Reference Checks for Chefs From Japan: Consent and APPI

If you ring a restaurant in Tokyo and ask about a chef who used to work there, you may well get a polite refusal. That is not necessarily evasion. Japanese businesses handle information about former staff under the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI, 個人情報保護法), and the law requires, in most cases, the person's prior consent before their personal data goes to a third party. Because you are abroad, there are extra requirements.

This page explains what the law says, how to get consent in a form a Japanese employer will accept, and what to ask once you have it. It is general information, not legal advice.

1. Why references from Japan need a different approach

• Consent comes first. A Japanese employer that holds the chef's records generally cannot share them with you without the chef's prior consent.
• You are a "third party in a foreign country". The APPI has a separate rule for this, with information the person must receive before consenting.
• Language. The person who knows the chef's work best is usually the head chef, who may not speak English. Plan for an interpreter or a written questionnaire in Japanese.
• Timing. The chef may not have told their current employer they are leaving. Ask before contacting anyone, and only contact the current employer with explicit agreement.

2. What Japan's privacy law requires

Third-party provision: prior consent

APPI Article 27(1) says a business handling personal information must not provide personal data to a third party without the person's prior consent, except in listed cases (such as where another law requires it). The Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC) describes prior consent as the general rule.

Provision to a third party abroad

Article 28 adds a rule for third parties in a foreign country. Before the Japanese business provides personal data to you, the person must consent specifically to provision to a third party abroad. According to the PPC, the person must be given, before consenting:

1. the name of the foreign country;
2. information on that country's system for protecting personal information, obtained by an appropriate and reasonable method;
3. information on the measures the recipient takes to protect personal information.

Countries the PPC recognises as having an equivalent level of protection are excluded from this rule. The PPC's FAQ lists the EU member states and the UK (as of September 2021). The ordinary prior consent rule in Article 27 still applies to them. The PPC publishes research on other countries' privacy systems that businesses can refer to.

A change coming

An amendment to the APPI was promulgated on 17 July 2026. According to the PPC, most of it takes effect on a date set by cabinet order within two years of promulgation, and the implementing rules and guidelines are still being prepared. The rules described here are those in force as of September 2026. Check the PPC site before relying on them.

What this means in practice

The legal duty sits mainly with the Japanese employer providing the information. But if you want a useful reference, you need to make it easy for them to comply: get the chef's written consent, in Japanese, covering provision to you in your country, with the information above, and send it with your request.

3. A consent form that works

Include, in Japanese and English:

• The chef's name, and the names of the employers and people you may contact
• What you will ask about (dates, role, duties, skills, reliability, reason for leaving if known)
• Why: to assess the application for [job title] at [restaurant]
• Who receives the information: your company name and address, and the country
• A short description of the privacy law that applies to you in that country, and where to read more
• How you will protect the information: who sees it, how it is stored, when it is deleted
• A clear statement that the chef consents to the named employers providing this information to you in [country]
• Signature and date

Keep it to one page. A Japanese employer receiving a clear, bilingual consent that names them is more likely to help than one receiving an unexplained email.

4. Who to call and what to ask

The best referee is the chef's direct superior: the 料理長 (head chef) or the owner-chef. HR in a larger group may only confirm dates and title.

Questions that produce useful answers:

1. What position and section did they work, and for how long?
2. What were they trusted to do without supervision?
3. How did they handle a busy service, or a mistake?
4. How did they work with junior cooks?
5. Would you hire them again? (In Japanese: また一緒に働きたいと思いますか。)

Send questions in advance, in Japanese, and accept written answers. A head chef in the middle of prep is more likely to reply to a short questionnaire than to a call from abroad. For scheduling across time zones, see remote interviews and time zones.

5. Documents that do the same job

Where a spoken reference is not possible, documents can confirm the basics.

Under Japan's Labour Standards Act Article 22, when a worker leaves and asks for a certificate covering the period of employment, type of work, position, wages or reason for leaving, the employer must issue it without delay. The certificate must not include anything the worker did not ask for. The same article prohibits employers from colluding with third parties to obstruct a worker's employment.

So the chef can request, and receive, a certificate confirming dates and role. Many visa files need one anyway; see employment certificates in English for visa files. It will not tell you how good the chef is, which is why a practical test matters: see skills tests for remote hiring.

6. Checklist

• Has the chef agreed which referees you may contact, and not to contact the current employer without permission?
• Do you have signed, bilingual consent naming your company and country?
• Does the consent include the country information the PPC describes (unless you are in the EU or UK)?
• Are questions sent in Japanese, with written answers accepted?
• Do you know how long you will keep the answers, and who will see them, under your own country's privacy law?
• Have you checked the PPC site for changes following the 2026 amendment?

General information, not legal advice. Privacy law in Japan and in your own country may both apply to a reference check. Take advice from a qualified lawyer before building a reference process.