Japanese export certificate translator
Type in or upload the car’s Japanese export certificate, or its shaken record. We translate it, pull out the dated odometer readings from Japan, and check them against the car’s UK MOTs and its auction sheet.
How to read a Japanese export certificate
Before a car can leave Japan, its owner or the exporter takes it off the Japanese register at the local transport bureau. The certificate they get, the 輸出抹消仮登録証明書 or Export Certificate, is the car’s Japanese registration record frozen on the day it was deregistered. Exporters usually send the original, often with an English translation, and it is the foreign registration document the DVLA asks for when the car is registered here. It is the most useful document an import has, because it carries mileage readings from Japan’s official inspections.
The certificate is a single A4 form. Most of it repeats the car’s last shaken (inspection) certificate: the boxes across the top and middle describe the car, the owner’s details sit in the middle, and the remarks box (備考) at the bottom holds the odometer readings. Here is what each box means.
The boxes on an export certificate
| On the document | In English | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 登録番号tōroku bangō | Japanese registration number | The Japanese number plate, such as 品川 300 あ 12-34. It stops being valid once the car is exported. |
| 登録年月日 / 交付年月日tōroku nengappi / kōfu nengappi | Date registered / date issued | When this document was issued. On an export certificate, that is when the car came off the Japanese register. |
| 初度登録年月shodo tōroku nengetsu | First registration (year and month) | When the car was first registered in Japan. The DVLA should use this as the date of first registration, which sets the car’s age and tax band. |
| 自動車の種別jidōsha no shubetsu | Vehicle class | 普通 (ordinary), 小型 (small) or 軽 (kei). Kei cars have their own export certificate, the 輸出予定届出証明書. |
| 用途yōto | Use | 乗用 is a passenger car, 貨物 a goods vehicle. |
| 自家用・事業用の別jikayō / jigyōyō no betsu | Private or commercial | 自家用 is private. 事業用 means paid transport, such as a taxi or haulage, which usually means high mileage. |
| 車体の形状shatai no keijō | Body shape | For example 箱型 (box), ステーションワゴン (estate) or クーペ (coupe). |
| 車名shamei | Make | The manufacturer, such as トヨタ (Toyota) or 日産 (Nissan). The model name itself is not on the document. |
| 型式katashiki | Model code | The type approval code, such as DBA-AGH30W. The letters before the hyphen are the emissions class; the rest should match the start of the chassis number. |
| 車台番号shadai bangō | Chassis (frame) number | The car’s identity, such as AGH30-0899123. It must match the chassis plate and the V5C exactly. |
| 原動機の型式gendōki no katashiki | Engine model | The engine code, such as 2JZ or RB26. A different code from the model’s usual engine points to an engine swap. |
| 総排気量又は定格出力sō haikiryō | Engine size | In litres, such as 2.99 L. The UK record gives it in cc. |
| 燃料の種類nenryō no shurui | Fuel | ガソリン (petrol), 軽油 (diesel) or ガソリン・電気 (petrol hybrid). |
| 乗車定員jōsha teiin | Seats | How many people the car is registered to carry. |
| 車両重量 / 車両総重量sharyō jūryō / sharyō sōjūryō | Weight / gross weight | In kg. Useful when registering the car in the UK. |
| 長さ・幅・高さnagasa / haba / takasa | Length, width, height | In cm. |
| 型式指定番号・類別区分番号katashiki shitei bangō | Type approval numbers | Identify the exact factory specification. Blank on a car that was modified and re-approved. |
| 有効期間の満了する日yūkō kikan no manryō suru hi | Inspection expiry | When the shaken ran out. On an export certificate it can be long past if the car was laid up. |
| 輸出予定日yushutsu yoteibi | Planned export date | When the car was due to leave Japan. Its UK registration should come after it, usually within a few months. |
| 備考bikō | Remarks | Where the odometer readings from past inspections are written, along with any recorded modifications. |
| 走行距離計表示値sōkō kyorikei hyōjichi | Odometer reading | The mileage at an inspection, with its date. 旧 in front means the inspection before. |
| 総走行距離の最大値sō sōkō kyori no saidaichi | Highest total mileage | Added when a reading went down, usually after a meter change. A red flag if you see it. |
| 所有者の氏名又は名称 / 住所shoyūsha no shimei / jūsho | Owner’s name and address | Personal data. Our reader never copies it, and you can cover it before you take the photo. |
| 使用者 / 使用の本拠の位置shiyōsha / shiyō no honkyo no ichi | User and where the car was kept | Personal data too. Never copied. |
Layouts differ slightly between transport bureaus and over the years, and kei car certificates use their own form, but the box names are the same.
