What you get

• One item of up to 80 Japanese characters: the writing on the back of a photo, a gravestone, a memorial tablet (ihai) or a short note.
• Typed transcription in Japanese and an English translation
• Short notes on the people, places and dates it names
• Unclear characters marked with a question mark, never guessed silently
• Format: PDF; a typical reading is 2–3 pages (our sample runs longer because it explains our method)

What you need to provide

• A clear photo or scan of the item, sent through the private upload code we email you (please do not attach it to an email).

Price and payment

• Tell us about the item first. We will send you a private upload code for the photo and talk it over with you before you pay. As a rule, up to 80 Japanese characters is $79. Old cursive handwriting (kuzushiji) can be hard to read even when it is short, and longer items such as letters are priced after we see the photo.
• You pay only after we confirm your images are readable.
• Prices are in US dollars and include all our fees for the PDF.
• Delivery times are estimates, not guarantees. Every record gets the care it needs, so if we expect a delay, we will let you know by email.

How it fits with our other services

This is a single request: one item, on its own. It needs no other service first. Compare all services at a glance.

See a sample

Every service has a full public sample (Chronicle + Family Tree shares the Family Chronicle and Koseki Family Tree samples). The family in the sample is fictional; the places, records and research are real.

Read the sample on the webDownload the sample as delivered (PDF, 1.0 MB)