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My Number Portal: Online Procedures

The My Number Portal moves a growing share of ward-office errands onto your phone. Moving notices, tax preparation, pension checks, and childcare applications all run through it, with a My Number Card as the key.12

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the My Number Portal and the Digital Agency site, plus your municipality for locally exposed menus.

Overview​

The マイナポータル (Maina Pōtaru, "My Number Portal") is the Digital Agency's online window for individual administrative services.1 Its menu covers moving procedures, pension records and applications, tax-return preparation, childcare and benefit applications, health-insurance and medical-expense views, and certificate requests.2 The portal authenticates you with the IC chip in your マイナンバーカード (Mai Nambā Kādo, "My Number Card"), so the card is a prerequisite, not an optional extra.3

Access: Card, PINs, and Reader​

Login needs the physical card plus the 4-digit user-authentication PIN set at issuance.3 Signature filings need the separate signature PIN on top of it. Card holdings sit near 80 percent of residents (as of 2025-12-31; confirm current figures with the Digital Agency).4

Three access routes exist: a PC with an IC card reader, a smartphone read over NFC, or a QR-mediated handoff between PC and phone.3 All three read the same chip. An expired electronic certificate blocks every route, including konbini issuance, until the ward office renews it.

Guard both PINs and know the lockout rule

Repeated wrong PIN entries lock the electronic certificate, and recovery is counter-only. Memorize the two PINs separately or store them where a phone loss does not expose both.

Moving Procedures Online​

Since February 6, 2023, every municipality accepts online move-out notices plus planned-arrival notices through the portal.5 The old office pre-sends the move-out certificate data to the new office, which prepares acceptance before you arrive.5 This is the flagship one-stop flow and the most mature part of the portal.

Tennyu still completes in person: at least one member of the moving household presents a My Number Card at the new-office counter.5 The online half saves the old-office visit and the paper certificate handoff, not the new-office visit. Filers need a valid signature electronic certificate; some card states and household edge cases fall back to the counter channel.5

Tax, Pension, and Childcare From Home​

Tax-return preparation (income-tax kakutei shinkoku through e-Tax), year-end adjustment preparation, pension-record checks, premium-exemption applications, pregnancy notifications, and child-allowance applications all run through the portal.26 Registering a public-funds receiving account in advance removes the bankbook-copy step from benefit applications.6

Which childcare and welfare applications accept online filing varies by municipality.6 Large cities expose pregnancy notices and child-allowance filings; smaller ones may list information pages with no online endpoint. Check the portal's procedure search for your city before assuming the filing exists.

Certificates and Information Checks​

Certificate PDFs are available in a limited but growing set of municipalities.1 Where offered, they bypass both counter queues and kiosk trips. The portal also shows login history, information-provision history between agencies, medical expenses, medications, and pension data in one authenticated view.2

Treat the portal as the first place to check and the counter as the fallback, not the reverse. Availability only expands; a procedure that needed a visit last year may have an online endpoint now.

What Still Needs a Counter Visit​

Tennyu completion, PIN resets and lockout recovery, first-time card issuance, and any procedure your city has not put online still need the counter.53 The portal interface defaults to Japanese with partial English guidance, so complex filings benefit from the counter's questions-and-clarification dynamic.23

Use the portal for preparation even when filing in person

Looking up the procedure, confirming the document list, and pre-filling where offered shortens the counter visit even when the filing itself stays offline. Preparation is the portal's most underused function.1

Good to know​

Tennyu still ends at the counter​

An online move-out notice without the in-person move-in leaves the move half done. Schedule the new-office visit within the 14-day deadline regardless of how smooth the online half felt.5 The portal confirms submission, not completion; completion happens at the counter.

PIN lockouts send you back to the counter​

Certificate and portal access both die with an expired or locked electronic certificate, and only the ward office restores it.3 Renew before the expiry date printed at issuance rather than discovering the failure at a kiosk at 10 p.m.

English coverage is partial​

Core portal guidance exists in English, but many municipal menus behind the portal remain Japanese-only.23 Machine translation handles information pages adequately; file consequential applications (benefits, exemptions) with a reader or at the counter where staff confirm interpretation.

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. Digital Agency. "Improving the Convenience of Citizens' Lives through Mynaportal" (English). https://www.digital.go.jp/en/policies/myna_portal ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Digital Agency / Mynaportal. "Mynaportal" English top page. https://myna.go.jp/?lng=en ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Mynaportal. "Quick Guide for Mynaportal" (English login guide). https://img.myna.go.jp/manual/english/quickguide.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Digital Agency. "Administrative procedures online" (Japanese; updated 2026-08-17). https://www.digital.go.jp/policies/administrative_procedures_online ↩

  5. Digital Agency. "Online Service for Moving Procedures" (English). https://www.digital.go.jp/en/policies/moving_onestop_service ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. Digital Agency. "My Number Card Usage by Life Stage" (English). https://www.digital.go.jp/en/policies/mynumber/utilization/life-stage ↩ ↩2 ↩3