I can fill out a Japanese form — last and first name, the katakana reading, date of birth, citizenship, and address — and say my phone number and email address aloud.
The form: name, date of birth, and address
The form: name, date of birth, and address
You fill out forms at city hall, at the bank, at the doctor's, and at the post office. The fields are always the same: if you recognize them at a glance, a form takes a minute. The fields and what goes in them are in the first table.
Name: 氏名（しめい） — last name and first name, last name first. フリガナ — the same name in katakana. Date of birth 生年月日（せいねんがっぴ） goes year, month, day: 1995年3月12日.
The address 住所（じゅうしょ） goes from big to small: prefecture, city or ward, block and house number, and last the building and apartment. An English-language address goes the other way, and that's the main mistake. The order is in the second table.
A phone number 電話番号（でんわばんごう） is said one digit at a time, and the dash is read の: 090-1234-5678 — ゼロきゅうゼロのいちにさんよんのごろくななはち. 0 is ゼロ, not “oh”. To ask for it: 「電話番号は何番（なんばん）ですか。」
Email: ＠ is called アットマーク, and the period is ドット.
Common mistakes:
• NOT 氏名：アレクセイ・イワノフ → イワノフ・アレクセイ
• NOT 生年月日：3月12日1995年 → 1995年3月12日
• NOT 住所：2-8-1西新宿新宿区東京都 → 東京都新宿区西新宿2-8-1
• NOT フリガナ in hiragana — the フリガナ line is filled out in katakana
Fields on a Japanese form
The fields are the same everywhere — at city hall, at the bank, at the doctor's, and at the post office.
| Field | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 氏名（しめい） | last name, then first name | 鈴木 直樹（すずき なおき） |
| フリガナ | the same name in katakana | スズキ ナオキ |
| 生年月日（せいねんがっぴ） | year, month, day | 1990年6月15日 |
| 性別（せいべつ） | sex: 男 — male, 女 — female | 男・女 (circle one) |
| 国籍（こくせき） | citizenship | 日本 |
| 住所（じゅうしょ） | address — the order is in the second table | 東京都… |
| 電話番号（でんわばんごう） | phone number | 03-1234-5678 |
| 職業（しょくぎょう） | occupation | 会社員（かいしゃいん） |
| 署名（しょめい） | handwritten signature | (signature) |
Address — from largest to smallest
All together, top to bottom, with no spaces: 東京都新宿区西新宿2-8-1.
| Japanese order | Example | In an English-language address |
|---|---|---|
| 1. prefecture: 都・道・府・県 | 東京都 | comes last |
| 2. city or ward: 市・区 | 新宿区 | near the end |
| 3. district | 西新宿 | in the middle |
| 4. house number | 2-8-1 | near the beginning |
| 5. building and apartment | アパート 101 | at the very beginning |
Lesson notes
The form: name, date of birth, and address
You fill out forms at city hall, at the bank, at the doctor's, and at the post office. The fields are always the same: if you recognize them at a glance, a form takes a minute. The fields and what goes in them are in the first table.
Name: 氏名（しめい） — last name and first name, last name first. フリガナ — the same name in katakana. Date of birth 生年月日（せいねんがっぴ） goes year, month, day: 1995年3月12日.
The address 住所（じゅうしょ） goes from big to small: prefecture, city or ward, block and house number, and last the building and apartment. An English-language address goes the other way, and that's the main mistake. The order is in the second table.
A phone number 電話番号（でんわばんごう） is said one digit at a time, and the dash is read の: 090-1234-5678 — ゼロきゅうゼロのいちにさんよんのごろくななはち. 0 is ゼロ, not “oh”. To ask for it: 「電話番号は何番（なんばん）ですか。」
Email: ＠ is called アットマーク, and the period is ドット.
Common mistakes:
• NOT 氏名：アレクセイ・イワノフ → イワノフ・アレクセイ
• NOT 生年月日：3月12日1995年 → 1995年3月12日
• NOT 住所：2-8-1西新宿新宿区東京都 → 東京都新宿区西新宿2-8-1
• NOT フリガナ in hiragana — the フリガナ line is filled out in katakana
日本の生活: years by era — 令和 and 平成
On official forms — at city hall, the bank, or the hospital — the year is often written not as “2026” but by era: 令和8年. The current era is 令和（れいわ）, Reiwa, which began in 2019; before it came 平成（へいせい）, Heisei, from 1989 to 2019.
The conversion is simple: 令和 N年 = 2018 + N, 平成 N年 = 1988 + N. So 平成7年 is 1995. If a line on the form offers a choice of eras, circle the right one and write the year by era.