Background checks for Japan
Join Zinc for background checks that respect Japan's fair recruitment rules, on the same platform you already use everywhere else you hire.
Checks and features
Hiring in Japan, made easier
Respect fair hiring rules
Japanese guidance is clear that employers shouldn't ask about a candidate's family, home address, or birthplace as part of hiring. Zinc's compliance team helps you make sure your process stays well within those limits from the outset.
Lightning-fast criminal checks
Zinc's criminal check in Japan searches public information rather than requesting a government certificate, and only reports something where there's a confirmed legal case behind it. Most results come back in less than a day.
Candidate support in 140+ languages
Zinc's AI-powered chatbot is on hand around the clock in Japanese, English, and 140+ other languages, ready to answer candidate questions as they come up.
9
/10
44
minutes
Average criminal check completion
12
days
Average education check completion
Stay confident in your process
Getting hiring questions wrong in Japan carries real risk. Zinc’s process helps you understand exactly what you’re asking candidates for and why, so you’re not second-guessing whether a question is right to ask.
Get ahead of hiring
Japanese hiring decisions often move through several rounds of internal review. A same-day criminal check result means you can start moving as soon as a hiring decision comes through.
One system that works everywhere
Your Japanese hiring doesn't need its own standalone process. Zinc keeps it on the same dashboard as every other country you hire in, so your team isn't managing two different systems side by side.
“If we ever need anything, I’ve been able to go straight to the chatbot and I get a response pretty much straight away. If I’m waiting for a person, it’s within the hour. It’s always been really helpful, and provided loads of resources.”
Checks that work everywhere you do
Full visibility, transparent pricing, and adaptable checks for borderless hiring.
Industry-leading global turnaround times
Adaptive checks, not extra admin
Integrated with your HR tech stack
Truly transparent pricing
Pricing
Built for global teams
Whether you're a growing team or an enterprise hiring across borders, Zinc has a plan for you.
Under 20 hires annually
Pay As You Grow
Get started in minutes. Our Pay As You Grow plan is built for lower hiring volumes — a flat rate per check, with no hidden costs or setup fees.
Start checking in minutes, no setup needed
Flat rates per check, no hidden fees
Pay only for what you check, every month
20+ hires annually
Custom solutions
For larger volumes, our experts build a plan around your needs. Credit is flexible with your hiring and never expires, with integrations, setup, training, and support all included for free.
A custom plan built around your hiring
Credit pool that rolls over and never expires
Integrations, setup, and training included for free
“What I like about Zinc: how the system is linked with our recruitment and HR systems making all checks and paper work sync automatically and saves us so much time not having to check multiple systems. Shows where all the checks are when being processed and is simple to set up packages to work for the foundation. Customer service and support is great, teams are always incredibly helpful and offer help and answers when needed.”
What can and can't be investigated in a Japanese background check?
Guidance from Japan's labour ministry (MHLW) bans employer inquiries into a candidate's family circumstances, registered domicile, or birthplace. Our team can help you work through the best checks to run and how to stay in line with guidance while still getting the answers you need for a thorough check.
What does Zinc's Japanese criminal check cover?
Zinc’s Japanese criminal check covers public information search, not a government certificate, drawing on over 500,000 sources via premium media platforms including:
- Online news
- Print media
- Official channels
- Specialised content like academic journals and trade publications
It covers nine categories of criminal behaviour: Drug, Financial, Governmental, Homicide, Motor record, Sexual offences, Terrorism, Theft & cybercrime, and Violent behaviour. It only reports something where there's a confirmed legal case behind it, and allegations without legal proceedings are excluded.
The process is geo-localised to the jurisdiction requested. Cases with no hits are automatically resolved as "No negative records found." Where hits do appear, Zinc's proprietary AI/text-mining tool extracts and categorises the content, then a human reviewer runs it through three stages (initial review, in-depth analysis, and quality assurance) before finalising the report. Anything that can't be confirmed or denied due to limited public information is excluded rather than flagged as inconclusive.
Can Zinc check for links to organised crime in Japan?
Employers in Japan are legally required to take reasonable steps to avoid engaging individuals connected to organised crime, and Zinc's criminal check process can support that requirement.
Can Zinc run checks for our Japanese employees alongside our global workforce?
Yes, that's exactly what Zinc is built for. Your Japanese hiring sits on the same platform as your other international hires, so you’re using one centralised system instead of paying for localised solutions.
All your checks progress is available in a centralised dashboard, including country-by-country breakdowns. If you have multiple hiring teams globally, user groups allow you to share checks packages across Zinc without exposing candidate data to users who don’t need to see it.