The Best Japanese Resume Builders in 2026: Yagish, Indeed, Townwork & ResumeJP Compared
An honest comparison of the tools people use to make a 履歴書 in 2026 — Yagish, Indeed's resume tool, Townwork and MyNavi templates, and ResumeJP — and which one fits you, especially if Japanese isn't your first language.
Searching for a way to make a Japanese resume brings up the same handful of tools. They are all legitimate — but they were built for different users, and picking the wrong one costs you an evening. Here is an honest comparison, including where our own tool is and is not the right choice.
Yagish (ヤギッシュ)
Best for: native Japanese speakers who want a polished app. Yagish is Japan's biggest rirekisho service, with a huge template count, a mobile app, photo tools, and convenience-store printing. It is genuinely good software. The catch for readers of this site: the entire experience is in Japanese. If you can comfortably fill a Japanese form unaided, Yagish will serve you well; if the Japanese fields are exactly what you are stuck on, the tool cannot help you write them.
Indeed's resume tool
Best for: applying to jobs listed on Indeed. Indeed Japan can generate a standard-format resume from your Indeed profile, which is convenient when you apply inside its ecosystem. The output is a generic layout rather than the classic JIS/MHLW sheet some employers expect, and the Japanese-writing problem — 志望動機, 自己PR, keigo — remains yours to solve.
Townwork & MyNavi templates
Best for: people who want a blank form to fill by hand. Both publish free downloadable 履歴書 templates (PDF/Word/Excel) with good Japanese-language writing guides. They are files, not editors: you print and handwrite, or wrestle with Excel. Solid if you specifically want the handwritten route; slow if you are applying to several places.
ResumeJP (this site)
Best for: foreigners — and anyone writing the Japanese fields with help. We built ResumeJP for the applicant the tools above skip: you can fill the form in English, Nepali, or Japanese and convert everything to natural business keigo in one click. The part-time template carries the fields foreign applicants actually need — residence status, the 28-hour note, a Japanese-level line — plus 志望動機 and 自己PR examples with English translations, free blank-PDF downloads, and no account. Where we are honestly behind Yagish today: no mobile app, no OCR of paper resumes, and fewer visually distinct layouts.
Quick decision guide
- Fluent in Japanese, want an app ecosystem → Yagish.
- Applying inside Indeed anyway → Indeed's tool.
- Employer expects a handwritten sheet → Townwork/MyNavi template and a pen.
- Japanese is the hard part, or you need foreigner fields → ResumeJP.
Whichever you choose
The document matters more than the tool: correct date format, a proper 30×40 photo, an honest shift grid for baito, and a short specific 志望動機. Every guide on this site works no matter where you build the sheet — start with how to write a Japanese resume.