You should receive two cards and one notice within a few weeks of taking up your position. One is the Health Insurance card another is the (orange) Pension Contribution booklet and the other is the notice of your joining Employment Insurance. The benefits of these schemes are listed in a book called Outline of Social Insurance in Japan. A copy of this book is held at the International Affairs Division of the Ishikawa Prefectural Government and at the Educational Advisory Division of Ishikawa Board of Education.

Costs
Depending on criteria such as your tax situation in Japan and your host institution, about \34-\38,000 is deducted from your salary for Social Insurance every month. The actual cost is about \68-\76,000 per month, but your host institution is required to pay half of it.

As of 2001, JET participants (excluding 1. foreign government employee, 2. persons who meet conditions to receive unemployment insurance benefits of a foreign country, or 3. persons who work in a Japanese office after entering into an employment contract established in a foreign country.) are required to have deductions made from their salaries for the nations employment insurance (Koyo Hoken 雇用保険).

The actual cost for each JET comes to around 2,200 yen per month with the employer paying a higher amount as well. If after completion of the JET Programme contract a JET remains in Japan and fulfils all the following conditions, the public employment security office may deem the participant eligible to claim unemployment benefits. Please contact your local public employment security office for queries regarding claims.

1. Persons who are confirmed as unemployed and are thus no longer required to contribute to employment insurance.
2. Persons who are willing and able to work but are unable to find employment.
3. In principle, persons who have made employment insurance payments for 6 months in the year prior to becoming unemployed.

Benefits for the Person Insured (ie. the JET)

Benefits of the health care insurance plan consist of benefits in kind and cash. With the presentation of the health care insurance card, an insured person is entitled to pre-determined medical services at any government-approved medical facility. The insured person is required to pay 10% of the medical costs.

Medical care benefits may include:
- medical consultation
- supply of medicines and other therapeutic materials
- medical treatment, operations and other therapeutical care
- hospitalization
- nursing
- transportation

Benefits for Dependents (ie., the JET's spouse and children)

"Dependents" means lineal ascendants, spouse (including unregistered marriages), children, grandchildren and younger siblings and relatives to the third degree of the insured mainly supported by the insured and living under the same household. Dependents are granted almost all the same benefits as the insured person, but dependents must pay 20% of the cost of hospitalization and 30% of out-patient care.

Using Your Social Insurance Card

When you go to a hospital or clinic, present your health insurance card to the receptionist. The receptionist will make a registration card for you while you wait for the doctor. After your consultion with the doctor, you will receive your health insurance card, registration card and a bill for 10% of the total cost of your visit (for dependents, it can be 20-30% of the total cost). The bill usually amounts to a few hundred yen. You will often also receive some medicine. Pay the account and keep the receipt as you may be able to claim this money back from the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance (see Section 5.2)

JET participants are entitled to get a portion of the money back that they have paid into the pension plan while in Japan. To claim this money it is essential that you keep your orange pension booklets.  The following step-by-step instructions to do so were taken from here.

Getting your pension refund

Once a JET participant completes the program and leaves Japan, the JET will be eligible to receive a portion of the amount paid into the pension system. The amount you will receive depends on how long you paid into the pension fund.

For example, if a JET completes a one year contract and paid 12 month's worth of Pension payment, the JET will receive an equivalent of one month's remuneration or ¥300,000. If a JET renews and completes two years on the Programme and makes 24 month's payment, the JET will be eligible to receive two month's worth of remuneration or ¥600,000. Please note an automatic 20% income tax will be withheld (see the next section on how to get that back.)

JETs who are leaving the programme this year should visit their local Social Insurance Office (Shakai Hoken Jimusho) or the National Pension Section of the municipal office near you, and request the claim forms and multi-lingual brochure for the Request of Arbitration for Lump-Sum Withdrawal Benefit. Ask for the Dattai Ichijikin Saitei Seikyusho for the Kokumin Nenkin/Kosei Nenkin.

