My Number Card verification in Japan: a JPKI guide for business
How a business accepts Japan's My Number Card through JPKI: what users see on card and phone, the four attributes you receive, the law, the two ways to connect, the waived fees, the limits and the document fallback.
In short
My Number Card verification means checking a customer against the electronic certificates on the chip of Japan's My Number Card, through the Japanese Public Key Infrastructure (JPKI). A private business may use it, as a certified platform operator or through one, and receives four signed attributes: name, address, date of birth and gender.[1]
- About 104.18 million cards were held at the end of July 2026.[3]
- The per-check fees (20 yen and 2 yen) have been waived since January 2023.[1]
- The card also lives on phones: iPhone since 24 June 2025, with Android due in autumn 2026.[2]
Japan built its electronic identification (eID) on a chip card, not on an app account. The card holds certificates issued by a public body, and a business that accepts it connects to the infrastructure that validates them.
What My Number Card verification is
The My Number Card is a Japanese identity card with an integrated circuit (IC) chip. JPKI is the service that uses the electronic certificates on that chip to authenticate a person and to confirm that a document has not been altered. It works with the certificates, not with the My Number itself.[1]
My Number Card
Japan's chip identity card, verified through the Japanese Public Key Infrastructure (JPKI)
For context, see what electronic identification is and how it works and the list of national eID schemes by country.
Adoption: who holds a My Number Card
The Digital Agency calls the card the most widely used method of verifying a person's identity. Cards held rose from 47.61 million on 1 September 2021 to 97 million in March 2025 and about 104.18 million by the end of July 2026.[3]
The 81.7% (101.74 million cards) is secondary: it comes from a DNP column citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.[5] The other three numbers are the Digital Agency's own.[1][3] No source reviewed gives the adult share or a count of JPKI checks; the agency's dashboard has current figures.[4]
- January 2023Fees waivedJ-LIS check fees suspended.
- May 2023PhonesCertificates on smartphones.
- 24 June 2025iPhoneMy Number Card on iPhone starts.
- 20 October 2026AndroidReported target date.
Milestones for a relying business.[1][2][6]
What the user sees
With the physical card, the business's app asks for the signing password (6 to 16 letters and digits) and reads the chip when the holder taps the card on the phone.[2] The app then sends the signed data and the certificate for a validity check.[1]
Verify your identity
My Number Card
Use another document
1The user picks My Number Card.
Signing password
2The user types the signing password.[2]
Hold your card
Keep it against the phone.
Start reading
3The phone reads the IC chip.
You are verified
- NameShared
- AddressShared
- Date of birthShared
- GenderShared
- My NumberNot shared
4Four signed attributes reach the business.[1]
The second variant needs no card in hand: "My Number Card on Smartphone" adds the card's function to the phone, and face or fingerprint replaces the password. It is free for card holders with a compatible phone.[2]
Verify your identity
Card on this phone
Use the physical card
1The user picks the card on the phone.
Confirm with your face
2Face or fingerprint confirms the request.[2]
You are verified
3The result returns to the app.
On Android, phone certificates date from May 2023, and the Digital Agency says the service will be renewed as "My Number Card on Android" around autumn 2026.[2] According to ID Tech Wire, the target date is 20 October 2026.[6] The official pages describe phone-based use only, with no QR hand-off from a computer, so ask your platform operator how it handles desktop journeys.
Password or biometrics, then the chip signs
The service provider route, after Figure 1 of the Digital Agency's JPKI page.[1]
What a business receives from a My Number Card verification
The card carries two certificates, and the one your app calls decides what data you get.[1]
| Certificate | Used for | Attributes inside |
|---|---|---|
| Signature | Signing applications and contracts sent online | Name, address, date of birth, gender |
| User authentication | Logging in to a site | None of the four |
| Data | Returned | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Name, address, date of birth, gender | Always, with the signature certificate | The "basic four"; the address is useful for address checks and the date of birth for age[1] |
| Later changes of name or address | Optional | The latest user information service, since 16 May 2023, with the customer's prior consent[1] |
| My Number (the individual number) | Never through JPKI | JPKI uses the certificates, not the number[1] |
| Portrait | Not in the certificate | The signature certificate holds the four attributes only[1] |
Revocation is checked against the certificate's issuance number.[1] The pages reviewed describe no other persistent customer identifier, so ask your platform operator what it returns for matching a returning user.
