通勤時間・扶養家族・配偶者: The Small Rirekisho Fields Explained
Commute time, dependents, and the spouse columns confuse almost every foreign applicant. What each field means, how to count correctly, and what to write when you live alone in Japan.
Tucked at the bottom of the classic rirekisho are three small boxes — commute time, dependents, and spouse — that stall many foreign applicants. Each has a precise meaning and a conventional way to answer.
通勤時間 — commute time
- It means door to door to this workplace: walking, waiting, riding, and the walk at the far end, rounded to the nearest 5 minutes.
- Write it like 「約35分」, and use the fastest realistic route at commute hours.
- If the exact workplace is not decided (agency work, multiple branches), write the time to the main location stated in the ad.
- For shift work, short commutes genuinely help you get hired — a nearby applicant can cover a sudden gap. If you live close, let the number say so.
扶養家族 — dependents
This asks how many family members you financially support, excluding your spouse (the form says 配偶者を除く). Children you support count; parents abroad count only if you genuinely support them financially. A single student supporting no one writes 0人 — a perfectly normal answer, not a gap. The number matters to the employer only for insurance and tax paperwork, so answer factually.
配偶者 / 配偶者の扶養義務 — the spouse columns
- 配偶者: circle 有 if you are married, 無 if not.
- 配偶者の扶養義務: circle 有 only if you financially support your spouse (they are your dependent for insurance purposes); if your spouse works and supports themselves, circle 無.
- Unmarried applicants: 無 and 無. A partner you are not married to does not appear here.
If you are using the MHLW format
The 2021 government (厚生労働省) layout removed the spouse and commute columns entirely — one reason many applicants prefer it. If these boxes feel intrusive, choose the MHLW template on the templates page; traditional employers who expect the JIS form will still want the boxes answered, and now you can.
Keep the whole sheet consistent
These fields interact with the rest of the form — the address you wrote determines the commute, and the 現在 date affects your calculated age. The editor keeps them aligned automatically, and the full writing guide walks the remaining fields in order.