Japan Passport photo requirements

Japan passport photo requirements, in plain English

Japan's passport photo rules come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), whose standard is built on the ICAO international recommendation — the same basis used by the automated face-recognition gates at many borders. Every rule below is taken from MOFA's official notice "Notice on photographs for passport applications" (旅券用写真についてのお知らせ, updated March 2025) and the MOFA passport-photo-standards page, with the English wording cross-checked against the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco.

Size and head height

Your photo must be 35 mm wide × 45 mm tall with no border. Within that frame, your head must measure 34 mm ±2 mm (so 32–36 mm) from the very top of your head to the bottom of your chin, sitting centred and facing straight forward, with roughly 2 mm or more of clearance above your head and about a 7 mm top margin. If you have a lot of hair volume, MOFA says to treat a point above the eyes (matching the eye-to-chin distance) as the crown when you size the photo. If keeping the exact height proportion is hard, get the 35 mm width right first.

Expression — keep it neutral

Face the camera head-on with a neutral, closed-mouth expression. Unlike the US passport, Japan does not allow smiling: MOFA explicitly lists a photo where the corners of the mouth are raised enough to noticeably change your normal appearance as unsuitable, alongside tilted or turned heads and off-centre framing.

Glasses

MOFA recommends taking the photo with your glasses off for more reliable identity checks. If you keep them on, the photo is rejected for tinted lenses, reflections or glare on the lenses, shadows cast by the lenses, or frames that cover your eyes — only thin or frameless glasses that leave the eyes clear are tolerated. Sunglasses and non-prescription coloured glasses are not allowed unless medically necessary.

Head coverings and hats

You must be bareheaded (無帽). Hats, hairbands, hoods, and anything else that hides part of your head make the photo unsuitable. The only exception is a head covering worn for religious or medical reasons, allowed on application as long as the outline of your face stays visible.

Background, shadows, and lighting

Use a plain, single-colour background. White is recommended; the conventional light-blue background is also accepted, but gradation is not allowed, and patterned, textured, dark, or cluttered backgrounds are rejected. There must be no shadows on your face or behind you, and the boundary between your hair/clothing and the background must be clear. The image itself must be sharp and evenly lit — no blur, glare, or uneven brightness. Snapassport standardises your background to a compliant plain colour and removes stray shadows automatically.

Eyes and authenticity

Both eyes must be open and clearly visible, with nothing — hair, a mask, glasses, false eyelashes/extensions, or their shadows — over the eye area. MOFA rejects red-eye from flash, deliberate flash/light reflections in the eyes, and coloured or iris-enlarging contact lenses. The photo must be the original, unedited image: no beautification, enlarged eyes, reshaped features, or left-right mirror-flip, and printed cleanly without noise, jagged edges, or ink smudges.

Infants and small children

For babies and small children, no part of a helper may appear in the frame and the child's eyes must be open (a closed-eye photo is rejected); watch for motion blur. If the child can't sit up, it's fine to lay them on a white sheet and shoot straight down from directly above.

Recency and format

Submit a colour photo taken within the last 6 months that matches your current appearance. For online applications, additional file-size and format limits apply — check MOFA's FAQ for uploading studio photos.