Category Archives: Pension

Shakai Hoken Seminar

July 7, 2011 in Action, Announcements, Health Insurance, Pension

Learn your rights to Shakai Hoken. Come to Osaka Keizai Hohka Daigaku Tokyo Azabudai Seminar House on Sunday, July 31, 2:00pm to 5:00pm.

Tokyo gov’t employed worker over 20 years on temp contracts without benefits

September 29, 2010 in Health Insurance, News, Pension

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government employed a woman as a librarian for over 20 years through repeated renewals of short-term contracts, meaning the woman has not received commuter expenses or other allowances, or been entered into government employee medical insurance, it has been learned. “We cannot determine if there is a city-employed worker who worked for [...]

Household income gap hit record in 2008

September 3, 2010 in News, Pension, Wages

Japan’s household income gap reached its highest level on record in 2008, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has announced. The so-called Gini coefficient — an indicator used to measure the inequality of income distribution — hit a record 0.5318 in 2008, up 0.0055 points from the previous survey in 2005. The Gini coefficient [...]

New relief on vanished pensions / Guidelines will allow separate records to verify missing payments

March 6, 2010 in News, Pension

A government panel has announced new support measures for victims of the “vanished pension” scandal that will make it easier for people to verify they paid pension premiums for which records are missing, it was learned Friday. According to the new guidelines, people who have missing records for corporate employees’ pension payments will be able [...]

Foreigners get nod to skip social insurance

March 4, 2010 in Health Insurance, Immigration, News, Pension

The Immigration Bureau announced Wednesday new guidelines for foreign residents, stating that joining the social insurance system is not a requirement for renewing or changing one’s visa status. The bureau told The Japan Times on Feb. 1 that it had decided to change the wording of the new guidelines — which were originally drawn up [...]

Health insurance nixed as visa renewal condition

March 4, 2010 in Discrimination, Health Insurance, Immigration, News, Pension

The Immigration Bureau has effectively scrapped a guideline that compelled foreign residents to present health insurance cards when applying to extend visa status, it has been learned. The new guideline, due to be enforced on April 1, states it would have requested non-Japanese to enroll in the social insurance system and present health insurance cards [...]

Corporate pension age ‘to rise to 65′

February 1, 2010 in News, Pension

The government will raise the eligibility age for a corporate, defined contribution pension plan from the current 60 to 65, chiefly in response to an increase in the number of employees working past the standard retirement age of 60, sources said. Should the eligibility age be raised for the plan–a Japanese version of the U.S. [...]

Social security policy should leave no one behind

January 6, 2010 in Health Insurance, News, Pension

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led administration has called for a “shift from concrete to people” — spending taxpayers’ money on people’s livelihoods, rather than public works projects. This is reflected in the fiscal 2010 budget draft, but it suggests that the government desperately secured financial resources to carry out its election campaign pledges, rather [...]

New pension body opens for business

January 5, 2010 in Health Insurance, News, Pension

Japan Pension Service, an organization set up to succeed the scandal-plagued Social Insurance Agency, started full operations Monday with a pledge to restore public trust in the public pension system. The names of 312 social insurance offices nationwide have been changed to pension service offices. The entity has drawn up 10 pledges to improve customer [...]

Population probably shrank even more in 2009, ministry estimates

January 1, 2010 in Immigration, News, Pension

Japan’s population probably shrank further in 2009 as births fell by roughly 22,000 to about 1,069,000, the health ministry said in estimates released Thursday. “The trend of increasing population decline is expected to continue in the future as the number of deaths rises due to the aging of the population, while the number of women [...]