A family register is perhaps the most important document for Japanese citizens, serving as the basis of each person's legal identity. The document lists an individual's date of birth, marital status and date of death, and certifies the person's Japanese nationality. Since unregistered Japanese cannot get a passport or a residents' certificate, they face tremendous difficulties and disadvantages in society. For example, they cannot join the public health insurance and pension systems or obtain a driver's license. They cannot take government examinations for professional qualifications, vote or run for political office.
There are a large number of Japanese not in the family registry system. To fix this problem, the Justice Ministry is directing all 50 of its legal affairs bureaus across the country to set up a council to help people file lawsuits aimed at removing legal obstacles that prevent them or their relatives from being registered. Each council will include people from bar associations, family courts and the Japan Legal Support Center (Houterasu).
Since the unregistered people in need of such help generally aren't well-versed in legal matters and may not be able to afford legal action, this kind of support can be of great importance for them. The ministry should have the legal affairs bureaus lose no time in setting the councils up and putting them in motion. In doing so, the ministry should make sure that experts on the councils will coordinate with each other so that unregistered individuals can be registered as soon as possible.