Answering the questions about your record

The questions about criminal penalties, deportation and previous applications are about the foreign spouse, and they cover events anywhere in the world, not only in Japan. The form says explicitly that traffic dispositions count.

Immigration already holds most of this information. The purpose of asking is to see whether the account you give matches the file they can see. A minor fine years ago is rarely fatal on its own; the same fine concealed and then discovered is a different matter, because it recharacterises everything else you have written.

Where there is something to disclose, disclose it plainly and add a 理由書 (statement of reasons) — a short, factual letter with no official template — setting out what happened, when, and what has changed since. This is the single most useful unofficial document in a difficult case, and it is the point at which taking professional advice usually pays for itself.