Japan Pension Letters: Payment Slips, Reminders, and How to Apply for an Exemption
Got a booklet of payment slips or a postcard from the Japan Pension Service (日本年金機構)? What the National Pension letters mean, what you owe in fiscal 2026, and how the exemption and postponement system works.
If you live in Japan and you are not enrolled in a pension through an employer, sooner or later a thick envelope from the Japan Pension Service (日本年金機構, Nihon Nenkin Kiko) turns up. It contains a year's worth of payment slips. If those slips go unpaid, postcards and letters follow.
A lot of people put these in a drawer because they are not sure whether they apply to foreigners. They do. Here is what the letters mean and what you can do about them, including how to apply for a reduced or zero payment if money is tight.
Who has to pay National Pension
The Japan Pension Service's information sheet for foreign residents is direct about it: all residents of Japan aged 20 to 59, regardless of nationality, must be covered by the National Pension system by law.
How you are covered depends on your situation. The JPS enrollment page splits people into three categories:
- Category I: residents aged 20 to 59 who are not in the other two groups, "e.g. self-employed persons, students ... unemployed persons." You pay contributions yourself, and you have to register at your municipal office within 14 days.
- Category II: people enrolled in Employees' Pension Insurance (厚生年金) through their job. Your employer handles enrollment and the contribution comes out of your salary.
- Category III: dependent spouses of Category II members, aged 20 to 59.
The payment slips are for Category I. If you work for a company that enrolls you in Employees' Pension, you should not be receiving them. If you do receive them, check with your employer. Also, when you leave a job, you normally move from Category II to Category I, and that is often when the letters start.
What you owe in fiscal 2026
The National Pension contribution is ¥17,920 a month from April 2026 to March 2027, according to the JPS contributions page. The amount is the same for everyone in Category I. It does not depend on income, although exemptions (below) do.
Each month's contribution is due by the end of the following month. April's contribution, for example, is due by May 31.
The envelope of payment slips
Each spring, JPS mails a set of payment slips (納付書, nofusho) covering the whole fiscal year. For fiscal 2026 they were sent on April 1, 2026, and covered April 2026 through March 2027, according to JPS's notice. If you enroll partway through the year, slips arrive after your enrollment is processed.
The envelope usually contains:
- Monthly slips, one per month, each showing the month it covers (for example 令和8年4月分, "April 2026 portion") and its deadline (納付期限).
- Prepayment slips (前納) for paying several months ahead at once, at a small discount.
- A form for automatic bank transfer (口座振替).
You can pay the slips at banks, post offices and convenience stores, or by scanning the barcode with a smartphone payment app. JPS also offers automatic bank transfer, credit card payment and online payment. Paying in advance by bank transfer or credit card earns a discount: in the JPS postcard translated below, paying two years ahead by bank transfer saves ¥17,370 at fiscal 2026 rates.
A missed deadline does not make a slip useless. JPS's payment slip page says you can still pay a month's contribution for two years after its deadline. After that, the month can no longer be paid and stays a gap in your record.
The reminder postcard
If a month goes unpaid, JPS sends reminders. One common one goes to people who have left a job. JPS publishes a tentative English translation of that postcard, and it is worth reading if one lands in your mailbox. It says that JPS's records show contributions unpaid for a given month, and it gives you two paths: pay, or apply for an exemption or postponement if you cannot.
The postcard also spells out why JPS cares:
- You "may not be able to receive disability pension or survivors' pension" if something happens to you.
- For every 12 unpaid months, your future annual pension could be lower "by as much as 20,000 yen for the rest of your life."
There is also a practical reason for foreign residents. The JPS information sheet warns that failing to pay, or to apply for exemption, "may affect change and extension of your resident status for specified skilled workers or application for permanent visa." If you plan to apply for permanent residency, a clean pension record matters.
If you have just paid or applied for an exemption, the postcard itself says to disregard it.
If you can't pay: exemption and postponement
Japan has a formal system for reducing or deferring contributions when your income is low, and it is often the best answer to a pile of unpaid slips. There are several options:
- Full exemption, or 3/4, 1/2 or 1/4 exemption. You pay nothing, ¥4,480, ¥8,960 or ¥13,440 a month at fiscal 2026 rates, depending on which you are granted.
- Payment postponement (納付猶予) for people under 50, based on your own and your spouse's income.
- Student Payment Special System (学生納付特例), a postponement for students.
According to the JPS information sheet, the income limits for a single-person household are roughly:
| Result | Annual income below | You pay each month |
|---|---|---|
| Full exemption or postponement | ¥1,220,000 | ¥0 |
| 3/4 exemption | ¥1,430,000 | ¥4,480 |
| 1/2 exemption | ¥1,940,000 | ¥8,960 |
| 1/4 exemption | ¥2,510,000 | ¥13,440 |
| Student special postponement | ¥1,940,000 | ¥0 |
The limits go up with the number of dependents. The income of your spouse and your head of household (世帯主) is also checked, so a low personal income alone does not guarantee approval.
Some rules that surprise people:
- Your first year often qualifies. The JPS sheet notes that exemption "is generally granted for your first year in Japan" because your previous-year income is not on record with Japanese tax offices.
- One application covers July to the following June. You normally reapply every July. If you are granted full exemption or postponement, the form lets you ask to be screened again automatically the following year.
- You can apply retroactively for up to 25 months, per the JPS application guide. Months you already paid are not refunded.
- Partial exemptions only count if you pay the rest. If you are granted a 1/2 exemption and don't pay the other half, that month is treated as unpaid.
- Leaving a job has a special rule. People who retired or lost their job can apply as if they had no income, regardless of their actual income. The postcard translation mentions this. Bring proof such as your employment insurance documents.
How to apply
- Online through Mynaportal with your My Number Card (the menu is in Japanese: 年金 → 保険料の免除・納付猶予).
- In person or by post at your municipal office's National Pension counter (国民年金課 or similar) or at a JPS branch office.
The application form can be filled in "either in Japanese language, English alphabets or numbers," according to the JPS guide, which also includes a filled-in example.
What an exemption means later
Exempted months still count toward the 10 years you need to qualify for an old-age pension. A fully exempt month from April 2009 onward counts as half a paid month when your benefit is calculated, according to the JPS exemption page. If your finances improve, you can make up exempted months within 10 years to restore the full amount.
Help in English
JPS runs the Nenkin Kanyusha Dial (0570-003-004) with free interpretation. English is available on weekdays and on the second Saturday of the month, with longer hours on Mondays. Have your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号) ready. It is printed on your slips and on any JPS letter.
If you are leaving Japan for good, look into the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment, which can refund part of what you paid. The JPS international pages cover it.
Keeping track of it all
Pension mail is easy to lose track of. There is a spring envelope of slips, monthly deadlines, a July reapplication and reminder postcards in between. If you would rather not decode each one yourself, Jozu reads a photo of the letter, explains it in plain English, and pulls out the deadlines so they land on your calendar. For anything about your own record, the JPS hotline or your nearest pension office has the authoritative answer.