Japanese-Georgian Translation Services in Tbilisi - For Japan's Visas, Investors, Scholars and Travelers

Japanese and Georgian: a pair built on cooperation, scholarship and wine

Japan has been one of Georgia's most generous development partners for two decades - JICA loans and grants for roads, energy, water and agriculture, Japanese grassroots grants for schools and clinics, and the Japan-Georgia dialogue on everything from disaster preparedness to rugby - and the human traffic has followed: Georgian engineers and officials trained in Japan, Georgian students on MEXT scholarships at Japanese universities, Georgian sumo wrestlers who became household names, Japanese tourists drawn by Georgian wine, mountains and hospitality, Japanese companies exploring Georgian agriculture, IT and infrastructure, and Georgian wine finding a market in Tokyo. Each connection produces documents in Japanese that Georgian authorities need in Georgian, and documents in Georgian that Japanese authorities - immigration, city halls, universities, courts - need in Japanese.

Japan has no sworn-translator system; translations for Japanese authorities are accepted with the translator's certification, and foreign documents need an apostille from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which apostilles only documents from public institutions, so private documents pass through a notary and the Legal Affairs Bureau first. Japanese civil status is recorded in the koseki family register, dates are written in the era calendar (令和6年 is 2024), names are written in kanji with readings that must be romanized consistently, and seals stand in for signatures. Georgia has the notarized translation. Our Japanese team at David Agmashenebeli Ave 117 - native Japanese translators registered with the notary and Georgian translators with Japanese university training - handles all of this daily.

Translation directions for Japanese

• Japanese → Georgian: パスポート (passports) and 運転免許証 (driving licenses), 戸籍謄本 and 戸籍抄本 (family register copies and extracts), 住民票 (residence certificates), 犯罪経歴証明書 (police certificates), 卒業証明書 and 成績証明書 (diplomas and transcripts), 登記事項証明書 (company registry certificates), 印鑑証明書 (seal certificates), 委任状 (powers of attorney), 雇用契約書, bank statements and medical records entering the Georgian system, always notarized in Georgia. Passports and driving licenses are translated from a photo without a visit.
• Georgian → Japanese: Georgian civil status certificates, diplomas, court rulings, Public Registry extracts, medical records and contracts for Japanese immigration, city halls, universities, courts and companies, notarized and apostilled.
• Japanese ↔ English: direct translation for Japanese companies and JICA projects working in English with Georgian partners, for university admissions and for tourism and trade content.

Japanese personal names are transliterated into Georgian consistently with the romanization in the passport, with the kanji original kept in the reference line so identity is traceable, and every era date is converted to the Gregorian calendar with the original shown alongside.

What Japanese and Georgian authorities expect from each other's documents

Japan has been a Hague Apostille member since 1970 and Georgia since 2007, so a public document from either country is recognized in the other once apostilled; there is no consular legalization. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs apostilles documents issued by public institutions - city halls, prefectural police, public universities, the Legal Affairs Bureau - directly, while documents from private institutions or individuals (private university diplomas, powers of attorney, company documents not from the registry) must first be notarized at a 公証役場 and certified by the Legal Affairs Bureau, or handled in one stop at notary offices in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi and a few other prefectures. Japanese authorities - the Immigration Services Agency, 市役所 and 区役所, universities and courts - expect foreign documents apostilled and translated into Japanese, with the translator's name and certification on the translation, and Japanese immigration accepts translations made by the applicant or any translator provided they are accurate and signed. Georgian authorities require any Japanese document translated into Georgian and notarized by a Georgian notary.

Pricing and turnaround for Japanese-Georgian translation

Japanese is priced at the standard per-page tariff (1,800 characters with spaces; Japanese source text is counted per 400-character 原稿用紙 page and converted) with a supplement for the rarity of the pair, and fixed prices for passports, driving licenses, 住民票 and standard koseki extracts. Visa and scholarship packets are quoted as a bundle. Notary fees, apostille state fees and courier charges to Japan are itemized separately.

• Passport, driving license, 住民票, one certificate: 1-2 hours, notarized.
• 戸籍謄本 (full family register): same day.
• Japanese visa or MEXT application set: same day or next day.
• Diploma with transcript: same day or next morning.
• Corporate documents, contracts, court files: 2-4 business days.
• Apostille on a Georgian document for Japan: add 1-5 business days.

How Japanese-speaking clients order, in Tbilisi and from Japan

Clients in Tbilisi send a photo on LINE, WhatsApp or email and receive a quote within 15 minutes, in Japanese or English. For passports and driving licenses that is the end of the visit-free process: pay by card or transfer, and the courier brings the notarized translation. For other documents the notary must see the original, so you come to Agmashenebeli 117 once, when the translation is already prepared. Clients in Batumi, Kutaisi and other cities send originals by courier and receive the finished documents back while our regional offices are being renovated. Clients in Tokyo, Osaka or Nagoya who need a Georgian document - a marriage certificate, a diploma, a company extract - arrange for us to collect it from a relative or partner, and we translate, notarize, apostille and ship by DHL or EMS, which reaches Japan in three to five days. Remote consultations are scheduled in Georgian morning hours to match Japanese afternoon.

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