RetireJapan

When I first came to Japan, I remember being hustled around by my company at the time to sign up for a bank account, health insurance and pension. I spoke almost no Japanese so relied on staff to help me fill in the forms. I ended up with an incorrect (and incomplete) katakana hanko and a blue pension book with my first and second name in reverse order. My middle name was also missing.

That mistake has been following me around for 12 years and results in my name on my payslips and health insurance for my family always being in the wrong order too. So far it hasn't really caused any issues, but I thought it may end up costing me my pension if "computer says no" because my name doesn't match my ID when I try to cash out. My securities accounts, mynumber, passport, driving license etc. are all correct and include my middle name.

Has anyone else had this issue and managed to change or correct their name registered with the pension service?

I wouldn't be overly concerned about not getting your pension. Now that My Number links all your government accounts together, what name is on various things is going to be less of an issue.

Probably makes sense to get it fixed though. My old pension book was in a different name, then it is crossed out and replaced with my passport name, so there definitely seems to be a mechanism to record changes

I had the same issue and even my house was bought and registered under that incorrect name. I remember doing something at city hall to fix the name (can't remember what now - sorry!) and then I had to get an official document writer to change the names on certain documents such as my house title. I did have to pay for that and I think was a bit more than I had expected or hoped. It was a pain, but it was possible. I joined the pension later as I had been misinformed by city hall itself that i didn't need to join many years ago, so by the time I joined the name stuff had been sorted. I'm really sorry I can't remember all the ins and outs but I would start by going to city hall and just asking what you should do.

goodandbadjapan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:29 pmofficial document writer

That is the best translation of 行政書士 and 司法書士 I have ever seen. Well done.

AreTheyTheLemmings? wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 11:35 pm

goodandbadjapan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:29 pmofficial document writer

That is the best translation of 行政書士 and 司法書士 I have ever seen. Well done.

Ha, I think scrivener would be more concise!

AreTheyTheLemmings? wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 11:35 pm

goodandbadjapan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:29 pmofficial document writer

That is the best translation of 行政書士 and 司法書士 I have ever seen. Well done.

Ha, just a simple way to describe the job! I think scrivener would be the right word.