Public pension guidance for people living in or returning to Japan
Subject
Japanese Retirement, Explained Clearly
Willow Falcon Crest offers one-on-one consultations that explain Japan's public pension system: how enrolment and contribution records work, when to start drawing a benefit, and how the pensions of a household fit together.
Published by Willow Falcon Crest · Information only, not legal or tax advice
About Willow Falcon Crest
Willow Falcon Crest is a small consultation service in Hakodate, Hokkaido, that explains how Japan's public pension system works and helps people prepare for their own pension decisions. Most people only sit down with their pension record in the months before they retire, when the decisions are already urgent. We would like those conversations to happen earlier and more calmly, with the actual rules and your own documents on the table.
We start with the documents, not the assumptions.
A session usually begins with the papers you already have: the annual statement (nenkin teiki-bin), a contribution record from the Japan Pension Service, and a few notes on your jobs and any years abroad. The themes that come up most often are gaps in a record and mix-ups between the flat-rate national pension and the earnings-related employees' pension, which is why every consultation is organised around your own documents.
We also cover people who spent part of their working life outside Japan and need to understand totalization agreements, and couples where one partner has Category 3 insured status. This is an information and consultation service. We do not file claims for you, we do not act as your representative before the Japan Pension Service, and nothing we say is legal or tax advice. For formal procedures, the pension office or a licensed professional of your choice is the right contact.
What We Help You Work Through
- F-01
National Pension (Kokumin Nenkin)
We walk through your contribution history, projected benefit amounts, and the implications of any gaps in your record. Including voluntary contributions made while living abroad.
- F-02
Employees' Pension (Kosei Nenkin)
For those who spent years in salaried employment, we review how your earnings history affects your monthly benefit and what to expect from the Japan Pension Service's calculations.
- F-03
Benefit Timing Decisions
Claiming early reduces your monthly amount permanently. Deferring increases it. We help you map out the trade-offs based on your health, savings, and household situation.
- F-04
Spouse and Survivor Benefits
Japan's pension rules for spouses and dependents are often misunderstood. We explain how the rules usually work, and how your own choices can change a partner's future income.
How a Consultation Works
The process is short and in writing, so you know what you are agreeing to before you pay.
Send an enquiry
Email us at mail@willowfalconcrest.com or call +81 138-46-0677 during office hours (Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00). Tell us briefly what you want to cover and whether you prefer a video session or to meet in person in Hakodate. We reply by email.
Confirm the session
We send a written confirmation with the proposed date, time, format, fee and bank transfer details. Payment is made by bank transfer before the session. We also send a short checklist of documents to gather, including your nenkin teiki-bin if you have it.
Attend the consultation
The session lasts as long as the format you choose (45, 60 or 90 minutes). We go through your documents together, answer your questions, and note the steps you may want to take with the Japan Pension Service afterwards.
Receive a written summary
After the session we send a short written summary of what we covered and the figures we looked at. Use it as an aid in your own conversations with the Japan Pension Service or your employer's HR department; it is not an official document.
Which Topic Should You Start With?
Answer three short questions and we will suggest which subject to raise first. Your answers stay in this page and are not sent anywhere.
Situations People Bring to Us
These three examples are written for this page to show the kind of question people bring. They are not real client cases and they do not predict any result.
Example 1
A salaried employee in her late fifties
She has received her annual pension statement and the projected benefit looks lower than she expected. She has changed employers a few times and suspects a gap in her record.
We would go through the statement and a full contribution record side by side, look for months that are missing or recorded under the wrong category, and list what she could ask the Japan Pension Service to check. Whether anything is corrected is decided by the pension office.
Example 2
A self-employed couple in their early sixties
One partner was Category 3 insured for most of the marriage and is unsure whether there is any pension in their own name. The other is thinking about deferring the start of their benefit.
We would explain how Category 3 months count, show in general terms what deferral changes (0.7 percent more per month of deferral), and set the start-date options side by side. Amounts depend on each person's record and are confirmed only by the Japan Pension Service.
Example 3
A person who worked abroad for several years
He paid into both the Japanese system and a foreign one and wonders whether a totalization agreement applies to him.
We would check whether Japan has an agreement with that country, explain what such agreements do and do not do, and list the documents an application normally needs. Eligibility is decided by the pension authorities.
Annexed notes
Request a pension consultation
Fill in your name and email address (a phone number is optional) and add a line about what you would like to cover. The form opens your email program with the message ready; press Send there, and we will reply by email to arrange a time.