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Useful information on social insurance, subsidies, and labor management.
Delivered in an easy-to-understand manner from the perspective of a labor consultant.
What work can "Designated Activities No. 46" (graduates of Japanese universities) do? Scope of work, Japanese-language requirement, and the labour of employment
The "Designated Activities No. 46" status (graduates of Japanese universities) lets a foreign national who has graduated from a Japanese university or graduate school and has high Japanese ability (JLPT N1, or BJT 480 or more) work full-time in duties requiring smooth communication in Japanese. Work that is hard to allow under Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services — customer service, store operation, on-site work — can be included if it requires Japanese communication and uses learning from university (not simple labour only). Employment is full-time, and pay must be equal to or above a Japanese national's. This article sets out, from a Shakai Hoken Roumushi's view, the scope of work, the language requirement, the care in employment contracts and notice of working conditions, and social/labour insurance, separating the eligibility judgment and the change-of-status application to a Gyoseishoshi (filing agent).
Staffing standards and labour management at a day service (adult day care) — concurrent duties of the functional training instructor, living consultant and nursing staff
Staffing at a day service (adult day care) turns on placing a living consultant, nursing staff, care staff and a functional training instructor under the designation standard (Ministerial Ordinance No. 37 of 1999, Article 93), then designing shifts that keep meeting those numbers by the total volume of working hours. The living consultant and nursing staff are seen not by headcount but by hours secured throughout the provision period; care staff must be at least 1 up to 15 users, plus more above that. At least one of the living consultant or care staff must be full-time. This article sets out the labour range a Shakai Hoken Roumushi handles — working hours, shifts and full-time-equivalent counting — and separates the interpretation of the standard and the designation application to a Gyoseishoshi.
How to set up labor at a judo-therapy clinic — a judo therapist's working hours and how to think about opening hours
The starting point for labor at a judo-therapy (seikotsuin/sekkotsuin) clinic is to separate "reception hours (opening hours)" from an employee's "working hours." Even when no patient has come, waiting time in which staff must respond if a patient arrives counts as working hours. Social insurance for judo therapists and reception staff is compulsory with even one person at a corporation; for a sole proprietorship it turns on the industry classification. The opening notification is handled separately from labor.
Labor when opening a pharmacy — the full-time managing pharmacist and how to build the shift roster
A pharmacy's labor foundation is arranging shifts so the managing pharmacist can genuinely be full-time and dedicated, managing the working hours of pharmacists and registered sellers by law, and setting up social insurance early. Even a sole proprietorship is compulsorily covered for health and pension once it regularly uses five or more staff, and a corporation with even one owner. The opening license itself is a pharmaceutical-law procedure handled separately from labor.
Once you have 101 or more employees, must you file an action plan?
When the number of workers you employ on an ongoing basis reaches 101 or more, both the Act on Promotion of Women's Active Engagement and the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children make it mandatory to formulate, file, publicise and disclose a general employer action plan (Women's Active Engagement Act, Article 8; Next-Generation Act, Article 12). Information disclosure under the Women's Active Engagement Act (Article 20) is also mandatory, and a 2025 amendment expanded the duty to disclose the male-female wage gap and the ratio of women in management to employers with 101 or more from 1 April 2026 (previously 301 or more). Employers with 100 or fewer are under an obligation to make efforts. Eruboshi and Kurumin certification is voluntary.
Staffing and night-shift labour management at a fee-charging elderly home with care (specified facility)
Labour management at a fee-charging elderly home with care (specified facility residents' daily-life care) turns on meeting the designation's staffing standard on a full-time-equivalent basis while designing night-shift working hours and premium wages exactly as the law requires. The combined number of nursing and care staff must be at least one per three residents needing care, on a full-time-equivalent basis (Ministerial Ordinance No. 37 of 1999). Night placement is normally actual night-shift work; even if it is called "night duty," unless it meets the permission standard of ordinarily almost no need to work (Labor Standards Act, Article 41, item 3; Notice Hatsuki No. 17), it is working time subject to late-night and overtime premiums. This article sets out full-time-equivalent counting, the variable working-hours system for 16-hour night shifts, and work rules and the 36 Agreement.
