In Japan, when you turn 60 you officially stop paying into the Nenkin national pension system and you can choose to take “early retirement” at a reduced rate (76%), or opt to wait until 65, 70, or 75 to receive monthly payments at higher rates.
If you haven’t reached the 480 month contribution maximum, you can elect to pay into the system for another 5 years. I am not even close to that threshold thanks to a major misunderstanding with Tod’s company system, so I decided to keep paying pension.
Yesterday I went to the city office and filled in the forms to pay my pension for another half decade. Transactions at Kamogawa city hall are a pleasure: relaxed, efficient, and friendly. I may start out a bit anxious over official paperwork, but I end up leaving with a smile and with my completed task. (I even paid my annual KIRA membership fee yesterday because Watanabe-san was in the general office and came over to remind me!)
When I start my Japanese pension at 65, I’ll have a bit more in the pot thanks to the extra five years I pay in. And as US citizen who qualifies for Social Security, I can claim that pension, too. Again, it’s not going to be much – such is the financial life of a career-switching international creative person – but a little more is better than nothing.
My Japan pension will be smaller than small. Starting at 65 there are mandatory “long-term care insurance premiums” deducted from the pension. From age 40-64, care insurance is bundled into the National Health payment, so I am already paying it; at 65 the structure of the health insurance payments splits, and then the entire health insurance system shifts at age 75 to something different again.
Lifelong learning is real. I guess you never really stop adulting.
