How to Read a Japanese Resume (Rirekisho) From a Chef

When a chef in Japan applies for your job, you may receive a rirekisho (履歴書), a one-page form that looks sparse to anyone used to a Western CV. It has boxes rather than bullet points, dates in an unfamiliar era system, and set phrases that say very little on the surface. Read correctly, it tells you a lot. This page explains how.

Our descriptions of the format are based on the guidance Japan's public employment service, Hello Work, publishes for job seekers, and on the example form issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).

1. Two documents: rirekisho and shokumu keirekisho

Hello Work notes that the rirekisho is the most common application document and that more employers now also ask for a shokumu keirekisho. For a cook, the second document is where you find station, volume and responsibility. If you only get a rirekisho, ask for one.

2. The rirekisho, box by box

The MHLW example form, published in 2021 after the Japanese Standards Association dropped its long-used JIS resume example in July 2020, has these sections:

• Date line (年 月 日現在): the date the form was written. An old date can mean a reused form.
• Name, furigana, date of birth and age. Furigana is the phonetic reading of the name; use it to get the pronunciation right.
• Gender. Optional in the MHLW form. The ministry made it a free-text optional field and asks employers not to decide on the basis of what is written there or whether it is left blank.
• Photo. The MHLW form includes a photo box. Whether you may ask for or consider a photo depends on the law where you hire.
• Address and contact details.
• Education and employment history (学歴・職歴), in date order.
• Licences and qualifications (免許・資格).
• Motivation, special skills, strengths (志望の動機、特技、アピールポイントなど).
• Personal requests (本人希望記入欄): pay, job type, hours, location. It may simply read 貴社の規定に従います ("I will follow your company's terms"), which is a polite default, not a lack of opinion.

The MHLW form deliberately leaves out commuting time, number of dependants, spouse and spousal support obligation, on privacy grounds. Older or commercial forms may still include them.

3. Converting Japanese era dates

Hello Work advises applicants to use either Japanese era years or Western years consistently, and notes that era years are the usual choice. You will see dates like 平成28年4月 (April 2016). Hello Work's conversion rules:

Heisei 31 ran until April 2019; Reiwa began in May 2019. The first year of an era is written 元年 (gannen) rather than 1年. Japanese school years start in April and finish in March, so education lines usually read "…年3月 卒業" (graduated in March) and "…年4月 入学" (entered in April).

4. Reading the work history

Hello Work's guidance sets out a consistent format, which makes the history easier to read once you know it:

• Oldest first. The standard rirekisho is chronological, not reverse chronological.
• One line to join, one line to leave. 入社 (joined) and 退社 or 退職 (left) for companies; 勤務 or 入職 and 退職 for other employers.
• Employment type in brackets. For work that was not a regular full-time post, applicants are told to note it in brackets, for example （アルバイト） for part time or （契約社員） for contract staff.
• Formal names. Company names are written in full (株式会社○○, not （株）○○). If a name has since changed, the old name comes first with the new one in brackets: （現・○○）.
• Still employed. The last line reads 現在に至る ("to the present"), sometimes with an expected leaving date.
• End marker. The history ends with 以上 ("end").

In restaurants, a chef often worked at one branch of a company. You may see "株式会社○○ △△店 入社": company, then branch. Search both. The branch tells you the style and level of the restaurant; the company tells you whether it was a group or a single site.

5. Phrases you will see, and what they mean

Short tenures are worth asking about, but read them in context. A cook may have moved on deliberately to learn a different style under another chef, so ask what they learned in each place. See our guide to Japanese kitchen roles.

6. Licences and qualifications

Licences are usually written as "○○免許 取得" (licence obtained) or "○○検定 合格" (exam passed). The one you will see most on a chef's rirekisho is the 調理師免許 (chōrishi menkyo, cook's licence).

Under Japan's Cooks Act (調理師法), this licence is granted by a prefectural governor to people who either complete at least one year at a designated cooking school or pass the cook's examination after at least two years of cooking work in qualifying establishments. It protects the title "調理師": it is a meaningful sign of training or experience, but in Japan it is not a condition for working as a cook, so a strong chef may not hold it. For how to get an English version for a visa file, see cook's licence translations.

Another credential you may see is the MAFF certification of Japanese cuisine cooking skills for overseas chefs; see our guide to it.

7. The shokumu keirekisho: where the real detail is

Hello Work describes three layouts: chronological (編年体式, oldest first), reverse chronological (逆編年体式) and a career format grouped by type of work (キャリア式). For a chef you should expect, for each job:

• the restaurant's style, seat count and price level
• the chef's position and section (for example 焼場, 煮方, 板場, 寿司場)
• team size and who they reported to
• what they were responsible for: menu, ordering, training, cost

If these are missing, ask. Our interview questions and remote skills test guide help fill the gaps.

8. What to ask for if you want more

• A shokumu keirekisho, if you only received a rirekisho.
• Photos or video of their work, which often tell you more than either document.
• An English summary, if you are not reading Japanese; be clear that a short one is fine.
• References, with the candidate's consent. See reference checks for chefs from Japan.
• Employment certificates later, if the visa needs them. See employment certificates in English.

General information, not legal advice. What you may ask applicants, including about age, gender, photos or family, is governed by the law where you hire; check it before you set up your application process.