Although the forms can be obtained while in Japan, they must be filed from overseas after you have left. To be eligible to apply for the refund, you must meet the following conditions:

- You do not possess Japanese citizenship
- You have paid Employees' Pension Insurance premiums for six months or more
- You do not have a place of residence in Japan
- You never have qualified for pension benefits (including Disability Allowance)

In order to claim the benefit, you must attach the following documents with your application:
-Your Pension Book. The orange one you received a few weeks after arriving in Japan (or your Employees' Pension Insurance Registration Number as noted in your Pension Book)
- Passport Photocopies—A photocopy of your passport pages(s) showing your name, date of birth, nationality, signature, and the date of departure from Japan
- Bank Information—A document verifying the name of your bank (must be outside of Japan), name of the branch office, address of the branch and your bank account number in your name. A voided personal check or copy of a bank statement is OK.

You must mail the application from outside Japan, once you have left the JET Program and Japan. The average time to receive payment is anywhere from three to six months, assuming the application was in order.

Method of Payment
The amount of the lump sum withdrawal payement remitted to your account will be calculated at the currency exchange rate on the date of the transaction.

Notes
When the lump-sum withdrawal payment has been accepted, the term corresponding to that amount shall cease to be considered as the pension enlistment period.

If the applicant should die before receiving the lump sum withdrawal payment, a spouse, child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, or sibling living off the same income source, or considered a member of the same fiscal household as the applicant at the time of the applicant's death can receive payment in place of the applicant.

Twenty percent (20%) income tax is withheld from the lump sum withdrawal payment for Employees' Welfare Pension Insurance at the time of payment.
Regardless of whether or not you receive the lump sum withdrawal payment for the Employees' Welfare Pension Insurance (Kosei nenkin hoken), you can also receive a specific amount for the period of time insurance payments are paid for the National Pension (kokumin nenkin) IF you have paid into the system.

[NOTE]:This refund is not connected to the JET Program but rather administered by the Social Insurance Agency and is applicable to any non-Japanese citizen who has paid into the pension for six months or more. Thus, no organization affiliated with the JET Program (e.g., your host institution, CLAIR, Mombusho) is responsible for the decisions made by said agency, nor can they check on individual claims.

If you have any questions about your claim, please send them (in English or Japanese) to the following address:

Social Insurance Office Center
3-5-24 Takaido-nishi
Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-0071
JAPAN

The Additional 20% Tax Refund

What is it?
A flat-rate tax of 20% is levied on the Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment. A person working for 3 years on the program who has made 36 months payments into the fund:

Amount of payment of Employees' Pension Insurance (¥300,000 x 3) = ¥900,000
Income Tax (¥900,000 x 20%) = ¥180,000

Who is eligible?
Once you have received the Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment you can apply to reclaim the tax. Applications must be made within 5 years of leaving Japan.

How?
You need to choose a tax representative, a person who is a resident in Japan. This person needs to get the 'Nozeikanrinin no todokedesho' (gaikokujin-yo) [Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer's Tax Affairs (for use by aliens)] form. This can be obtained from the local tax office where you were located in Japan. Once you have filled in the form, send it back to your tax representative with the 'Shikyu Kettei Tsuchicho' [Notice of the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment]. Your tax representative should take these two papers and go to the same tax office as before and file the 'Kakutei Shinkokusho' on your behalf. A bank account in Japan needs to be designated at the time of filing. The refund will be deposited into that account.

To summarize, your tax representative takes the:
- Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer's Tax
- Notice of Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment
to your local tax office and files the Kakutei Shinkokusho.  Explanation of how to claim the pension refund and tax deducted from this refund is also available in the General Information Handbook published by CLAIR. However, please note that CLAIR does not handle the paperwork for this tax refund. They will answer questions about the refund in general, but you must pursue your specific case with your host institution and local tax authorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I will be returning home after a long stay in Japan. I was a JET participant from 1990-1993 and I paid into the National Pension Scheme. Am I eligible to claim back the original payment?

