There’s a lot of confusion regarding Japan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme (Kokumin Kenkou Hoken - 国民健康保険) and National Pension plan (Kokumin Nenkin - 国民年金). The big questions are, Do I have to register in a public health insurance scheme here in Japan if I am going to remain in the country for a year or longer? Do I have to pay into a National Pension plan?

According to several Japan city government websites, including the City of Yokohama site, the answers are yes and yes.

According to the official information available, if you’re not enrolled in health insurance through your employer (Kenkou Hoken - 健康保険), you must enroll in NHI. You can do this at your local village, town, ward, or city office.

Full-time employees are supposed to be enrolled in Kenkou Hoken by their employers through the Social Insurance Agency. You’ll often hear this type of public insurance referred to as Shakai Hoken (社会保険). In recent years, many companies have reportedly evaded this responsibility by reporting employees as part-time (29.5 working hours or less) even though they were working full-time hours. NOVA was apparently a prime example of such a violator.

Some people enroll in NHI, but later wish to get out of it because their employers enroll them in Shakai Hoken. In this case, a trip to your local town, ward or city office, along with proof of enrollment in Shakai Hoken, is in order. Of course, as anyone who has lived in Japan for awhile probably knows, this may be easy or not depending on the office location.

Now for the National Pension scheme. Again, according to the official information available, you are required to pay Kokumin Nenkin if you’re employer hasn’t enrolled you in the Employees’ Pension Insurance plan (Kosei Nenkin - 厚生年金). Also again, if your work situation changes and your employer enrolls you in Kosei Nenkin, you’ll need to go to your local town, ward or city office and withdraw from Kokumin Nenkin.

A couple of important facts:

• You have to live and work in Japan for 25 years to receive pension benefits, and
• You are only eligible to receive a refund of up to three years worth of Nenkin payments after you leave Japan, so if you live here for some period between 3 and 25 years, you’ll be losing money.

Apparently, Health Ministry officials arrived at the 3-year figure after concluding that most foreigners return to their home countries within three years. Very scientific, right?

Anyway, taxes are a part of life no matter what country you live in, so complaining about them doesn’t do you much good. And, if you live in a country with socialist health care and pension plans, you have to deal with that, too. However, there are some folks who call themselves “watchdogs” of Japan NHI and offer some questionable advice at their website. It’s called National Health Insurance Watch. Of course, I can’t recommend following their advice but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

One last thing: Keep in mind that many foreigners have ignored or have been completely ignorant about these requirements and were eventually required to make back-payments for the months or years they weren’t enrolled. If you’re not sure whether or not you’re enrolled in Shakai Hoken and Kousei Nenkin through your employer (how could you not be?), you should check with them.

For further reading, check out this article at The Japan Times.

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