通勤時間・扶養家族・配偶者: The Small Rirekisho Fields Explained

Tucked at the bottom of the classic rirekisho are three small boxes — commute time, dependents, and spouse — that stall many foreign applicants. Each has a precise meaning and a conventional way to answer.

通勤時間 — commute time

• It means door to door to this workplace: walking, waiting, riding, and the walk at the far end, rounded to the nearest 5 minutes.
• Write it like 「約35分」, and use the fastest realistic route at commute hours.
• If the exact workplace is not decided (agency work, multiple branches), write the time to the main location stated in the ad.
• For shift work, short commutes genuinely help you get hired — a nearby applicant can cover a sudden gap. If you live close, let the number say so.

扶養家族 — dependents

This asks how many family members you financially support, excluding your spouse (the form says 配偶者を除く). Children you support count; parents abroad count only if you genuinely support them financially. A single student supporting no one writes 0人 — a perfectly normal answer, not a gap. The number matters to the employer only for insurance and tax paperwork, so answer factually.

配偶者 / 配偶者の扶養義務 — the spouse columns

• 配偶者: circle 有 if you are married, 無 if not.
• 配偶者の扶養義務: circle 有 only if you financially support your spouse (they are your dependent for insurance purposes); if your spouse works and supports themselves, circle 無.
• Unmarried applicants: 無 and 無. A partner you are not married to does not appear here.

A worked example

Say you live in an apartment in Nakano and are applying to a café near Shinjuku Station. You walk 8 minutes to Nakano Station, wait about 3 minutes, ride 5 minutes to Shinjuku, and walk another 7 minutes from the exit to the café. That is 23 minutes; rounded to the nearest 5 you write 「約25分」. Include the waiting time and the walk at the far end — leaving them out is the most common reason commute times come out too short.

The same person supports no children and is single, so the rest of the block reads: 扶養家族数 （配偶者を除く） 0人 / 配偶者 無 / 配偶者の扶養義務 無. All three answers are normal and say nothing negative about you.

Common situations, answered

• Married, spouse works full-time, one child you support: 扶養家族 1人, 配偶者 有, 配偶者の扶養義務 無.
• Married, spouse has a dependent visa and no income: 配偶者 有, 配偶者の扶養義務 有; children you support are counted in 扶養家族.
• You send money to parents abroad: count them only if you genuinely support them financially. If you are unsure whether they qualify for tax purposes, the employer's payroll team will ask for details later; the resume number does not lock anything in.
• You plan to move before starting: give the commute from your current address, and mention the move in the 本人希望記入欄 if it will shorten the commute.

Why employers ask

These boxes date from a time when employers handled family allowances, transport allowances, and social-insurance paperwork from the resume. Today they mostly help the employer estimate the transport allowance (交通費) and plan insurance enrolment. You will give exact details on separate forms after you are hired, so an honest estimate is all the resume needs. Never leave a box blank on a form that includes it — write 0人 or circle 無, so it is clear you answered.

If you are using the MHLW format

The 2021 government (厚生労働省) layout removed the spouse and commute columns entirely — one reason many applicants prefer it. If these boxes feel intrusive, choose the MHLW template on the templates page; traditional employers who expect the JIS form will still want the boxes answered, and now you can.

Keep the whole sheet consistent

These fields interact with the rest of the form — the address you wrote determines the commute, and the 現在 date affects your calculated age. The editor keeps them aligned automatically, and the full writing guide walks the remaining fields in order.