Where the mileage is, and how to read it
Since 2004 every Japanese inspection records the odometer, and the remarks repeat the latest readings as 走行距離計表示値 followed by the distance and the inspection date, such as 68,900km (R3.3.30). A line starting 旧 is the inspection before. Private cars are first inspected at three years old and every two years after that, so the readings on a certificate are usually two to four years apart.
- Readings are entered rounded down to the 100 km below, so 68,950 km on the dial appears as 68,900 km. Small differences are normal.
- If a reading went down (usually because the instrument cluster was changed), records since 2017 add 総走行距離の最大値, the highest total recorded. Treat that line as a warning.
- Remarks that mention メーター交換 or 走行距離計交換 mean the meter was replaced; 不明 means the mileage is unknown.
- The last inspection can be months or years before the export, so the auction sheet often has a later reading than the certificate.
Reading Japanese dates
Dates are written by era and year, then month and day, as in 令和3年10月5日 or R3.10.5 (5 October 2021). 元年 means the first year of an era.
| 令和 (R) | Reiwa | R1 is 2019 (from 1 May). Add 2018: R3 is 2021. |
| 平成 (H) | Heisei | H1 is 1989. Add 1988: H28 is 2016. H31 ended on 30 April 2019. |
| 昭和 (S) | Showa | Add 1925: S63 is 1988. |
What to check against the UK record
- Chassis number. It must match the chassis plate on the car and the V5C exactly. One wrong digit means the certificate is for another car.
- First registration. The DVLA should have taken the car’s date of first registration from the certificate. A different date changes the car’s age, and can change its tax band.
- Export date. The car can’t be registered in the UK before it left Japan, and is normally registered within a few months of export.
- Mileage. The first UK MOT should read more than the last Japanese reading, converted to miles. The same number in miles usually means the kilometres were recorded as miles; a lower number points to a replaced cluster or a rollback.
Enter the UK registration with the certificate and we check all four for you, then put the Japanese readings on the same timeline as the MOTs. Read the auction sheet first and we check the certificate against that too.
Your privacy
Export certificates name the last owner and give their address. We don’t need either: our reader is told never to copy a name, an address or the Japanese number plate, and has nowhere to put one. We don’t keep the photo. We keep only the vehicle details read from it, as our privacy notice explains. You can also cover the owner’s details before you take the photo.
Questions
- What is a Japanese export certificate?
- It is the 輸出抹消仮登録証明書 (yushutsu masshō kari-tōroku shōmeisho), the certificate issued when a car is taken off the Japanese register so it can be exported. It records the car’s chassis number, model code, engine, first registration date, planned export date and, in its remarks, the odometer readings from its recent Japanese inspections.
- Does the export certificate prove the mileage?
- It is the best mileage evidence an import has. Since 2004, every Japanese inspection (shaken) records the odometer, and the certificate repeats the latest readings with their dates. It can’t say what happened after the last inspection, and readings are rounded down to the 100 km below, but a UK MOT reading lower than the certificate’s is a serious warning sign.
- Why do the UK MOTs show the same number as the certificate, but in miles?
- Usually because the dial still reads kilometres and the tester wrote it down as miles. The car has really done about 0.62 times that many miles. We spot this by comparing the certificate’s last reading with the first UK MOT.
- Is it safe to upload, given it has the owner’s name on it?
- Our reader is told never to copy any name, address or Japanese number plate, and has nowhere to put one. We don’t store the photo. You can also cover the owner’s details before taking the photo: we don’t need them.
- What about kei cars?
- Kei cars (yellow-plate cars under 660 cc) are registered by a different body, so their export certificate is the 輸出予定届出証明書. It carries the same kind of details and our reader handles it too.
Have the inspection certificate instead? See how to read a shaken certificate. Got the chassis number? Try the chassis decoder, the recall check or a free check.