Here are some tips on going through the paperwork of getting married in Japan. 1. Receive a paper from your country, either from your embassy or travel back to your country to get an affidavit that you are single and not married in your home country. 2. Take the marriage form from your city hall, and fill it out and have two witnesses sign the paperwork. 3. Go to the city hall and file the paperwork. Receive the family passport card.
I have not done 2 and 3 yet, but so far it hasn’t been that hard. Has anyone been through this process?
Yup. I've done all three. It was a long time ago, but we did it in 1990. :D I am on the family koseki, but now that I have relocated to rural Fukuoka, I no longer have a juminhyo with the family, but a separate domicile. It's a bit complicated, but we aren't separated, but I just live someplace else, that's all.
I don't remember "two" witnesses, though. It might be that "one" can be one of the married couple. I do recall going to the ward office in Adachi-ku with my wife's elder brother. Her koseki was still there. I do remember it being easy. Of course, my wife is Japanese, so filling out the paperwork was easy for her. Our original marriage certificate, though, was from California, so I think we had to provide a translated copy, too, that I did myself.
What is a family passport card?
You will need to go to the nearest ward office or city hall with your husband to be on his Koseki tohon(family register).