Note
A certificate stops being valid when its validity period ends, when one of the four attributes changes on the resident record, or when the holder dies. The conditions differ between the two certificates.[1]
Legal standing and AML in Japan
JPKI rests on the Public Personal Authentication Act. J-LIS, a corporation jointly managed by the national and local governments, runs it and acts as the trust anchor.[1] A signature made with the signature certificate can fall under Article 3 of the Act on Electronic Signatures and Certification Business, which the Digital Agency quotes in English as follows.[1]
Article 3Act on Electronic Signatures and Certification Business
"An electromagnetic record that is prepared in order to express information [...] shall be presumed to be established authentically if electronic signatures [...] have been performed by the principal with respect to the information recorded in said electromagnetic record."
Source: Digital Agency, Japanese Public Key Infrastructure (JPKI), English page produced by machine translation[1]
For anti-money laundering (AML) rules, this guide holds no primary text of the customer due diligence provision, so none is quoted. According to a Japanese AML practitioner's summary, an amendment under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds ends remote verification based on photos or copies of documents for financial institutions from April 2027, and moves remote know-your-customer (KYC) checks to IC chip reading or JPKI.[7] Check the amended rules with counsel. The Digital Agency confirms the practice: JPKI is already used to open bank and securities accounts and to conclude loan contracts.[1]
How a business connects to My Number Card verification
Private companies may use JPKI by two routes; the difference is who checks the certificate with J-LIS.[1] Certified platform operators sell this as a service, the broker model other countries know. For another licensing model, see the Aadhaar eKYC guide.
Direct route
Platform operator
- Certified by the competent minister
- Runs its own signature verification equipment, which may sit in the cloud
- Checks certificates with J-LIS itself
- Six months to one year to certification
No certification cost; J-LIS check fee waived
Through a certified operator
Service provider
- Entrusts the validity check to a certified platform operator
- Builds no verification equipment of its own
- Pays the service fee that the operator sets
- Quicker and cheaper to launch, says the Digital Agency
Operator fees vary and are not published centrally
The platform operator procedure has three stages: sign a confidentiality agreement with J-LIS and obtain the technical specifications; apply to the Digital Agency and the ministry with proof that you meet the accreditation standards; then test in the JPKI test environment, notify J-LIS and check production.[1]
On price, certification costs nothing to obtain or maintain. J-LIS lists 20 yen per signature certificate check and 2 yen per user authentication certificate check, and has waived both since January 2023 "for the time being". Service provider fees are set by each platform operator and are not published by the Digital Agency.[1]
The waiver has two parts: the certificate revocation list (CRL) method is free permanently, and the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) method is free "for the next three years", with no end date on the page.[1] J-LIS updates the CRL daily and it works offline; the OCSP responder refreshes every 15 minutes and answers in real time, online only.[1]
Use cases
| Use case | Certificate | What the sources say |
|---|---|---|
| KYC and AML onboarding | Signature | Used to open bank and securities accounts and to conclude loan contracts[1] |
| Signing | Signature | Applications and contracts, with the Article 3 presumption[1] |
| Login | User authentication | Confirms the returning person, no attributes sent[1] |
| Age checks | Signature | Date of birth is in the certificate; per Japan Today, used for alcohol and tobacco at self-checkout registers[8] |
Japan Today is a secondary source.[8] The sources reviewed document no sector rule for telecom or gambling, so this guide claims none. The European Commission has also published a report on an EU and Japan interoperability test, relevant if you follow the EUDI Wallet (the EU Digital Identity Wallet).[9] See also national digital identity worldwide.
Limits and fallbacks
- Not everyone holds a card. The share was 81.7% of the population at the end of February 2026, according to DNP citing the ministry.[5]
- A forgotten signing password is reset at the counter of the holder's municipality.[2]
- Phone use needs a compatible device (iPhone XS or later, iOS 18.5 or later), and some services accept only the card.[2]
Watch out
The Digital Agency pages for businesses do not set out who is eligible for a card by nationality, age or residence, so this guide states no rule for foreign residents, minors or people living abroad. Plan a document route for them.
On security, the private key sits on the chip, which erases its data if someone tries to read it illegally.[1] The sources reviewed record no outages. The fallback is a document check: reading a document's chip over near-field communication (NFC), liveness and a face match.
1Offer My Number Card first
Card tap or phone credential.
Does the customer have a valid certificate and the password
Verify through JPKI
Four signed attributes.
Verify with a document
NFC chip reading, liveness and face match.
2Screen and decide
Screening and the decision stay with you.
eID first, document as the fallback.
