The five Japanese documents that move a candidate from job offer acceptance (naitei) to the first day at work. Ceremony invitation, joining instructions, document cover letter, pre-joining document checklist, and pre-employment health check notice, all bilingual and PDF-exportable.
Companion checklist
Every document to collect, every government filing with its statutory deadline, every Day 1 step. 56 items across 6 phases, interactive, saves your progress. Use it alongside the templates below.
Each template generates one specific onboarding document. Fill in the conditions, preview in Japanese or English, edit any clause inline, then export to PDF.
Invite incoming new graduates to the formal October 1 naitei ceremony. Date, venue, schedule, dress code, RSVP, and a note on what to bring.
The cover document for the joining package. First-day date, location, time, who to ask for, dress code, schedule for the first day, and what to bring.
The 送付状 that accompanies the bundle of onboarding documents sent to the new hire. Recipient, sender, date, purpose, and an itemized list of enclosures with counts.
Itemized checklist of the documents and forms the new hire must submit before their start date. Common items toggle on/off depending on circumstances (mid-career, foreign national, with dependents).
Instructions for the statutory pre-employment health examination required by Article 43 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act Enforcement Order. Designated clinic, items to be checked, deadline, reimbursement policy.
For a new-graduate hire on the standard April 1 cycle, these documents stack across the eight months between offer and start. For a mid-career hire, the same documents compress into the four to eight weeks between accepted offer and start date.
| Stage | Document | Japanese | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| After naitei (new grads) | Naitei Ceremony Invitation | 内定式案内 | September, for October 1 ceremony |
| Pre-joining package | Joining Instructions | 入社案内書 | 1–2 months before start date |
| Package Cover Letter | 入社書類送付状 | Bundled with joining instructions | |
| Document Checklist | 入社前提出書類リスト | Bundled with joining instructions | |
| Health Check Notice | 健康診断受診案内 | Bundled with joining instructions |
The right document depends on where you are in the onboarding timeline. Most companies issue the four pre-joining documents together as one bundle, then layer in the naitei ceremony invitation only for new-grad cohorts.
Issue the naitei letter (内定通知書) shortly after the hiring decision, then the Naitei Ceremony Invitation (内定式案内) in early September for the October 1 ceremony. About one to two months before April 1, send the joining package: the Cover Letter (入社書類送付状) on top, then the Joining Instructions (入社案内書), the Document Checklist (入社前提出書類リスト), and the Health Check Notice (健康診断受診案内).
Skip the naitei ceremony invitation. Send the same four-document joining package about four to eight weeks before the start date. Mid-career hires often already have a recent health check certificate; the health check notice can be conditional on that.
Sending the joining-package documents one at a time over several weeks. New hires read them as one piece; once a candidate has the joining instructions in hand they will start asking about the documents to submit. Bundle the four pre-joining documents together so the candidate gets everything in one place. The cover letter (送付状) is what stitches the bundle into one legible package.
These five documents cover the period between job offer acceptance (naitei) and the new hire's first day at work, typically several months for new graduates (April 1 hire date with naitei issued the previous October) and several weeks for mid-career hires. The naitei ceremony invitation goes out around October 1 for new graduates only. The joining instructions, package cover letter, document checklist, and health check notice are all issued together about one to two months before the start date.
No statute requires it, but October 1 is the conventional date for the formal naitei ceremony in Japan, anchored in the long-standing practice of new graduates accepting offers in their senior year and starting the following April. Most large and mid-sized companies hold one; many small companies skip the formal ceremony and rely on individual naitei letters.
Yes for nearly all employees. Article 43 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act Enforcement Order (労働安全衛生規則第43条) requires employers to conduct a health examination at the time of hiring, unless the worker provides a health check certificate dated within the prior three months.
The standard set includes pledge upon joining (入社誓約書), personal information consent (個人情報取扱同意書), basic personal data form, pension book or My Number (年金手帳・マイナンバー), source-withholding certificate from a prior employer (源泉徴収票, mid-career only), commuting allowance application, bank-account designation, dependents form, the pre-employment health check certificate, and resident card copy for foreign nationals.
Yes by Japanese business convention. Any package of documents sent by post or as a bundle attached to email opens with a 送付状 that names the recipient, the sender, the date, the purpose of the package, and lists the documents enclosed with their counts. Japanese business etiquette treats its absence as careless.
Yes, increasingly common. PDF versions of all five documents emailed to the candidate's personal address are now standard practice at modern companies. The naitei ceremony invitation in particular is often sent only by email. Documents the candidate must return are often handled via DocuSign, GMO Sign, or CloudSign.
The legally controlling version should be Japanese. For foreign-language candidates it is best practice to issue both: Japanese as the controlling document, English translation for understanding. Each template lets you toggle the preview between Japanese and English so the same document can be reviewed and exported in either language.
Free hiring strategy call
We advise SMBs on how they hire in Japan, from job descriptions and salary ranges to interview steps. For case-specific HR, legal or visa questions, we recommend a licensed specialist. SaiyouTeam is a consultancy: we do not introduce candidates.
