Japan visa photo — 35 × 45 mm with a 34 ± 2 mm head, plus what JAPAN eVISA asks for

A Japan visa photo is set by the Japanese embassy or consulate that receives your application, not by one worldwide rule. Most mission pages checked for this page ask for 35 mm wide by 45 mm high, with the head 32 to 36 mm from chin to crown (drawn as 34 ± 2 mm), about 4 mm of space above the head, a plain white background, and a photo taken within the last six months. The Embassy of Japan in India and the Consulate-General in Mumbai ask for a 45 × 45 mm square instead, and the Consulate-General in Denver also accepts 2 × 2 inches. If you apply through JAPAN eVISA, you upload the photo rather than print it.

What four mission pages say

All four were read on October 26, 2026.

The Iceland drawing adds two details that help with framing: about 7 ± 2 mm between the chin and the bottom edge, and the face centered with at least 2 mm clear at the sides. The Iceland page also asks for a photo taken from the upper chest to the top of the head, with no image pasted from a computer.

How the preset places your head

The tool uses the 35 × 45 mm size, with the guides taken from those drawings:

• Crown line at 4 mm from the top, the middle of the 4 ± 2 mm allowance.
• Chin band from 36 to 40 mm down, which gives a head of 32 to 36 mm.
• At least 5 mm below the chin, inside the drawing’s 7 ± 2 mm.

The output is a 413 × 531 pixel photo (35 × 45 mm at 300 dpi) and a 4 × 6 inch sheet of eight copies in two rows of four, 2 mm apart, as JPEG, PDF or both.

Making the photo

1. Start with a good original. Stand a little way in front of a white wall so your shadow falls behind you, face the camera straight on, and have someone else take the picture at eye level.
2. Add the file. Photo type is already Japan visa — 35 × 45 mm, and the notice below it lists the rules and the size warning.
3. Line up the head. With Show face-position guides on, put the top of your head on the yellow line and your chin in the blue band. Use drag, Zoom, the − and + buttons, Horizontal position and Vertical position; Reset starts over.
4. Keep the background real. Leave Background on Keep the original if your wall is already white. The replacement options run an AI model on your device, and the result around hair is worth inspecting closely.
5. Choose a Print sheet format (4 × 6 in JPEG, 4 × 6 in PDF or Both) and press Make passport photos.
6. Print at actual size on photo paper, then measure one photo: 35 mm across and 45 mm tall.

JAPAN eVISA

MOFA’s eVISA system handles single-entry short-term tourist visas for residents of the places MOFA lists, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, as of May 15, 2026. Its photo guidance is brief:

• taken within the last six months,
• against a plain, untextured background,
• with the whole face clearly centered horizontally,
• not a photo taken again from a passport, driver’s license or group photo.

The FAQ lists JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and HEIC for the facial photo and recommends files of 2 MB or less. No pixel size is published, and the site asks you to fit the image inside a red frame on screen. The 413 × 531 pixel JPEG from this tool is far below 2 MB; whether it fills the frame well is something you will see when you upload it. If your phone saves HEIC and you prefer a JPEG, HEIC to JPG converts it.

Common reasons for a retake

Across the mission pages, the problems they name are:

• a dark, busy or patterned background, or one the person blends into;
• shadows, or light reflecting off glasses;
• a hat or cap, or hair covering the face;
• the head too large, with no space above it, or a crop that starts too high on the chest;
• other people or objects in the picture;
• a photo older than six months, or printed on ordinary paper instead of photo paper.

What the tool can’t check

The guides are fixed lines, not face detection, so placing your head is up to you. The tool can’t judge lighting, sharpness, shadows, glare, expression or how old the photo is. It also can’t tell which size your mission wants. The mission, or the accredited agency that takes your file, decides whether the photo is accepted.

Related photo pages

Photo sizes by country and document lists every format side by side. The China visa photo page covers another Asian visa with its own chart and an online upload, the US visa photo page covers the 2 × 2 inch format that Denver also accepts, and the Schengen visa photo page covers the 35 × 45 mm European visa.