Shakai Hoken Overview
Shakai hoken Japan is the employer-run social insurance bundle that covers salaried workers for health care, pensions, and related risks.12 Deductions start with the first paycheck and the employer files the paperwork, so a new hire who understands the bundle knows what leaves the payslip and why.13
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Japan Pension Service or the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. This article is general information, not medical advice; for decisions about your own care, consult a licensed healthcare provider.
Overview
Japan requires every resident to belong to a public medical-insurance and pension scheme, and salaried workers enter through their employer rather than through the municipal counter.21 That employer track is shakai hoken: a bundle of five programs wrapped around one job, filed by the company and funded by salary-based contributions shared with the worker.12
What shakai hoken means in everyday speech
In everyday speech, shakai hoken usually means the core pair: 健康保険 (kenkō hoken, "Employees' Health Insurance") plus 厚生年金保険 (kōsei nenkin hoken, "Employees' Pension Insurance").1 The full bundle around a salaried worker is wider, adding Long-Term Care Insurance from age 40 and the two labor-insurance programs that activate alongside the job.2
This article uses the narrow everyday sense for the headline pair and names each add-on explicitly, so the reader always knows which layer a rule belongs to.
What the Bundle Contains
One job switches on five programs across two administrations. The map below shows the shape before the detail.
Employees' Health Insurance, the medical core
The medical-insurance framework sits in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's health-policy portfolio, the same universal-coverage system this bundle plugs into.4 Employees' Health Insurance covers medical and nursing-care expenses incurred by workers.2 At almost every clinic and hospital in Japan, the insurer pays 70 percent of the scheduled cost and the insured worker pays the remaining 30 percent at the counter, including dental care.2
High monthly bills are capped. When the amount paid to a single institution in one calendar month exceeds a set ceiling, the excess comes back as high-cost medical benefits.2 Care received overseas while traveling is also covered: the worker pays abroad, returns home, and claims 70 percent of the comparable Japanese cost.2
Workers outside employer coverage are not left uninsured. They join National Health Insurance at their municipality, whose benefits are virtually identical with few exceptions.2 Who belongs where is mapped in Who Enrolls in National Health Insurance.
Employees' Pension Insurance, the pension core
Employees' Pension Insurance is the second floor built on top of the flat-rate National Pension. It pays old-age, disability, and survivors' benefits scaled to the premiums paid and the length of the coverage period.2 The old-age employees' pension generally starts at 65 for people with 10 or more total years of paid or exempted coverage.2
Residents aged 20 to 59 without employees' pension coverage belong to the National Pension instead, at a fixed contribution of 17,510 yen per month (as of April 2025 to March 2026; confirm current figures with the Japan Pension Service).2 Foreign nationals who paid in for 6 or more months and leave Japan without meeting the qualifying period can claim a lump-sum withdrawal payment covering at most 36 months of coverage.2
Long-Term Care Insurance for workers 40 and over
Workers aged 40 or older but under 65 are Category-2 insured persons (第2号被保険者, dai-nigō hihokensha, "Category-2 insured person") under 介護保険 (kaigo hoken, "Long-Term Care Insurance"), and the long-term-care premium rides on top of the health-insurance deduction, withheld from wages by the employer.25 Kyokai Kenpo states the rule arithmetically: for members aged 40 to 64, the health-insurance rate equals the medical-care rate plus the care rate.5
The care add-on moves every year. The Kyokai Kenpo rate for the March 2025 contribution month is 1.59 percent (as of March 2025).5 The ministry's own system overview is published as a PDF linked from its long-term-care overview page; the page and its purpose are confirmed, while the PDF's line items are not independently verified here.6
The labor-insurance pair, administered separately
労働保険 (rōdō hoken, "labor insurance") is the collective name for the two programs below, distinct from the social-insurance trio above.2 A hiring company files notifications for both tracks with their respective authorities; the worker experiences one onboarding covering two filings.2
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 雇用保険 (koyō hoken) | "Employment Insurance": benefits for a set period after job loss, plus employment-stability benefits2 |
| 労災保険 (rōsai hoken) | "Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance": covers illness, injury, disability, or death from work or commuting2 |
Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance applies compulsorily as a rule to all workers, and the employer bears the entire premium.2 Employment Insurance covers general workers on 20 or more hours per week with expected employment of 31 or more days, and its total rate is 1.55 percent of wages, with the employer paying 0.95 percent and the worker 0.60 percent (as of the April 2023 revision).2
What It Costs
The employer pays roughly half
The headline fact of the bundle is the split. Employees' Pension contributions are shared evenly: the employer deducts the worker's half from salary and bonuses, adds its own equal half, and remits both together by the last day of the following month.3 Health-insurance premiums work the same way, with the insured person and the employer each paying half.2
The Tokyo example for Kyokai Kenpo puts the total health-insurance rate at 9.91 percent of standard monthly remuneration and bonuses, meaning about 4.96 percent each side (as of March 2025; confirm current figures with the Japan Health Insurance Association).2 The table below collects the current rates in one place.
