Background colours in Japanese ID photo booths
The background is the easiest thing to get wrong in a Japanese ID photo booth, and getting it wrong means shooting again. The colours on offer differ by machine and by location, and which documents forbid a coloured background is set by each issuing authority. Below is what each operator publishes.
Prices vary by machine and location, and the price on the machine’s screen is final. What each operator publishes on its own website is collected on ID photo booth prices in Japan.
What the three operators publish
- ID VOX (Fuso Precision): the official site states you can normally choose from 10 colours, and notes that the background colour is fixed on some machines. (ID VOX official site)
- Ki-Re-i (DNP): states that backgrounds are selectable, with a note on the same page that the available backgrounds vary by location and by season. (Ki-Re-i official page)
- Photo ME (ME Group Japan): the official page lists retouch features such as its skin-smoothing mode and states the machines conform to the photo specifications of various official documents; it does not publish a background colour count. (ME Group Japan official page)
⇒ The same brand can offer different colours at different locations. The touch panel in front of you is what counts.
🔴 My Number Card applications: no background
DNP's Ki-Re-i official page states plainly that photos usable for a My Number Card application (web or postal) are limited to no background. Choosing a colour and then applying gets the application sent back. (Ki-Re-i official My Number Card page)
Taiwanese passports: pure white, no beauty mode
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan states that the photo needs a pure white background and that beauty-mode or retouched photos may not be used. Almost every Japanese machine has a skin-smoothing mode — 14,353 of the locations in our data carry that flag — so turn it off. The representative office notice is the authority here.
Two things to settle before you step in
- Which document the photo is for — that decides whether a coloured background is allowed.
- Whether you need the digital file — that decides which machine to look for (see the next page).
Sources and limits
This page records what each operator publishes. We reproduce it; we are not the rule. Photo specifications are set by each issuing authority and do change.
Operator pages checked on 2026-09-30.
Sources: the official location search pages and lists of ME Group Japan, DNP Photo Imaging Japan and Fuso Precision (checked 2026-09-25).
An official list only shows that an operator says a booth is there — not that it is still working today. Check with the host store or station before you make a special trip.
This is an independent, neutral directory with no affiliation to the operators listed. It does not rank or recommend any of them.