Implementation checklist
- Decide which certificate each journey needs: signature for onboarding and signing, user authentication for login.[1]
- Choose the route: certify as a platform operator (six months to one year) or contract one.[1]
- Ask each platform operator for its fee, test environment and phone support.
- Design the consent screen before you use the latest user information service.[1]
- Add a document route for customers without a usable certificate.
- Re-check the fee waiver and the April 2027 AML change before go-live.[1][7]
How Didit helps
Didit adds My Number Card on request. What works in Japan today is the document route: NFC chip reading of chip documents, liveness and face match, plus AML screening against 1,300+ sanctions, politically exposed person (PEP) and watch lists. See eID verification for how eIDs and documents share one workflow.
A full KYC check (ID document, passive liveness, face match, device and IP analysis) is $0.33, NFC verification $0.15 and AML screening $0.20; see pricing. The docs cover the per-country setup.
Didit provides
- Document verification with NFC chip reading, liveness and face match
- AML screening and ongoing monitoring
- The result of every check, by webhook or API
Stays with you
- Your customer risk assessment and your policies
- The judgement that a method meets Japan's AML rules
- The onboarding decision
Bring My Number Card to your onboarding
Tell us where your users are, and start with the document route today.
Key takeaways
- About 104.18 million My Number Cards were held at the end of July 2026.
- The signature certificate returns name, address, date of birth and gender; JPKI never uses the My Number itself.
- A business connects as a certified platform operator or through one.
- J-LIS check fees (20 yen and 2 yen) have been waived since January 2023.
Frequently asked questions
What data does a business receive from My Number Card verification?
The signature certificate returns four attributes: name, address, date of birth and gender. The user authentication certificate, used for login, returns none of them. With the customer's prior consent, the latest user information service returns the current version of those four after a move or a name change. JPKI uses the certificates, not the My Number, and the certificate holds no portrait.[1]
How much does My Number Card verification cost?
J-LIS lists 20 yen per signature certificate check and 2 yen per user authentication certificate check, both waived since January 2023 for the time being. Certification as a platform operator costs nothing. A service provider pays the fee its platform operator sets, and those fees are not published centrally.[1]
How long does a JPKI integration take, and how do I test it?
Becoming a platform operator takes about six months to one year from the technical specifications to certification, followed by checks in the JPKI test environment and in production. The service provider route is quicker, but no lead time is published; it depends on the platform operator.[1]
Can I verify a My Number Card stored on an iPhone or an Android phone?
My Number Card on iPhone started on 24 June 2025, on iPhone XS or later with iOS 18.5 or later. On Android, certificates on phones began in May 2023 and are due to be renewed as "My Number Card on Android" around autumn 2026; ID Tech Wire reports 20 October 2026 as the target.[2][6]
Does My Number Card verification satisfy AML rules in Japan?
JPKI is already used to open bank and securities accounts.[1] According to a Japanese AML practitioner's summary, photo-based remote verification ends for financial institutions from April 2027, leaving IC chip reading and JPKI.[7] This guide quotes no provision; confirm with counsel.
Can I check a customer's age with My Number Card?
The signature certificate contains the date of birth, so a business can compute age from a verified source.[1] It returns the full date of birth with name, address and gender, not a bare over-age answer.
Can foreigners, minors and non-residents use My Number Card verification?
The Digital Agency pages for businesses do not set out eligibility by nationality, age or residence, so this guide gives no rule. Offer a document route to anyone without a usable certificate.
What eIDAS level of assurance does My Number Card have?
None. It is a Japanese scheme, so it is not notified under the EU's eIDAS Regulation. The Digital Agency says JPKI provides the highest level of security and reliability, with no numbered level.[1]
Sources
- Japanese Public Key Infrastructure (JPKI), Digital Agency, last updated 18 September 2026, read 5 October 2026.
- My Number Card on Smartphone, Digital Agency, last updated 25 August 2026.
- Digital Agency report 2026, Digital Agency, section 1.1 My Number Card.
- Dashboard on the spread and utilization of My Number Card, Digital Agency.
- Column on My Number Card holding rates, DNP, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (secondary).
- Japan sets October 20 launch target for My Number Card in Google Wallet, ID Tech Wire (secondary).
- Summary of the April 2027 change to remote verification under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds, note.com (secondary).
- It's now legal to buy beer and cigarettes at self-checkout registers in Japan, Japan Today (secondary).
- New report sheds light on successful EU Japan interoperability, European Commission.
Compare My Number Card with every other national scheme on the eID verification page.
One workflow for eIDs and documents
Verify customers in Japan with the document route now, and tell us which national eIDs you need next.
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