Is pale blue really acceptable?

Yes, alongside white. It is offered because light hair and pale clothing merge into a white background, and a faint blue separates them while staying a plain, neutral field. Either is compliant.

Why would a sharp-looking photo be refused?

Usually because of automatic retouching. Phone cameras smooth skin by default on many models, and the result looks flattering and reads as manipulated. Disable the effect and reshoot rather than trying to undo it.

Does this work for a Japan e-visa?

The dimensions and background are the same. The upload has a file-size limit of its own, so if the form rejects the file for size rather than shape, compress it and try again.

How recent does the photograph have to be?

Within six months. That is the stated rule, and it is enforced more meaningfully than the date on the file: if your appearance has changed noticeably, take a new picture regardless of when the last one was taken.

Japan Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

35 × 45 mm at 300 dpi (413 × 531 px), plain white or very pale blue.

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Drop your files here

.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .heic, .avif · they stay on this device

Options

Country and document

Sets the millimetre size, the head-height range and the background colour.

Background

Anything but 'keep' cuts you out with a model that runs on this device and puts you on a plain colour. 'Keep' skips the model entirely, so it is instant.

Cutout tightness0%

Only used when the background is being replaced. Raise it to trim a halo, lower it to rescue hair that was cut into.

Print sheet

A sheet tiles as many copies as the paper takes, with a cut line around each. Any print shop can run it.

Also save a framing guide

A second file with the crown and chin bands drawn on, so you can check the head is the right size. Never submit that one.

Show exact numbers

Frame measured in

The frame is written as a percentage so it means the same thing whatever the photograph's resolution.

Frame from the left

Frame from the top

Frame width

Frame height

Your files are read by this tab and never uploaded. Closing the page discards them.

Ask about Japan Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

Questions about what this tool does, which option to pick, or what it can and cannot handle.

The question you type here is sent to an AI provider to be answered — your files and whatever you put in the tool above are not, and the assistant cannot see them. Answers are generated and can be wrong. The tool itself is not guessing: it runs deterministic code on your device.

About the Japan Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

A Japanese passport photograph works to the international frame — 35 across, 45 down, the face between 32 and 36 millimetres — and differs on one point: white is standard, and a very pale blue is permitted alongside it. That second option exists for a practical reason — against pure white, grey hair and light clothing lose their outline, and a faint blue restores it without becoming a colour.

The photograph must have been taken within the past six months, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is precise about the margins as well as the head. There should be a small, consistent gap above the crown rather than hair touching the top edge, which is the commonest framing error on an otherwise good picture.

Japan runs one of the stricter checks on image quality rather than just geometry. A photograph that is soft, over-sharpened, visibly compressed or retouched will be refused. Skin smoothing of the kind phone cameras now apply by default is a real problem: it removes the texture the comparison relies on, and it is applied automatically on many devices without being asked for. Turn beauty modes off before you take the picture.

Japanese visa applications use the same specification, the e-visa included — there the image is submitted as a file and never printed at all.

Face the camera squarely, eyes open, mouth closed, no hat, no headband, hair clear of the eyes. Glasses are allowed if there is no reflection and the frames do not obscure the eyes at all.

Confirm on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site, which publishes a diagram with the exact margins.

How to use it

1Turn off any beauty or skin-smoothing mode on your camera, then take a photograph facing the lens directly.
2Keep Japan selected for the 35 × 45 frame and the 32–36 mm head range.
3Choose white, or the pale blue option if your hair or collar is light and disappears against white.
4Check the guide copy for a clear gap above the crown — hair touching the top edge is the usual error here.
5Save the image for an e-visa upload, or print a sheet for a paper application.

Questions

Is pale blue really acceptable?: Yes, alongside white. It is offered because light hair and pale clothing merge into a white background, and a faint blue separates them while staying a plain, neutral field. Either is compliant.
Why would a sharp-looking photo be refused?: Usually because of automatic retouching. Phone cameras smooth skin by default on many models, and the result looks flattering and reads as manipulated. Disable the effect and reshoot rather than trying to undo it.
Does this work for a Japan e-visa?: The dimensions and background are the same. The upload has a file-size limit of its own, so if the form rejects the file for size rather than shape, compress it and try again.
How recent does the photograph have to be?: Within six months. That is the stated rule, and it is enforced more meaningfully than the date on the file: if your appearance has changed noticeably, take a new picture regardless of when the last one was taken.