Japanese National Pension System

英語 / English

1. Important Points of the Japanese National Pension System and Other Public Pension Systems(1) All people who are registered to reside in Japan and aged between 20 and 59, irrespective of their nationality, must be coveredby the National Pension system and must pay contributions by law.
(2) The public pension systems (including the National Pension system) are designed to financially support each other as the wholesociety with intergenerational support mechanism.
(3) The public pension systems pay not only the old-age pension, but also the disability pension or the survivors’ pension when you
have unexpected financial difficulties.
(4) The Japanese government provides subsidy to fund part of the pension benefits.
(5) Your public pension contributions are subject to tax deduction as “social insurance contribution”.
2. National Pension Coverage Categories and Enrollment Procedures
There are three categories of the insured persons under the National Pension system. You can find your category and enrollment
procedures as below:(1) Category I insured persons
If you are registered to reside in Japan, aged between 20 and 59, and you are not a Category II or Category III insured person(see (2) and (3) below), you are a Category I insured person.
→If you are a non-Japanese resident and a Category I insured person, please make sure you register your residence first at
the municipal office of your place of residence and have them establish your Japanese residence registry. Then you need toregister your enrollment to the National Pension system at the same municipal office.
→The Japan Pension Service (JPS) will send you contribution payment notices. Please use the notices to pay your contributions(see “4. Monthly Contributions” below).
Note: Excluding foreign nationals with visas for medical stay or visas for long stay for sightseeing.
(2) Category II insured persons
If you are employed to work at a company, factory and such workplaces, and are covered by employees’ pension insurance
systems including the Employees’ Pension Insurance system, you are a Category II insured person.
→Your employer is responsible for completing your enrollment to pension system on behalf of you. For more details, you canask your employer.
→Your contribution is deducted from your salary and then your employer will pay it for you.
(3) Category III insured persons
If you are a dependent spouse of a Category II insured person, and are aged between 20 and 59 and residing in Japan, youare a Category III insured person. If you temporarily stay outside of Japan, you may exceptionally be a Category III insuredperson.
→Your spouse (Category II insured person) should report to a JPS branch office through his/her employer, that you are aqualified dependent spouse. For more details, you can ask your spouse’s employer.
→You do not need to pay any contributions; the necessary resources are fully covered by contributions paid by all Category II
insured persons.
3. Basic Pension Number and Basic Pension Number Notice
After your enrollment procedure is completed, you will receive a Basic Pension Number Notice which indicates your Basic Pension
Number, name and date of birth.
The Basic Pension Number is used for managing pension coverage records. Each person is assigned one Basic Pension Number
which is not changed in principle. After you receive the Basic Pension Number Notice, please keep it in a safe place. If you havelost the Basic Pension Number Notice, you can apply for a reissue at any JPS branch office.
4. Monthly Contributions
The contribution amount for the National Pension is ¥16,980 per month from April 2024 to March 2025. You must pay due monthly
contribution by the end of the following month.
You can pay your contributions in cash at banks and other financial institutions, post offices, and convenience stores. You can also
pay them using automatic bank transfer, the Internet payments, or by credit card.
Or, you can pay them at a discount rate if you opt for advance payments of some future month contributions. You may have further
discount if you opt for advance payments via automatic bank transfer instead of cash payments.
5. If You Have Difficulty Paying Contributions (Contribution Payment Exemption System)
When your income is too low to pay contributions or you haveContribution
Compared
Type of exemption
other reasons, you can apply for the exemption fromamount
OBP rate
contribution payments at the municipal office of your place ofFull exemption¥04/8
residence.
The JPS branch office examines your previous year’s income 1/4 payment (3/4 exemption)¥4,2505/8and other circumstances. If your application is approved,
1/2 payment (1/2 exemption)¥8,490
6/8
exemption of full or partial amount of contribution payment is
3/4 payment (1/4 exemption)¥12,740
7/8granted.
Please refer to the table here for some exemption types, Contribution Postponement System for¥00
contribution amount to be paid, and the rate of future Old-age
low income persons
Basic Pension amount with exemption periods, compared with
Special Payment System for Students¥00the amount without exemption periods.
[Notes](1) Please note that if you fail to pay due balance contributions (1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 contributions), the partial exemption system is nolonger valid: it will be regarded as non-payment. This means that such non-payment periods will not be reflected in calculationof your future Old-age Basic Pension amounts. In addition, you may not be able to satisfy the conditions to be entitled to theDisability Basic Pension or Survivors’ Basic Pension when you need them.
(2) If you are a student, you can apply for the Special Payment System for Students. Please note, however, this system does notcover students at most Japanese branch schools of foreign based schools or students on a short-term basis.

