The Boshi-Techo (Maternal and Child Health Handbook)

The Boshi Techo, Japan's Maternal and Child Health Handbook, is the parent-held record that follows a pregnancy from the first checkup through the child's early years.¹ One booklet links the clinic, the municipality, and every later pediatric visit, so no provider starts from zero.¹²

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Children and Families Agency site. This article is general information, not medical advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed physician.

Overview

The 母子健康手帳 (boshi kenkō techō, "maternal and child health handbook") is the national-standard record of mother-and-child health.²¹ The municipality issues it, the parent keeps it, and medical providers write in it at visit after visit.¹

The national standard form in force took effect 2026-04-01 (as of 2026-04-10; confirm current forms with the Children and Families Agency).² Municipalities issue their own printed editions against that standard, so the cover and bundled packet differ by city while the core record stays the same.²¹

What the handbook is

The handbook is a single continuous file on two patients at once: the pregnant person and then the child.¹ It opens with the pregnancy, continues through delivery and the newborn period, and then tracks growth, checkups, vaccinations, and development across early childhood.³¹

Japan's model has traveled. JICA carries the effective use of Maternal and Child Health Handbooks inside its maternal, newborn, and child health programs for partner countries.⁴ The booklet you receive at a Japanese ward counter belongs to the same family of records now promoted abroad.⁴²

Who holds it and for how long

You hold it. The parent receives the handbook at pregnancy notification and carries it to every relevant visit for years, across every clinic and hospital involved.¹ Providers write results into your copy rather than keeping the only record themselves.¹

Term	Reading	Meaning
母子健康手帳	boshi kenkō techō	maternal and child health handbook2
妊娠の届出	ninshin no todokede	pregnancy notification filed at the municipal counter1
妊婦健康診査	ninpu kenkō shinsa	prenatal health checkups, usually shortened to 妊婦健診1
乳幼児健康診査	nyūyōji kenkō shinsa	infant and toddler health checkups, usually shortened to 乳幼児健診15
予防接種	yobō sesshu	vaccinations31
妊婦健診の補助券	ninpu kenshin no hojoken	prenatal checkup subsidy vouchers1

How You Receive It

There is no application to prepare. Confirm the pregnancy at a clinic, then file the notification at the municipal counter of your place of residence.¹ The handbook comes back across the same counter.¹

The flow from confirmation to first use looks like this.

Each step hands off to the next, so a delay at the counter delays everything downstream.¹

Where and when it is issued

File the 妊娠の届出 (ninshin no todokede, "pregnancy notification") at the municipal counter after the clinic confirms the pregnancy.¹ That visit is the issuing event: the counter hands over the handbook on the spot.¹

The same visit includes an interview with a public-health nurse or similar staff.¹ Expect pointers to available classes plus a chance to raise worries or difficulties, and note that the nurse remains available for consultation after issuance too.¹

Late notification delays the handbook and the vouchers

The subsidy vouchers arrive with the handbook at the same counter visit.¹ Filing late pushes back both the record and the subsidized checkups, so file soon after confirmation.

What comes with it

The prenatal checkup subsidy vouchers come bundled with the handbook.¹ Those vouchers subsidize the scheduled prenatal visits; their exact schedule and coverage live with your municipality.¹

The counter also points you to parent classes run by the municipality or medical institutions.¹ Cash benefits around birth are a separate topic, covered in Maternity and Childbirth Allowances.

What It Records

Think of the booklet in five parts. Each part fills at a different stage, and together they form the unbroken record the later sections of this article assume.³¹

Part	What it holds	When it fills
Pregnancy pages	Checkup results across the pregnancy	Every prenatal visit1
Birth pages	Delivery record and birth details	At and just after birth3
Growth and checkup pages	Weight, height, and infant checkup results	Each infant and toddler checkup15
Vaccination log	Vaccine types and dates	Every immunization visit13
Development and nutrition notes	Milestones, feeding, and weaning guidance	Across early childhood3

The table above reflects the handbook's informational content and carrying rule as published (as of 2026-09-07).³¹ Exact statutory page-level line items follow the national standard form and were not individually verified for this article.²

Pregnancy and birth pages

Prenatal checkup results accumulate here visit by visit.¹ The informational content behind these pages covers healthy pregnancy and birth plus the newborn period of about the first four weeks.³

Growth, checkups, and vaccinations

Weight and height curves, scheduled infant checkup results, and the immunization log live in this part.³¹ Municipalities run infant health checkups as part of continuous pregnancy-to-childrearing support, and the handbook travels to each one.⁵¹ Subsidies for children's medical costs vary separately by municipality and are covered in Medical Subsidies for Children.

