similar to ken.
• ku ~ ward in some large cities (Sapparo, Sendai, Tokyo) divided in to town (cho).
• cho ~ town
• aza ~unorganized district
• machi ~ town within a city (cho) or ward (ku), town within a county (gun).
• chome ~ smaller division of a town (cho) in some neighborhoods.
• mura or son ~ village within a county (gun).
• koshu or hittousha or stainushi ~ head of household, the head of the family
• zen koshu ~ former head of household
• otto ~ husband
• tsuma  ~ wife
• chichi or fu ~ father
• haha or bo ~ mother
• sofu ~ grandfather
• sobo ~ grandmother
• otoko or dan or nan ~ male, man, son
• onna or jo ~ female, woman, daughter
• ani or kei or kyou ~ older brother
• otouto or tei ~ younger brother
• ane or shi ~ older sister
• imouto or mai ~ younger sister
• mago or son ~ grandchild
• himago or souson ~ great-grandchild
• oi ~ nephew
• mei ~ niece
• youshi ~ adopted child or son
• youjo ~ adopted daughter
• muko youshi ~ a man without sons may adopt his eldest daughter’s husband as his own son and the young man will take his wife’s surname and be listed on her family’s koseki
• seimei or shime ~ full name, family name
• shussei or shusshou ~ birth
• shibou ~ deceased
• nen or toshi ~ year
• gatsu, getsu or tsuki ~ month
• hi or nichi or ka ~ day
• ji or toki ~ hour, time
• sai or toshi ~ age
• issei ~ person born in Japan and later immigrate elsewhere
• nisei ~ child/generation of issei and born outside of Japan
• sansei ~ child/generation of nisei and born outside of Japan
• yonsei ~ child/generation of sansei and born outside of Japan
• gosei ~ child/generation of yonsei and born outside of Japan

There is another Japanese term you really need to know. It is ganbatte which means ‘hang in there’ or ‘do your best’ and either one is will work.

The koseki is kept and protected by the city hall in the hometown (honseki) or permanent address of the head of household. If your ancestor was listed on a koseki, you can obtain a copy of the record – provided you can prove your direct lineage. This record is the best resource for finding your ancestors, as often many generations are included. Obtaining your family’s koseki requires some effort but it is worth every bit of it.

The best and easiest way to get your koseki is check with other family members, (i.e.cousins still in Japan,in grandma’s trunk, etc.) and see if someone already has a copy and will make you a copy. If they do – do the happy dance!

Check out this link to view an image of an actual koseki.

If not, continue with the steps below:

1. Make a pedigree chart with all the information you know and determine who was the 1st generation (issei) to leave Japan.

2. Locate the address of the honseki or hometown of where your ancestor came from. You will need their address or you cannot locate their city hall. If they came from a large city like Hiroshima or Tokyo, you will need to know the ward or village. You can find this information in several ways:

a. Personal knowledge of relatives, written information, correspondence or a copy of their passport.

b. Search Passenger List databases on line. A good resource is: http://stevemorse.org/. Sometimes the hometown address is recorded. HINT: Look for other family members who might have traveled with them. Often the husband would immigrate to another country, work for awhile and then come back for his wife – or if he was single, he would return to marry a hometown girl arranged for by his family. Check later years for the family returning to visit relatives and bringing their children to meet the grandparents, etc. Be creative in your spelling as often the names are horribly misspelled. When searching for the wife be sure to use her married name – often you can find the ‘husband by searching for the wife or vice versa.

c. Obtain the passport information from the Japanese Consulate (must follow same rules as for obtaining a koseki), though this is often slow and unsuccessful.

d.  Search the Family History Catalog at www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp and view microfilms. Look in the “Subject” catagory under Japan immigration, or just Japan. Microfilms can be ordered and viewed  at local Family History Centers found here:www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp. When searching for information on Passenger Lists try to determine where their first Port of Entry was located. HINT: Do not assume that because they ended up in California that their Port of Entry was in California. They may have first gone to Seattle or Canada first. Be very creative and open minded in your searching.

Once you know the address of the 1st generation (issei) to immigrate, you must check to see if the village or hometown’s name is still in existence. Many villages merged into others, names changed etc. Try using google or wikipedia.com to determine the address of the city hall for the town you are searching for. HINT: Try www.google.co.jp/ which is the Japanese version of Google if you can’t locate it on the English version. You may need someone who can read kanji to translate if the translate version does not work. Most city hall’s have a web page and their address is usually located on the bottom of the page.

Now that you know the name of the ancestor, his estimated birth year, and his address and city hall’s information you are ready to contact the city hall.

My name is Valerie…not very Japanese sounding is it? I’m not even Japanese…so why am I writing a blog helping Nikkeijin (Japanese by birth who are born outside of Japan) with their genealogy? Because I can.

I lived and worked in Japan many years ago. Here’s proof:

I wish I still looked like that! Anyways… I learned the language and the culture and loved both. Later after doing years of my own genealogy research, I ended up volunteering as a  research consultant for Japanese patrons at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. I helped locate hundreds of ancestors for patrons.

When I realized the lack of resources for those of Japanese ancestry who wish to do their genealogy I decided to write this blog in the hopes of giving some pointers. So all of you who have gotten frustrated over the years of fruitless searching – ganbatte, help is on the way!