Changing the Address and Representative on Our Secondhand Dealer License — A Trip to the Police Station
Updated: Sep 28
I'd completely lost track of the fact that our secondhand dealer license needed updating after our address and representative changed — buried under other work. Unlike a license renewal, nothing comes to remind you "time to update this." So I let it slip. Here's a record of the trip to update our secondhand dealer license after the company's move and the change of representative. Short version: the address change is done, and the representative name change was completed on October 7 as well.
What had actually happened
We hold a secondhand dealer license, and both our head office moving and our representative changing should have triggered a change notification under the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act. But unlike a license renewal, nothing comes along saying "please file this."
Buried in day-to-day work plus the tax and social-insurance procedures tied to the representative change, I completely forgot about the secondhand-dealer notification. Tax and social insurance force your hand — nothing moves forward until you file — but nobody was going to flag the license for me, so by the time I noticed, a fair bit of time had passed. Whether "I didn't know" holds up as an excuse is another matter; I definitely felt the risk of letting an update slide. If you notice this yourself, better to move quickly.
Step 1: Start with a phone call to the police station
Not knowing where to start, I just called the police station. I explained honestly that we hadn't filed either the prior or after notification and that we were behind. What came back was a rapid-fire rundown of the documents and items we'd need — I was scrambling to write it all down.
What's needed for the prior notification (handled at the pre-move police station)
・Change notification form: downloadable from the prefectural police website
・ID document: driver's license, My Number card, etc.
What's needed for the after-the-fact notification (handled at the post-move police station)
・Change notification / reissue application form: downloadable from the prefectural police website — a different form from the prior-notification one
・Sworn statement: downloadable from the prefectural police website — declares you don't fall under any of items 1 through 8 of Article 4 of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act
・Certificate of all historical matters (company registry): obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau, can be ordered online
・Residence certificate: obtained at the ward/city office, must show your registered domicile
・Certificate of identity (身分証明書): obtained at the ward/city office
・Résumé/biography: free format, covering the new representative's work history for the past 5 years — no set template, so I wrote my own
・Statement of delay: free format, explaining why the notification was late — no set template, so I wrote my own
・ID document: driver's license, My Number card, etc.
・Fee: ¥1,500 (cashless payment only)
Legal Affairs Bureau, ward office, prefectural police website — documents to fetch or draft from all over the place. By the time I hung up the phone, I'd already braced myself: "this is going to eat a whole day."
Step 2: The "prior notification" at the pre-move police station
An address change for a secondhand dealer license turns out to have a slightly awkward two-stage structure: file the "prior notification" at the police station with jurisdiction over the old address, then handle the "after" procedure at the station with jurisdiction over the new address.
In our case, the prior notification at the pre-move station's jurisdiction was filed by the former representative. Small discovery here: the prior notification goes smoothly if the "outgoing officer" files it — but if the "incoming officer" had gone instead, we'd have needed a power of attorney. When a notification lands right around a change in representative, get the order and the person wrong and you end up with extra paperwork.
As it turned out, this step at the pre-move station went smoothly with no trouble at all.
Step 3: Getting documents issued at the ward office
Next, at the ward office covering the new address, I had the documents needed for the after-the-fact notification issued. Nothing unusual here — it just proceeded calmly.
Step 4: To the post-move police station — here's where it got interesting
With the documents in hand, off to the police station covering the new address. This part turned out to be quite something.
The "staff only" staircase
The section I needed was on the 3rd floor, but the bottom of the stairwell had a sign reading "staff only — no entry," and I froze for a second: "wait, am I allowed up there?" A nearby officer confirmed it was fine when I asked, and up I went. I could see someone less used to this turning back right there.
Three rounds of paperwork corrections
Knocking on the section's door, a staff member came out and pointed out what was missing or wrong on my forms. Fill in the narrow space in front of the door → knock → hand over the forms → get told to redo it → knock again — I went through this loop about three times. There seems to be a particular way they want things written.
Suddenly alone in a tatami room
Partway through the paperwork, I was suddenly told, "leave your documents and belongings as they are, and go into the room next door." I did as told. Inside was a tatami-mat room, and the moment I stepped in, the door was closed behind me — alone.
I could hear a murmur of voices from outside the door, but couldn't make out a word. After a while I was told to come back out, and found myself back in front of the section's door.
I still have no idea what that was about. No explanation was given, so I genuinely don't know.
On-the-spot handwritten correction; the name change comes later
After that, the paperwork was accepted without issue, and the address field on the license was corrected by hand, right there on the spot. That part was same-day and almost anticlimactically quick.
The representative name change, though, is a different story: "it can be updated once identity verification for the new representative is complete, so please wait 2 to 3 weeks." Apparently this is routine, but the weeks of waiting for the result are a little nerve-wracking. If all goes well, I'll get a call, go back to the section, have it rewritten, and that'll be it.
Where things stand
・Address change: done (corrected by hand on the spot)
・Representative name change: done (reissued under the new representative's name on October 7)
The representative name change is now complete too. See the update below.
[Update, Oct 7] The representative name change is done too
The representative name change went through, and our secondhand dealer license was reissued under the new representative's name. I'd been told to wait 2–3 weeks, but it finished sooner than that.
・Sept 27: Submitted the documents at the post-move police station (the address was corrected by hand on the spot)
・Sept 29: The police station called to say the review was finished
・Oct 7: Picked up the reissued license at the counter
How long it took: 10 days, from submitting the documents on September 27 to picking up the license on October 7. The call came 2 days after submission (September 29), and the pickup at the counter was 8 days after that.
The flow was just as I'd been told: the review finishes, they phone you, and you collect the license at the counter.
That completes both the address change and the representative name change. We filed late, but going to them on our own and bringing the right documents got everything accepted.
Looking back
1. A secondhand dealer notification doesn't come with a reminder the way a license renewal does. It's on you to notice and act
2. For an address change, the pre-move and post-move police stations have different jurisdictions. The prior notification goes smoothly when the outgoing officer files it
3. Calling the police station ahead of time to confirm the required documents cuts down on redo trips at the counter (something we didn't manage to do)
4. A representative name change takes a few weeks for identity verification — plan with some slack
Around a change of representative or a company move, it's easy to get absorbed in tax, social insurance, and banking procedures and let licensing-type notifications slide. If you hold a secondhand dealer license too, it's worth checking for any missed filings whenever your address or representative changes.
If you need help with secondhand dealer license procedures, feel free to contact Robin Planning LLC. I can walk you through it based on the actual steps we went through.
What are the risks if a change notification is late?
For reference, here's a brief summary of the legal risks of filing a change notification late.
・Article 7 of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act sets out the duty to file change notifications; violating it can lead to a fine of up to ¥100,000 or revocation of the license under Article 35
・Deadlines vary by the type of change: changes to a business office's name or location require a prior notification by 3 days before the change date; a change of representative or officers requires an after-the-fact notification within 20 days
・In practice, when you notice the lapse yourself, report it voluntarily, and file with a statement of delay, it's often said to end with little more than submitting a written explanation or apology
・On the other hand, false declarations or a filing lapse judged to be "malicious" can result in penalties or revocation
The key point is that a "self-reported" fact carries weight. Contacting the police station yourself as soon as you notice, and filing with a statement of delay as I did this time, seems to be the surest way to keep the risk down.
The above is general information drawn from explanations by administrative scriveners' offices and similar sources; how a case is treated varies by circumstances. If you need an accurate judgment, we recommend checking with the police station in your jurisdiction or an administrative scrivener (gyoseishoshi).
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