Developmental milestones

Milestone entries, feeding records, and weaning guidance track development across early childhood.³ The same informational content also lives electronically on the Children and Families Agency support site.²³

How to Use It Visit by Visit

The rule never changes: bring the book, let the provider write in it, take it home.¹ The handbook is the item to bring without fail to prenatal checkups, infant checkups, and vaccinations alike.¹

Every prenatal visit

Hand over the handbook at reception or in the exam room at each prenatal checkup.¹ Results go into your copy on the day, building the pregnancy record the delivery facility later reads.¹

Every pediatrician and vaccination visit

After birth the routine continues unchanged.¹ Bring the same booklet to every pediatric visit, every scheduled infant checkup, and every vaccination appointment.¹

Because one record follows the child across facilities, it functions as the primary health record for years.¹ A visit that happens without the book leaves that visit out of the story, so keep it where you keep the items you never forget.

Bilingual and Foreign-Language Versions

Japanese editions are the default everywhere. Foreign-language editions exist through a national program, and municipal counters distribute what they stock.⁶¹

The national program publishes the handbook in the following 10 languages (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current editions with the Children and Families Agency or your municipal counter).⁶

Language	As of	Notes
English	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Chinese	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Korean	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Vietnamese	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Portuguese	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Nepali	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Tagalog	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Indonesian	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Spanish	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet
Thai	2026-09-076	National multilingual edition, with matching leaflet

What languages exist and where

The 10-language set above is national; what your counter stocks varies by municipality.⁶¹ No city-specific stock list was verified for this article, so treat any language list a blog attributes to a specific ward as unconfirmed until the counter confirms it.¹

How to request one

Ask at the municipal counter whether a foreign-language handbook is available.¹ The pregnancy-notification visit, with its nurse interview, is the natural moment to ask.¹

Taking It With You When You Leave Japan

Residents eventually leave, and the record leaves with them. The handbook's value abroad comes from continuity: one file running from pregnancy through early childhood, with checkups, growth, and vaccinations in date order.¹³

No official emigration handover exists for the handbook

No government departure procedure covers handing this record to a foreign doctor.¹ Its usefulness is practical rather than procedural: a complete, dated record any pediatrician can read through.

Why foreign pediatricians value it

A new pediatrician abroad otherwise reconstructs history from memory and scattered slips.¹ The handbook replaces that reconstruction with dated entries from the clinicians who were there.¹³

What to prepare before departure

Confirm every visit is entered while your Japanese providers are still reachable.¹ Keep the handbook stored with the vaccination record as the consolidated child-health file, and consider translating key pages if the receiving clinic cannot read Japanese.¹

Good to know

Ask for your language edition at issuance, not months later

The notification visit combines the interview, the handover, and the voucher packet in one sitting.¹ That sitting is the moment to request a foreign-language edition, because stock varies by municipality and a later request may not match what the issuing counter holds.¹⁶

One child, one book; keep it with the vaccination record

The handbook is issued per pregnancy notification and carried to every checkup and vaccination.¹ Store it with the vaccination record so no visit goes unlogged and no second, partial record starts by accident.¹

A visit without the book leaves a gap in the record

Providers write into the copy you bring.¹ A forgotten booklet means that visit's results live only in the facility's system, which defeats the purpose of a parent-held continuous record.¹

See also

• Prenatal Checkup Vouchers and Subsidies
• Choosing a Maternity Ward: Hospital vs. Clinic vs. Midwife
• Maternity and Childbirth Allowances
• Medical Subsidies for Children
• The Japanese Natural-Birth Norm and Epidural Availability
• Postpartum Care and the Sato-Gaeri Tradition

References

Footnotes

1. Children and Families Agency. 「外国の方が日本で妊娠したら」 (What to do when a foreign resident becomes pregnant in Japan: notification, issuance, vouchers, nurse interview, carrying the handbook). Government of Japan, observed live 2026-09-07. https://mchbook.cfa.go.jp/category03/page03_01.php ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹ ↩⁵⁰ ↩⁵¹ ↩⁵² ↩⁵³ ↩⁵⁴ ↩⁵⁵ ↩⁵⁶ ↩⁵⁷

2. Children and Families Agency (こども家庭庁). 「母子健康手帳」 (Maternal and Child Health Handbook page: national standard form, support site, issuance and use guide). Government of Japan, standard form effective 2026-04-01 observed updated 2026-04-10. https://www.cfa.go.jp/policies/boshihoken/techou/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Children and Families Agency. 「母子健康手帳情報支援サイト」 (MCH Handbook Information Support Site top: contents of the informational part of the handbook). Government of Japan, content updates observed 2026-12-23 and 2026-12-27 vintage entries. https://mchbook.cfa.go.jp/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

4. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). "Health" (JICA Global Agenda: MNCH cluster strategy including the effective use of Maternal and Child Health Handbooks in partner countries). JICA, observed live 2026-09-07. https://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/thematic_issues/health/ ↩ ↩²

5. Children and Families Agency. 「母子保健・不妊症・不育症など」 (Maternal and child health policy hub: checkups, handbook, continuous pregnancy-to-childrearing support). Government of Japan, observed live 2026-09-07. https://www.cfa.go.jp/policies/boshihoken ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Children and Families Agency. 「外国人の方へ」 (Information Support Site, page for foreign residents: 10-language handbook and leaflet downloads). Government of Japan, multilingual file set vintage 2024-03-01 observed live 2026-09-07. https://mchbook.cfa.go.jp/category03/index.php ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