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Why the 市役所 is the root of your identity
Japan has no national identity card that everything hangs off. What it has instead is the 住民基本台帳, the resident register kept by the municipality you live in, and almost every proof you will ever need is a document that register issues. Your address is not something you assert; it is something your 市役所 certifies, which is why moving house means going there within fourteen days and why your bank, your employer and your phone company all want a 住民票 rather than your word. Foreign residents were brought into that same register in 2012, when the separate foreign registration system was abolished and the 在留カード replaced the old certificate — a genuine improvement, because it put everyone on one list instead of two. マイナンバー, the twelve-digit individual number, arrived in 2015 on top of all this rather than instead of it; the physical card is still optional, though having one lets you print a 住民票 at a convenience store at midnight, which is the single most useful thing it does. The last piece is the seal. 印鑑登録 files an impression of one personal seal with the municipality, and from then on that seal is your legal signature and the office will certify it on demand. Register the seal you can find again, not the beautiful one.