Job Discussion Forums

[Rooster_2006]

I just landed a gig in Utsunomiya. It starts in early September. At first I was thrilled, but there's one thing that really has me worried.

[Ryu Hayabusa]

1.) You'll have to pay about 35 000 yen per month for shakai hoken. Not suspicious at all! Now, if you had to pay 35 000 yen PLUS suffer a deduction of another 35 000 yen, that would be suspicious. A company that I used to work for did that to people who wanted shakai hoken. It was essentially a way to get the employee to pay both their contribution and the company's contribution to the system.

2.) It makes more sense to pay into shakai hoken because of the pension refund after three years. The ratio of the amount you get back vis-a-vis the amount you put in is much better with shakai hoken than with kokumin nenkin/hoken. Also, shakai hoken will cover 2/3 of your salary if you get sick or injured (not sure for how long) but kokumin hoken does not.

I posted in a thread about this way back in 2008. I remember being pretty thorough in my comparisons.

[fluffyhamster]

Just get back to the employer and double-check the meaning of the "50% of the premium (69,462 yen per month)" ('So I'll be paying @35K and you'll be paying @35K, right?'). If however they had really meant

"50% (69,462 yen) of the premium (double the preceding amount, to a huge unaffordable sum we dare not state LOL)"

they would surely have typed that rather than

"the premium=69,462 yen, of which you pay only 50% (halve the preceding amount)".

Anyway, always best to make sure!

I'm not sure how large the difference is between Kokumin and Shakai after a couple of years (I'm assuming about 10K per month), but I've also never seen the point in (or quite the affordability of) paying into Shakai on sub-JET-level wages (360K, mine ended up 260K after Shakai and tax had been deducted). But at least you'll be able to reclaim some of the pension contributions, right? Which could mean it evens out and is a form of saving.

[Rooster_2006]

Thanks for the help, Ryu Hayabusa and fluffyhamster.

Yeah, I've been researching it, and it is a tough decision. SH will definitely cost more per month. The question really is whether the benefits are worth it.

So far as I can tell, the advantages of Shakai Hoken (SH) are:
1. Your pension benefits are greater if you retire here and your refund if you leave Japan permanently is greater.
2. You can claim 2/3 of your salary per month if you are injured or unable to work due to a disease or something.
3. Someone here in Yokkaichi told me that hospital visits are cheaper with SH.
4. I think there is also some kind of unemployment insurance.

So far as I can tell, the advantages of Kokumin Kenkou Hoken + Kokumin Nenkin instead of SH are:
1. ~10,000 yen a month cheaper for the teacher assuming that nothing bad happens.
2. Much cheaper for the employer. This likely means that a teacher who chooses Kokumin Kenkou Hoken (when both choices are available) is more likely to get re-contracted next year, or get the contract in the first place, since he or she is literally 420,000 yen cheaper per year to the employer than an employee who insists on SH.

At any rate, I'm glad to see that my future employer is telling the truth, and is offering me the option of having SH. That seems to put him light years beyond other employers who write 29.5 hours on the contract to avoid paying SH or reduce the worker's wage so as to effectively make the employee shoulder the entire SH burden.

I think I will stay on Kokumin Kenkou Hoken and Kokumin Nenkin for now, though. I couldn't care less about the pension benefits because I don't plan to collect the lump sum refund (no plans to leave anytime soon), don't trust the pension system, and think I could invest that money better myself. The various forms of insurance (if sick/injured or unemployed) sound great in theory, except that I'd very likely get booted from the country after 90 days of not engaging in my status of residence, meaning I'd hardly end up seeing any money from those insurance schemes even if I were sick/injured/unemployed.

However, I may change my mind when I get permanent residency or get closer to retirement age.

[fluffyhamster]

There was a thread a few years ago, started IIRC by Pitarou, that went into the various health insurance schemes and options. One other advantage of Shakai apparently is that the one policy provides coverage for dependents (incl. spouse?) - something to consider if there's ever the sound of little feet.

I'm not sure the authorities have any real way of determining whether you're engaged in your status of residence, other than you e.g. getting caught robbing a bank due to lack of funds. Sure, there may to the keen eye be a few slight gaps in the work history, but that's only at visa-renewal time. I was once at least a few months between jobs and it wasn't and didn't become an issue (luckily I had some savings at that time, though I didn't have even KKH). So those unemployment insurances could in fact come in (though the process of claiming could admittedly raise some sort of flag).

[Rooster_2006]

[fluffyhamster]

Sounds like things are tightening up in the land of the fading cherry blossum. (Memo to self: Alter profile's location entry so that it reads 'UK > China > Japan > UK again', like it does on the Teacher Discussion forums LOL. Edit: Done!). I ponder returning to Japan, but I'm not sure it's going to be possible to jump through all the hoops and settle all the dues now demanded given what most of the ELT work there wants to pay.

[Solar Strength]

[Solar Strength]

About Pension - does having P.R. present any differences when collecting a pension vs. being on a work visa? I ask because I've heard a couple of different people say that the regulations for how a pension is collected - e.g., monthly during retirement or a one lump sum payment - is different for those who have P.R. and those who do not. Those who have P.R. can receive their pension in monthly payments, apparently, but those foreigners who do not have P.R. must receive it as a single payment.

Can anyone here clear that up?

[rich45]

[Rooster.]

[nightsintodreams]

Go with kokumin hoken and national pension. The cost is determined by your previous year's salary which in your case will be zero, so your kokumin health payments will be extremely low. If you ask at your city hall, you can get an exemption on you pension for just over a year, then if you stay a second year just don't pay it, they won't catch up with you in time. If you end up staying longer than 2 years though, it's probably better to start paying it rather than let it pile up.

[Rooster.]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try that.