Rirekisho Photo Rules — and How to Take a Good One with Your Phone
The 30×40 mm rirekisho photo has strict rules on size, background, attire, and freshness. Here is the full checklist plus how to shoot a passable one with your smartphone and print it at a konbini.
The photo (証明写真) is the first thing a Japanese employer sees on your rirekisho, and a poor one quietly makes the whole application look careless. The good news: the rules are fixed and easy to meet, and you no longer need an ¥800 photo booth to get an acceptable result.
The fixed rules
- Size: 30 mm wide × 40 mm tall. This is the standard cell on every rirekisho.
- Freshness: taken within the last 3 months.
- Background: plain and light — white, pale blue, or light grey. No rooms, walls, or patterns behind you.
- Framing: front-facing, head and shoulders, face filling roughly 70–80% of the frame, eyes looking at the camera.
- Attire: business clothing — a dark suit or collared shirt is the safe default, even for part-time roles.
- Expression: neutral with a very slight, relaxed look. No big smile, no hat, no heavy filter, no sunglasses.
Taking it with your phone
A smartphone photo is fine for almost all arubaito applications if you set it up well:
- Stand about 1.5 m from a plain light wall, with the light in front of you.
- Use daylight from a window — avoid overhead light that casts shadows under your eyes.
- Have someone else take it, or use a tripod and timer, at eye level (not from below).
- Keep shoulders square and centred; leave a little space above your head.
- Do not beautify or smooth your skin — recruiters expect a realistic photo.
Several free apps crop to the exact 30×40 mm ratio for you. ResumeJP also resizes your uploaded photo to fit the standard cell automatically, so you can simply upload a clear phone shot in the editor.
Printing it
You do not need a printer. Upload your finished rirekisho PDF to a convenience-store print service (7-Eleven netprint, or ネットワークプリント for FamilyMart and Lawson), get a reservation number, and print at the in-store multicopy machine — about ¥20 for A4 black and white. Use the photo-quality setting so your picture stays sharp.
Common photo mistakes
- A busy or coloured background (bedroom, street, curtains).
- A cropped selfie at arm's length — the angle and distance look informal.
- Casual clothing such as a t-shirt or hoodie.
- An old photo that no longer looks like you.
Once your photo is sorted, walk through the rest of the sheet with our step-by-step rirekisho guide, or start a part-time version on the arubaito resume page.