Collecting a few personal/family photographs
On your first or second visit to the nationality section (国籍課) of your local Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局), your case worker will probably give you a check list of the items they want to see from you. Normally, they give this to your after your second visit. For your first round of paperwork, they normally ask for a few things to establish a base line to make sure you're qualified. For example, they'll want to see your Alien Registration Card (外国人登録証明書) and your passport to see if you meet the minimum residency requirements. They do this because they don't want to waste their or your time having you collect all the rest of the paperwork if you don't make the baseline.
On that checklist, there will be the obvious items (tax statements, birth certificates, etc.) that the case worker will put a check by. At the bottom of the list, though, there is a free form section with blanks, where the case worker writes in any additional items that aren't pre-listed.
On my application, only one thing was specified that was not already listed: 家族写真 １～２枚 (family photographs 1 or 2). This is a pretty common practice for immigration in most countries: immigration wants a sanity check to make sure the identity they're creating is real and doesn't exist only on paper. And while family photographs can be staged and faked, it does provide a small additional verification point for the inspectors.
I asked my case worker what type of photos: what size? Is one to two really enough? Do you have to see the faces up close? Any particular situation or setting? Any particular location? No, he said, just a fair representative of your family. He did say he wanted a photograph with everybody in my family that I lived with as a single household: me, my spouse, and my child.
The photo I provided was a novelty photo my family had taken as a souvenir at Sanrio Puroland — the amusement park home to Hello Kitty and friends — in western Tokyo. Although probably not necessary, I thought that was about the most Japanese family thing I could be seen in. Perhaps it earned me extra points?
In the photo I was actually making the "V" peace sign with my child. I was a little worried if the photo would be accepted because like a photo sticker booth novelty photo, it had computer graphic overlays on it with cartoon characters and logos on it. However, my family and I were clearly facing the camera and our torsos and faces were completely visible.
It was acceptable. Like all my other personal items, my case worker failed to show any emotion when examining it — he didn't say anything after reading my motivation essay (動機書) either — despite it being a ridiculously silly family saccharin sweet novelty photo.
A word of warning: unlike most non-replaceable documents you will collect, the family photo probably will not be returned (and it can't be copied) — at least that's what my case worker told me and warned me about before accepting it . So make sure it is something you don't mind parting with or you have another copy of. My wife, upon learning that we wouldn't be getting the photo back, was not upset, but she was not pleased either. Particularly since it was not a free souvenir photo!
