Japan Passport Photo Maker

Japan passport photo at a glance

What the rules actually say

Japan's passport photo specification is fully ICAO 9303-compliant at 35 × 45 mm, but the country's photo-booth infrastructure makes compliance unusually easy. Every major train station, large supermarket, and pharmacy chain has at least one automated photo booth (証明写真機) that produces passport-spec photos in 5 minutes for ¥800-1,000.

The booths handle everything: lighting, head positioning (via guide lines on the booth's mirror), background colour, print size. The major brands — Ki-Re-i, photoMe, FUJIFILM Photo Box — all have a パスポート preset that outputs the exact 35 × 45 mm spec with the head at 32-36 mm. You walk in, follow the on-screen instructions in Japanese or English, and walk out 5 minutes later with 4-6 identical compliant prints.

Foreign nationals with Japanese residence cards can use the same booths for their home-country passport renewal. The 35 × 45 mm format covers Schengen, UK, Australia, India, China-visa, and dozens of other countries. The exception is US passports (51 × 51 mm) — for those, look for specialty studios near the US embassy in Tokyo or consulates in Osaka and Fukuoka, or use the US embassy's on-site photo service.

Japanese passport applications are lodged in person at the prefectural passport center for your registered address. Same-day pickup is not available — standard processing is 5-7 working days. The photo specification is identical for renewals and first-time applications.

Top reasons Japan passport photos get rejected

• Background not plain or has texture
• Head not centred — face must be vertically aligned
• Wearing glasses with frame thicker than 4 mm
• Smile, raised eyebrows, or non-neutral expression
• Hair covering the eyebrows

Where to apply for your Japan passport

Apply at your prefectural passport center. https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/passport/ →

Studio alternative: ¥800 to ¥1,500 at automated booths (証明写真機) or studios. The photo from this tool meets the same published spec — print on photo paper at home or at a drugstore for the same compliance result.

Related countries

If you also need a passport photo for a neighbouring or related country, the spec usually differs slightly. Here are the closest matches:

• South Korea passport photo — 35 × 45 mm, plain white background
• China passport photo — 33 × 48 mm, pure white background
• Singapore passport photo — 35 × 45 mm, plain white background

Privacy: what we do with your photo

The Japan passport photo maker runs entirely in your browser. Cropping, scaling, and background colour replacement happen on your device using the Canvas API. The background-removal step uses our private worker server, processes the image in memory only, and deletes it immediately after returning the cutout — no logs, no storage, no training data.

Page URL: https://freeheadshot.org/tools/passport-photo/japan. Spec verified against mofa.go.jp on 2026-05-22.