Procedures for issuance of boshitecho “Mother and baby” book & pregnancy checkup form in Japan

After confirming that you have a normal pregnancy (when your doctor has confirmed that the fetus has a fetal heart rate ), you will have to submit a pregnancy notice called (ninshin-todokede- sho) to the county offices (市役所/区役所) where your family lives. Some hospitals will do this for you, some will just issue this form to you and you can bring it yourself or send it to the county administrative office.

After submitting your pregnancy notice, you will receive a Mother and Baby Book (母子健康手帳 boshi-kenko-techou) or commonly referred to as boshi-techou or boshi-chou.

You can buy a English-Japanese bilingual mother and baby book here for your convenience if you don’t know Japanese.

You will also receive a keychain as shown below. This keychain lets everyone know you are pregnant and in the meantime will also receive the pregnant women’s privileges in the public.

Along with the mother and baby book, you will receive a set of antenatal care sheets (14 sheets) (妊婦健康診査受診票) for antenatal care at hospitals and gynecological clinics (産婦人科). Each time you go to a hospital or clinic for a prenatal check-up, you will use an antenatal check-up sheet and remember to bring a mother and baby book for the nurse and doctor to record your antenatal care information on that day.

※Before getting this certificate of antenatal care, you will have to pay the full cost yourself because antenatal care is not a medical examination, so it is not covered by health insurance. However, after receiving this voucher, because it is a designated examination, you will not have to pay any fees, you will only have to pay any additional costs, if any (depending on the health status of each pregnant mother, you will have to check the following items). arise or not)

In addition, you will receive a lot of guidance on pregnancy health care, abnormalities, diet and nutrition, and supplies and supplies to prepare as your due date approaches. birth etc Some districts also send coupons at some stores in the district just for pregnant women.

The mother and baby book also records the child’s immunization schedule as well as the child’s developmental weight indicators. Remember to record enough to see your child’s development through each age.

PROCEDURES FOR RECEIVING MOTHER AND BABY BOOK IN THE DISTRICT WHERE YOU LIVE

After you are informed by the doctor that you have a fetal heart, you can go to the district office to receive the mother and baby book and related documents. When you go to do this procedure, you need to prepare the following documents:

+ Residence card (在留カード)

+ Seal (印鑑) + Certificate of antenatal care at the hospital (this paper will be given to you by the hospital) 

+ Pregnancy notice (妊娠届出書): this paper will be given to you by the county to fill in information such as your name, address, phone number, expected date of birth, the hospital you plan to give birth to, etc.

※In case the pregnant mother cannot go to the district office to do the procedure, her husband can go up to help. If your Japanese is not good, don’t worry, the district office staff will guide you to fill out the paperwork and complete the procedures carefully, many places also have direct translation over the phone.