🇯🇵 Japan CV format

Japan does not use a CV in the Western sense, and this is the single biggest formatting difference of any country on this list. Sending a designed one-page résumé to a traditional Japanese employer signals that you did not research the market.

Two documents, not one

履歴書 (rirekisho) is a standardised personal-history form. It is a fixed template — you fill in the boxes. Personal details, education, employment history, licences and qualifications, and a section for your motivation for applying.

職務経歴書 (shokumu keirekisho) is the work-history document, and it is the closer analogue to a Western CV: what you did at each employer, with detail. This is where you describe achievements.

Most applications want both.

Chronological order runs oldest first

This is the detail people miss. Western CVs put the most recent role at the top. Japanese forms are filled in from the earliest entry downward, for both education and employment. Reversing it is immediately visible as a foreign document.

The photo

A photograph is conventionally attached — typically 3 × 4 cm, formal dress, plain background, taken in a photo booth or studio. Business attire, no smile.

This convention is changing. Some employers, particularly international ones and larger tech companies, have dropped the photo requirement, and the standardised form has been revised in recent years with some fields removed. If the employer publishes an application form, follow theirs.

Education starts further back

Japanese forms conventionally list education from junior high or high school onward, not just your degree. This surprises everyone applying from abroad.

Practical advice for applying from abroad

• If the job is advertised in English at an international company, an English CV is usually fine — ask
• If it is advertised in Japanese, send Japanese documents
• Language ability matters enormously; state your JLPT level explicitly
• Templates for both documents are widely available from Japanese job sites, and using the standard layout is expected rather than unimaginative

Using our builder for Japan

Our templates produce a Western-style document, which suits the *shokumu keirekisho* far better than the *rirekisho*. For the rirekisho, use a proper Japanese form. Turn the photo on in the builder's settings if you are sending a Western-style CV to a Japanese employer.