Childbirth & Child-Rearing Guide
for Foreign Residents in Sendai

3-1 Registration of Birth

When your baby is born, you will need to register the birth to the ward office/general city branch office, embassy/consulate, and immigration bureau.

　(1) First, you will need to get a Birth Certificate from the hospital.

　(2) Within 14 days of the birth, you must submit a Birth Notification to your ward office or the general city branch office, and receive two copies of the Birth Acknowledgment Certificate.

　(3) You must submit one of those copies to the immigration bureau within 30 days and obtain residency certification. The other copy must be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

　(4) Then submitted to your embassy or consulate.

　Starting from July, 2012, the amendment to immigration law is being enforced. Under the amendment, after you submit your birth notification to your ward office/general city branch office, a certificate of residence as “Interim Guest Due to Birth” will be created according to your area of residence. You must apply for a residency permit at the immigration bureau within 30 days of birth.

　If one of the parents is Japanese, you will have to do the procedures (1) and (4).

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3-2 Newborn Baby/Premature Baby Guidance Visit

When your baby is born, you will need to send in the Birth Notice Form (postcard) filed in your Maternal and Child Health Handbook Supplement. When your baby will be almost one month old, a public health nurse, newborn baby home guidance counselor, or home nutrition counselor will visit your home to counsel and advise you on health and nursing, as needed. They will also take weight measurements and check the growth of your baby.

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3-3 Nursing Baby/Toddlers Health Examination

The city of Sendai provides free nursing baby health examinations in order to monitor the baby’s growth and development, discover illness in its early stages, and give pediatric nursing guidance. Be sure to make use of these examinations for the sake of your baby’s health.

To schedule a change in a date or time of an examination, contact one of the following below.

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3-4 Vaccination

Vaccination is necessary to protect the health of your baby. The vaccine interval is determined by considering the best timing for acquiring immunity. You must strictly adhere to the vaccine interval schedule to achieve the strongest immunity for your baby. Vaccination is free when received within the time schedule, but fees are incurred afterward.

You can confirm the dates and locations for vaccination of tuberculosis and polio at the Sendai City Newsletter(Digested Version).
For other vaccinations, please look at the list of registered medical facilities(in Japanese).

Optional Vaccination

The vaccinations below are elective vaccinations, so you will need to decide whether or not your child will receive these vaccinations after considering the effectiveness of the vaccine and its side effects.

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3-5 Child Allowance

The system provides the parents of the child with money (allowance) in order to promote the healthy growth of the child. For the allowance amount and application procedure, please contact your ward office insurance benefits division or general city branch office public health welfare division.

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3-6 Child Medical Treatment Expense Aid

When your child undergoes health care services provided by health insurance, you will receive aid for the self-paid cost of medical expenses, as shown in the tablebelow.

You must present both your child's treatment expense recipient certificate card and health insurance card to the reception counter at hospitals and pharmacies.

In order to be eligible, your child must be a resident of Sendai City and have a health insurance. Aid for regular doctor visits lasts until the end of the 3rd grade of elementary school, and aid for hospitalization lasts until the end of third grade of middle school. This system has a limit on income(and cannot be received above a certain income level).

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