Job Discussion Forums

robertokun · Joined: 27 May 2008 Posts: 199

Does anyone know how long it usually takes to get your money when you claim the pension refund after leaving Japan? I sent in all the paperwork about a month ago and I'm just curious when I can expect the money to be wired. You fill out the paperwork, send it in the mail with the pension book itself, and all you're left with is a phone number to call their office "Please speak Japanese," they write right there in parenthesis next to the number, too. Doesn't inspire much confidence.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:35 pm Post subject:

I recall that it took somewhere between 2-3 months for my pension refund to be processed and wired. It probably helped that I had a far more fluent colleague who was continuing on JET and thus able to call them more locally (from within Japan) and check up on it for me at least the once (after about two months had elapsed)...he was able to reassure me that they were indeed onto it and the money "would be on its way soon!". FWIW that was all about eight years ago now. The real problem (if things are still the same) isn't going to be so much the lump-sum refund but getting back the tax (20% IIRC) that they take/hold back still from even that, because that tax can only (or at least back then could only) be remitted into a Japanese national's bank account...I found somebody apparently willing and trustworthy enough to do it when I returned to Japan a year or so after JET, but they turned out to be so busy (uni asst professor or somesuch) that we never quite got around to it, and eventually the time in which to reclaim the 170K or so had expired! Surprised

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Fluffyhamster wrote

Rezz · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 95

I'm hoping to reclaim my pension expenses when I return to the UK too. Are the forms easy to fill in without knowing any Japanese? I get the impression that they don't make it easy for foreigners to reclaim the money intentionally...

I heard it comes back in 3monthly instalments too, any truth in this?

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject:

natsume · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 409 Location: Chongqing, China

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:09 pm Post subject:

Hi Natsume! Smile

All I meant was that JET is/was comparatively well-subsidized (perhaps too well-subsidized), and "can't fail, and can do little or no wrong", compared to other types of ELT job that may be (hell, probably are) on average delivering more English yumminess for their yen. I just know that I seemed a lot harder-worked/more browbeaten/comparatively less well-paid in eikaiwa, and as a private HS and then dispatch AET, than I ever was as a JET AET (not that I didn't try to contribute my two yen's worth on JET also!).

natsume · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 409 Location: Chongqing, China

Right, but it is a sad comment that being "browbeaten" and "comparatively less well-paid" are the hallmarks of a "real" job!

fluffyhamster · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:49 am Post subject:

Heh, I'm aware of the tension, of the irony! But being a somewhat responsible sort I reckon there should be a bit more of a balance between having your way paid and more directly/"truly" earning it, between fully public and fully private employment. (Perhaps one day there'll be a society in which everybody takes on their share of the apparently worse jobs after enjoying the better for a fair old while?). That's not to say however that I deliberately took on as worse employment after JET as I could find, but having experienced that better job certainly helped me accept the not-as-good that bit easier. (I wonder how much harder/less easy it must('ve) be(en) for people whose very first taste of working Japan is (was) dispatch AETing say as opposed to something like JET!). So I consider myself to have been quite fortunate in a way. Smile

LITTLE PEACHES · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:20 pm Post subject:

What is this pension talk? I don't know what the pension is and wonder if I get it! Is it part of your taxes? I have only taught here a year and I know my work wouldn't tell me about it if I got it! Please fill me in!

robertokun · Joined: 27 May 2008 Posts: 199

@FH- Wow, 170K was 20% of your refund!? Is that three years of JET payments into it? I'm so confused about how much I'm supposed to get back that I wasn't even going to try to get the 20% back. They give you a bunch of charts and multiplier numbers and stuff in the paperwork, but I've heard so many numbers thrown around from different people that I have no idea what it's going to be. At best I thought I was going to get about 200K, then I heard it was more like 100K (I did one year of dispatch, unfortunately.) Thanks for the encouragement Liz, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

fluffyhamster · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:01 pm Post subject:

Hi Roberto, yes, I did 3 years on JET, so the refund that accrued wasn't at all bad (it was in fact the main sum that I "saved" from JET - boy did I buy a lot of books and indulge friends more than I really should have!). I can't imagine unfortunately that anyone earning much less than 300K before deductions would really be able to (continue to) afford to pay into shakai hoken (Little Peaches). The lump sum refund itself amounted to around �3,600 pounds sterling (IIRC the final amount depended on the exchange rate on the day of the transfer) paid into my account in the UK those 3 months or so after leaving JET, with the 170K as we've established what would've been the rough amount owing as a refund of the 20% tax withheld from the lump sum (had I got around to reclaiming that 20% back also). Anyway, I hope Roberto that certainly your lump sum refund gets processed without hitch and that the amount you receive is what you were anticipating and more! Very Happy

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

fluffyhamster · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:13 am Post subject:

Sure Glenski, there must be a few who find it easy to manage on less than 300K (let's say that pre-recession average of 250K still, if one's lucky nowadays) before deductions and who won't mind (regardless of the fact that they may have no real intention of ever retiring in Japan) reclaiming twice (80% then 20%) on money they could've saved in and then withdrawn much more easily from a bank than the Japanese government's coffers. But the main reason I said what I said was that my JET salary may have been as high as 360K pcm (I can't honestly remember), so it was little wonder that "I" could afford only the best in pensions and NHI whilst still getting a tidy sum (260K) in hand to spend as I pleased. Non-JETs may however not be quite as fortunate, not as flush financially, I fear!