Director-General for Policy Planning (Pension)

Overview of the pension programs to public servants

The pension programs to public servants are designed for the employer of any public employee to issue a pension and/or other allowance to any public employee or their surviving family on the basis of the national government’s special relationship with that public employee when that employee retires, after having served faithfully for a specified number of years, or when they have retired due to an injury or illness stemming from their service, or when they have died due to their service. Founded in 1875, these are the oldest pension programs in Japan.

Entitled to such pensions are former military personnel, civil officials, teachers, police and prison officials, and other public employees. Pensions for non-military civil officials shifted from pension programs to mutual aid programs with the arrival of the National Public Service Mutual Aid Association Law of 1959.

Overview of pension affairs

Pension affairs include paperwork for: (1) investigating, planning, and drafting matters regarding the pension programs; (2) producing rulings on pension entitlements; (3) revising the yearly amounts of pensions; (4) determining and ruling appeals about pensions; (5) calculating and notifying amounts of pension entitlements; (6) withholding taxes; and (7) managing entitlement losses due to the death of pensioners and issuing other paperwork.