Enrollment in Employees' Pension Insurance and Employees' Health Insurance

Employees’ Pension Insurance (EPI) and Employees’ Health Insurance (EHI) are designed to help stabilize livelihood of company workers, in case of old age, disability or death.
For this purpose, workplaces which are subject to EPI / EHI shall be compulsory covered, and basically all workers of such workplaces, regardless of nationality, thus shall be covered by EPI / EHI by law. It is not a contract which employers or workers may opt for or may opt out of the coverage. The employers and workers all share salary-based contributions by law.

A company or factory which employs 5 workers or more, or a HOJIN corporation (legal entity or corporation) is subject to EPI / EHI covered workplace. Specifically, a company or a factory here means one in business specified by law, such as manufacturers.
If you work in such EPI / EHI covered workplace as a regular employee, officer, or representative, you must be covered by EPI / EHI.
If you are a part-timer, you must be covered if your weekly work hours and monthly work days are three fourth or more of those for regular workers in the same workplace. If your work hours and work days are less than that, you still must be covered if all the following 5 conditions apply to you:

1. your weekly work hours are 20 hours or more
2. your employment term is expected to be two months or longer
3. your monthly wage is ￥88,000 or more
4. you are not a student
5. you are employed by a "specific covered workplace."*

* "Specific covered workplace" means:

1. A workplace under one registered HOJIN (company) number, which is expected to employ more than 50 workers in 6 months or longer per year
2. A workplace with 50 workers or less, which apply for coverage on the agreement between the employer and the workers

Your employer must submit "Application to Enroll in EPI / EHI" if you are subject to coverage under EPI / EHI, within 5 days after your employment, to JPS branch office or the processing center which covers your company.