Furigana on a Japanese Resume: Writing Your Name and Address Readings
ふりがな vs フリガナ, how foreign names are written in katakana, how to find the reading of your Japanese address, and the furigana mistakes that quietly mark a resume as careless.
Furigana — the small phonetic reading written above names and addresses — is one of the most-fumbled parts of the rirekisho for foreign applicants, partly because it seems too small to matter. It matters: it is how the interviewer knows what to call you.
ふりがな vs フリガナ — the one rule
Look at the label printed on the form. If it says ふりがな (hiragana), write the reading in hiragana. If it says フリガナ (katakana), write it in katakana. Matching the script of the label is the entire rule — mixing them is the classic error.
Foreign names
- Write your name in the main field exactly as on your residence card (usually Latin letters, family name first for Japan: SMITH JOHN).
- In the furigana line, write the katakana reading: スミス ジョン. Even above a フリガナ label, foreign names take katakana.
- Pick one katakana spelling of your name and use it everywhere — resume, bank, phone contract. Inconsistent spellings cause real paperwork pain later.
Your address reading
Most foreigners do not know the reading of their own address — 中野区 is なかのく, but is your 本町 ほんちょう or ほんまち? Do not guess: put the address into a maps app or search 「your-address 読み方」, or check mail from your city office, which often prints the reading. Building names in katakana (メゾン, ハイツ) are already phonetic — copy them as-is. Numbers need no furigana.
Small details that read as careful
- Align each furigana block roughly above the word it annotates, not one long string.
- Leave the furigana line empty for parts written in katakana or numbers already.
- Postal code (〒) and phone numbers never take furigana.
- On the MHLW layout the labels differ slightly from JIS — read them, do not assume.
Let the editor handle the format
ResumeJP's editor gives name and address their own furigana fields and places them correctly on every template, so you only need to get the reading itself right. Start in the editor, and if the rest of the personal-information block is unfamiliar, the step-by-step guide covers it field by field.