| Program | Total rate (split) | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employees' Pension Insurance | 18.3% of SMR and bonus, shared equally2 | statutory rate, confirmed 2026-03-02 | Worker deduction equals employer payment |
| Employees' Health Insurance, Kyokai Kenpo Tokyo example | 9.91% of SMR and bonus, shared equally2 | 2025-03 | Example only; every prefecture sets its own rate7 |
| Long-term-care add-on, ages 40 to 64 | 1.59% added to the health rate5 | 2025-03 | Reviewed every fiscal year5 |
| Employment Insurance | 1.55% of wages (employer 0.95%, worker 0.60%)2 | 2023-04 revision | A few job types excepted2 |
The deduction line shows the grade, not the raw salary. Matching that grade to the insurer's published table tells you whether the amount is right before asking HR anything.3
Premiums scale with salary
Contributions are computed from Standard Monthly Remuneration (標準報酬月額, hyōjun hōshū gekkyū, "Standard Monthly Remuneration," SMR): actual pay, including allowances, sorted into a graded table, with bonuses paid at intervals over three months excluded.3 Each bonus is assessed separately as the Standard Bonus Amount (標準賞与額, hyōjun shōyo gaku, "Standard Bonus Amount," SBA): the bonus rounded down to the nearest 1,000 yen.3
Grades have ceilings. The pension SMR ceiling is 650,000 yen, scheduled to rise in stages to 750,000 yen between September 2027 and September 2029, and the pension bonus ceiling is 1.5 million yen per payment (as of 2026-03-02); the Tokyo health-insurance example caps SMR at 1.39 million yen and yearly bonuses at 5.73 million yen (as of 2026-03-02).32 Earnings above a ceiling are simply not assessed further.
Leave can pause the meter. Workers on maternity or childcare leave may be exempted from both the worker's and the employer's contributions upon application.3 The exemption needs the application; it is not automatic.
How this contrasts with National Health Insurance
Both tracks satisfy the same universal-coverage mandate, but the money mechanics differ. Employee premiums are salary-proportional with an employer paying half, while National Health Insurance premiums are set by each municipality within limits and paid in full by the household.2 A raise moves an employee's premium the next cycle; a move across municipal lines moves an NHI bill instead.
Kyokai Kenpo health rates also vary by prefecture, published in annual per-prefecture tables after the uniform national rate ended in September 2009, while the 70/30 counter split is identical everywhere (as of 2026-03-02).72 The ward-by-ward premium math is detailed in NHI Premium Calculation; this overview keeps only the contrast.
