Japanese university pension

[jonnyd]

I wanted to ask some questions about the Japanese pension for university professors.
I think it's called Kosei Nenkin? When I was looking it up it says it pays a pension that is much higher than Kokumin Nenkin.
It said it basically pays half of your salary when you retire. But I was wondering if I join it now at 44, and stop paying at 65, how will it be able to pay half my salary since I only worked for 20 years or so and not the full amount?

[fools_gold]

It won't. The amount you get depends on the length of service and your average monthly salary. I can't remember the exact calculation, but I'm in the same boat as you and am expecting half the pension of my colleagues who have been here forever.

[regular]

You can probably expect 1 million yen annually BEFORE taxes and other deduction for contributing 21 years, slightly more if your salary (and so contribution) is higher.

[jonnyd]

I just had a look at how to calculate it and it's impossible to calculate. Do you know how much I would get as an estimate if I got in the range of 5-8 million, so say on average 7 million to be conservative if I work at a Japanese uni for the next 20 years.
Also if I only work 10 years would I still get kosei nenkin?

[beanhead]

Also if I only work 10 years would I still get kosei nenkin?

The answer to this is yes.

If the rough estimate is 1/2 salary for those who paid in full, that will be based on 40 years. So a rule of thumb for you may be around half again, if you contribute for 20 years instead of 40.

If you are paying in already, nenkin.net will give you a simulation. As we know, kokumin nenkin alone is max 800,000 yen per year, again based on 40 years of payments. So it definitely makes sense to contribute to kosei nenkin to do all you can to increase that measly sum.
Ben has written on his blog about guaranteed government pensions vs investments, in case you are wondering whether it is worth it...

[jonnyd]

I plan to pay my UK pension to then I get the full UK pension and also the kosei nenkin.

Will it also pay my wife's pension, I read somewhere it will?

[beanhead]

I plan to pay my UK pension to then I get the full UK pension and also the kosei nenkin.

Will it also pay my wife's pension, I read somewhere it will?

If your wife does not work, or works part-time and earns less than 1.5M per year, she is your dependent (配偶者) in terms of shakai hoken (nenkin and health insurance).
Dependent spouses get their kokumin nenkin included for free if the working partner is paying for kosei nenkin.

Examples in the tables here:
https://townwork.net/magazine/knowhow/t ... 特別控除満額の年収額

[Tokyo]

Agree with @regular, above. Twenty years in the system should give you Kosei nenkin of around ¥1 million a year. Plus you and your wife will presumably get a similar half proportion of Kokumin nenkin of say 800,000 combined.

The bad news is that this ¥1.8 mill total will be far too modest to provide anything but a very basic retired life - you can certainly forget overseas travel. The good news is that you still have 20 years to invest to boost that income to provide a more comfortable retirement.

[Tkydon]

But the good news is that there is a special tax deduction, and so the taxes due will be much lower than on regular salary income.

[regular]

Tkydon

There is a special calculation for taishokuin that I know of, but it is a one time thing at the end of career. Is there a special deduction for pension itself, which is a recurring bimonthly thing? CaptainSpoke and other retired professors drawing pension mentioned paying 33000 yen in health insurance monthly and also substantial amount for kaigo hoken. Can you please elaborate with example for a hypothetical pensioner drawing 2 million yen annually, with no other source of income.