NextSpring

e-Gov 法令検索 (e-Gov Law Search)

Maintains the text in force

The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.

Maintains the current text of the law as amended, so you can read a provision as it stands today rather than reconstructing it from amendments.

laws.e-gov.go.jp

Cannot be cited for

Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.

Re-check every

90 days

Publication rhythm

Updated as amendments come into force. Japanese enforcement dates cluster on 1 April and 1 October, and both the Immigration Act and its Regulation for Enforcement moved on 1 October 2026, the criteria ordinance on 1 April 2026.

Re-check triggers

1 April or 1 October, the two dates most Japanese amendments come into force on · a page begins showing 未施行あり for an instrument we cite · the Diet passes an amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act · an amendment to the Ministerial Ordinance on criteria under article 7(1)(ii)

Facts resting on this publisher · 15