Japanese National Pension System英語 / English

6. Recovery of the Past Contribution–Exempt Periods
If you have full or partial exemption period in the past, you can recover the period by paying the exempted contributions
retroactively for up to 10 years. If you recover the period by retroactive payments, your Old-age Basic Pension in the future will
be calculated based on your full amount contribution payments.
Please note that a specific index will be charged on your retroactive contribution payment which was due more than three fiscalyears ago.
7. National Pension Benefit Amounts(1) Old-age Basic Pension
If you have paid the National Pension contributions for at least 10 years and satisfy the conditions, the following amount ispaid when you become 65 years old. *1★Benefit amounts : ¥816,000 (annual amounts in Fiscal Year 2024 for those who have paid contributions for 40 years)(2) Disability Basic Pension
The following amount of the Disability Basic Pension is paid to you if you become sick or get injured while you are coveredby the National Pension system and if that sickness or injury eventually causes such disability as specified as the Grade 1 orGrade 2 disability. *2★Benefit amounts : ¥1,020,000 (annual amounts in Fiscal Year 2024 for the Grade 1 disability)¥816,000 (annual amounts in Fiscal Year 2024 for the Grade 2 disability)(3) Survivors’ Basic Pension
When an insured person of the National Pension system dies, the following amount of the Survivors’ Basic Pension is paid tohis/her dependent spouse taking care of child(ren) or to his/her dependent child(ren). *2★Benefit amounts : ¥1,050,800 (annual amounts in Fiscal Year 2024 for an eligible spouse with one child)*1 If you become a naturalized Japanese citizen or if you are admitted as permanent resident before you become 65 years
old, your overseas residence period between April 1, 1961 and the previous day you become Japanese citizen, within yourage between 20-59, will be considered as “complementary period”. The complementary period is the valid period to beincluded to see if you satisfy the 10-year period requirement to be entitled to the Old-age Basic Pension. However, thisperiod is not considered in benefit amounts calculation.
*2 To be eligible to the Disability Basic Pension or the Survivors’ Basic Pension, you need to satisfy certain contribution
payment requirement. For more details, please contact any JPS branch office or the municipal office of your place ofresidence. (Please see “10. Contact Point for your National Pension” below.)
8. Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments for non-Japanese people
If you are non-Japanese, you may file a claim for the Lump-sum Withdrawal
Payments within two years after you register to leave Japan (no longerJapanese resident). To apply for it you need to satisfy the following conditions;- you have contributed to the National Pension system for at least six months
in total (excluding your insured periods as the Category II or the Category III
insured person).
- you were never eligible to receive a pension.
The Payment amount depends on the number of months for which you havepaid contributions. The table here shows example Payment amounts if themonth of your last contribution is between April 2024 and March 2025. Please
visit our website for the amounts if the month of your last contribution wasbefore March 2024.

Total number of yourYour LSWP
contribution-paid months*
amountBetween 6 and 11 months¥50,940
Between 12 and 17 months¥101,880
Between 18 and 23 months¥152,820
Between 24 and 29 months¥203,760
Between 30 and 35 months¥254,700
Between 36 and 41 months¥305,640
Between 42 and 47 months¥356,580
Between 48 and 53 months¥407,520
Between 54 and 59 months¥458,460
60 months or more
¥509,400* If you have contribution-exempt period, your total number of contribution-paid months is calculated as follows:
Number of full-contribution-paid months + (number of 1/4-contibution-paid months) x 1/4 + (number of half-contribution-paidmonths) x 1/2 + (number of 3/4-contribution-paid months) x 3/4【How to claim the Payments】(1) Please submit a report to move out (“Tenshutsu Todoke”) and a report to end National Pension coverage to the municipal
office of your place of residence.
(2) After leaving Japan, fill out the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment Claim Form with the necessary information, referring to thenotes and information on the form. Send the completed form by airmail to: Japan Pension Service, 3-5-24, Takaido-nishi,Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-8505 Japan.
The application form is available at any municipal office (National Pension section), a JPS branch office, or the JPS website.
( https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/index.html )【Important】Please note that once you receive a lump-sum withdrawal payment, your periods of coverage before you claim for it
will be no longer valid for future benefit entitlements. Please carefully consider the possibility of receiving future pension benefits
before the claim.
9. Social Security Agreements
Under the bilateral Social Security Agreements between Japan and other countries, workers detached to Japan for a short periodof time may be exempt from compulsory coverage by the Japanese system, or your pension coverage periods in the two countries
may be totaled together. Please visit our website for more details. ( https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/index.html )10. Contact Point for your National Pension
If you have any questions about the National Pension system, please contact the municipal office of your place of residence oryour nearest JPS branch office. You can refer to the list of JPS branch offices on the web.
( https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/index.html )For consultation by phone, please call “NENKIN Dial” as below. (Free interpretation is available for some languages.)
When you contact us, please have your Basic Pension Number ready. You can find it on your Basic Pension Number Notice.
“NENKIN Dial” for domestic call:
0570 - 05 - 1165 (at local call rate)“NENKIN Dial” for international call: +81 - 3 - 6700 - 1165 (at international call rate)
2404 1016 105