Who Qualifies
The full-time rule
Covered workplaces are companies or factories employing 5 or more workers, plus every HOJIN corporation (legal entity) regardless of size.1 In principle, all regular employees, officers, and representatives at such a workplace are covered, with no opt-out for either side.1
Part-time workers join the same scheme once their weekly hours and monthly work days each reach three-fourths (75 percent) or more of a regular worker's at the same workplace (as of 2026-03-02; confirm current figures with the Japan Pension Service).1 Coverage starts when the employer files the enrollment application, due within 5 days after hiring, at the pension office or processing center covering the company.1
The post-2022 part-time expansion
Shorter-hours part-timers are still covered when all five conditions hold at once. The current thresholds are 20 or more weekly hours, an expected employment term of 2 months or longer, monthly wages of 88,000 yen or more, non-student status, and employment at a specific covered workplace (as of 2026-03-02).1 A specific covered workplace (特定適用事業所, tokutei tekiyō jigyōsho, "specific covered workplace") means one HOJIN number expected to employ more than 50 workers for 6 or more months per year, or a smaller workplace that opts in by employer-worker agreement (as of 2026-03-02).1
JETRO's employer guide still carries pre-October-2024 framing for this expansion, including a one-year employment prospect. The pension service's 2026 wording above governs; treat the one-year figure as superseded (limitation).12
Starting, changing, or leaving a job
Coverage ends when the job ends, and the employer files the loss report.8 Immediate re-employment at another covered workplace continues the same coverage in principle; otherwise a leaver aged 20 to 59 enrolls in the National Pension, and in municipal health insurance, without delay.8
Dependent spouses have their own track. A dependent spouse aged 20 to 59 of a company or public-sector worker can enroll in the National Pension as a Category-III insured person (第3号被保険者, dai-sangō hihokensha, "Category-III insured person") without paying contributions directly; residence in Japan has been required since April 1, 2020, with narrow exceptions such as study abroad or accompanying a detached worker.9
An employee's health insurance also covers qualifying dependents at no added premium. A dependent (扶養, fuyō, "dependent status") family member in Japan, mainly supported by the worker, is covered; a live-in dependent qualifies with annual income under 1.3 million yen and under half the worker's income, rising to 1.5 million yen for ages 19 to 22 except spouses and 1.8 million yen for ages 60 and over or certain disabilities (as of 2026-04-01).9 Retirees can continue the former employer's health coverage voluntarily through the insurer, and the step-by-step transfer mechanics belong to the planned job-change and continuation articles.1
The old coverage ends with the job while the new enrollment takes days to file. Confirm which scheme covers any medical visit in the gap week before canceling anything.8
Good to know
Your employer enrolls you; the ward office does not
New arrivals who previously handled National Health Insurance at the municipal counter sometimes walk to the ward office to enroll after starting a job. That trip is unnecessary: the employer files the employees' insurance application within 5 days after hiring.1 The useful check is asking HR whether the filing went through, not queuing at the counter.
Part-time workers near the hours line should confirm enrollment status
Coverage can switch on mid-employment when hours cross the three-fourths line or when the last unmet expansion condition clicks into place, for example when the expected term reaches two months or the employer crosses the 50-worker line (thresholds as of 2026-03-02).1 Schedules near the line should be rechecked with the employer each contract renewal rather than assumed stable either way.
Turning 40 adds long-term care premiums automatically
The 40th birthday trims take-home pay with no separate enrollment step, because the care premium joins the health-insurance deduction for ages 40 to 64.52 Anyone budgeting a multi-year stay should price the step in from the start rather than discovering it on the first payslip after the birthday.
A raise or bonus changes the deduction
Salary-proportional contributions mean every raise and every bonus moves the deduction in the following cycle.3 The flip side is the leave exemption: maternity or childcare leave can pause both the worker's and the employer's shares once the application is filed.3
Leaving a job ends coverage on a fixed clock
The employer files the loss report when the job ends, and the former worker must enter the next scheme promptly: re-employment continues the same coverage, while others enroll in the National Pension and municipal insurance, with the Category-III spouse path available to qualifying dependent spouses.89 Voluntary continuation of the former employer's health plan exists as a bridge, with details reserved for its own article.1
See also
- How Japan's Universal-Coverage System Works
- Health Insurance and Pension for Freelancers
- Health Insurance Society vs. Kyokai Kenpo
- The Dependent (Fuyo) System
- Sickness Allowance (Shobyo-Teate-Kin)
- Maternity and Childbirth Allowances