A: The Pension Reform Bill was passed in the Diet on November 2, 1994, and became effective on November 9, 1994. In order to qualify to be considered for the lump-sum withdrawal payment (the pension refund), you need to have been in Japan on or after 11/9/94, had a Japanese address on or after 11/9/94, have ALL of the following four conditions listed below and file an application within two years of leaving Japan.

- You do not possess Japanese citizenship
- You have paid National Pension Insurance or Employee' Pension Insurance premiums for six months or more
- You do not have a place of residence in Japan (in order to file)
- You have never had the right to receive pension payments (including allowances for the handicapped)

If you were living in Japan after 11/9/94 you would therefore still qualify for the lump-sum withdrawal payment. However, if you left Japan before then, you would not be able to claim the payment unless you worked in Japan again and made more payments into (aka "reactivated") the pension account.

Q: I was on the JET programme for one year. After leaving Japan, I put in my claim for the special pension refunds. I was expecting to receive one month's salary minus the 20% tax, however I only received half a month's salary. Why is this?

A: The pension refunds is calculated based on the number of payments made into the pension scheme, not how long you have been in Japan. The period of coverage on which the refund is based is defined as follows:

Beginning of coverage = month you begin your contract
Closing of coverage = the day after the close of your contract minus one month

Payments are taken out of the first paycheck following each month of enrollment. If your contact ran from July 26, 1994 to July 25, 1995 for example, the starting month is July. July's payment comes out of the August paycheck. If the contracts ends on July 25, the period of coverage is until June.

Details of this coverage are set out in the insurance package you have received, but a brief summary of the details follows:

Cost
Your host institution pays the full cost of accident insurance.

Duration
The cover extends throughout the time you are in Japan as a JET. It also covers JETs who are temporarily outside of Japan for up to one month on vacation or business while still under contract.

Benefits
Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance covers the 10% of medical costs which the recipient has to pay for medical services received through the Social Insurance scheme. It also covers most medical costs incurred outside of Japan. However, please be aware that only medical expenses incurred in the case of illness or an accident are covered. Preventative medicine costs are not covered. Don't forget that Yasuda covers only the JET Programme participant and does not cover his/her dependent (s).

To Claim
Submit the following forms with the respective receipts to the insurance company (most of these forms should be in the insurance package you receive). PLEASE NOTE THESE FORMS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITHIN 30 DAYS OF AN ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS.
- Claim for the payment of benefits form(overseas accident travel insurance)
海外旅行傷害保険金請求書 （kaigai ryoko shogai hokenkin seikyusho）
- Physician's statement and authorization (on the back of the claim for payment of
benefits form) 診断書ー同意書　（shindansho - doisho)

If your bill is less than 50,000 yen submit the document of medical treatment (治療申告書- chiryou shinkokusho）along with the hospital's consultation ticket (診察券-shinsatsuken ) or a medicine envelope

Send or take this information to:
〒920-8558
Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Co. Ltd 石川県金沢市香林坊１ー２ー２１
1-2-21 Korinbo, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 920 安田火災海上保険株式会社
TEL 076-262-7221

This information is explained in greater detail in the insurance booklet "A Guide to the Accident Insurance Policy For Japan Exchange and Teaching Participants". If you have any further questions please refer to the insurance booklet.

A note from a previous Ishikawa JET
When I was in Africa I fell ill and was admitted to a hospital. When I returned to Japan I had to claim for over ￥100,000. As I did not have my insurance forms with me in Africa, the doctor wrote out a declaration for me. Although I had no problems submitting this in place of the physician’s statement provided by the insurance company, I would recommend taking one set of insurance forms with you when you go overseas. By the way, the insurance process is not that complicated. In my case the money was transferred into my account within a week of submitting all the forms. Very efficient.