Employing a foreigner at "remuneration equal to or higher than a Japanese national": proving equivalence and the working-conditions notice
"Remuneration equal to or higher than a Japanese national" is a requirement written into the residence-status criteria ordinances. For Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, item 3 of the relevant landing-criteria ordinance requires "remuneration equal to or higher than that received when a Japanese national performs the work"; for Specified Skilled Worker, Article 1(1)(iii) of the criteria ordinance requires "the amount of remuneration for the foreigner to be equal to or higher than that for a Japanese national." Proof is assembled with the wage rules, wage table, and an explanation of the comparison. The residence-status application itself is the work of a Gyoseishoshi (Yotsuba Gyoseishoshi Office), a separate business contracted separately.
The 2025 employment insurance reform: how did the benefit restriction for voluntary resignation and the education-training benefit change?
For those who leave voluntarily on or after April 1, 2025 (Reiwa 7), the benefit restriction on the basic allowance (unemployment benefit) was shortened from a general 2 months to 1 month. Under the amending act (Act No. 26 of 2024), which amended Article 33 of the Employment Insurance Act, taking training around the time of separation can also lift the restriction. The education-training benefit rate was raised from October 2024 to up to 80% for professional practical training and up to 50% for specified general training. Whether benefits apply is decided by Hello Work; this article only introduces the framework.
When opening an inn or hotel, how do you treat split shifts, live-in staff, and night-time naps?
Labor management at inns and hotels is decided by three things: the split shifts where peaks come morning and evening, the line between life and work for live-in staff, and the night-front nap. A midday break is a rest period if the worker is fully released from work, but working hours if it is on-call standby. Inns with large seasonal swings use a one-month (Article 32-2) or one-year (Article 32-4) variable working hours system, but with the one-year type the 44-hour special measure cannot be used even for a workplace of fewer than ten workers, so it is calculated at 40 hours a week. Designing work rules and the dormitory/on-duty permit is for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi, the inn business license for a Gyoseishoshi, and the building's use and structure for an architect (each a separate business entity, contracted separately).
Supporting Specified Skilled Worker (i) in-house — what system and labor management run the mandatory support?
A company accepting a Specified Skilled Worker (i) must create a support plan and carry out the ten items of mandatory support. Doing this yourself, without commissioning a registered support organization, is "in-house support." It has support-system standards: from officers/employees who over the past two years properly accepted or handled medium-to-long-term residents (work-status) or their consultations, you must appoint a support supervisor and a support officer (at least one per office) and have a system that carries out support neutrally in a language the worker can sufficiently understand (Article 2-5 of the Immigration Control Act; Ministry of Justice Ordinance No. 5 of 2019). If you can no longer continue in-house support, you can switch to commissioning a registered support organization. The labor management that runs the support — attendance, wages, work rules, social insurance — is for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; agency for residence applications and filing the support plan is for a Gyoseishoshi (application agent) or a registered support organization; the grant/denial decision is for the Immigration Services Agency (each a separate business entity, contracted separately).
When you provide a dormitory for technical intern trainees or specified skilled foreign workers, is a filing of dormitory rules required?
When a dormitory a company provides falls under the "business-attached dormitory" of the Labor Standards Act, there is a duty to create dormitory rules and file them with the head of the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office (Article 95 of the Labor Standards Act). For technical intern trainees and specified skilled workers, separate housing-environment standards (bedroom floor area, etc.) overlap, so both the Act's dormitory rules and the receiving side's housing standards must be met. Deducting dormitory fees from wages requires a labor-management agreement on wage deduction. Creating and filing dormitory rules and putting labor management in order are for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; residence-status application agency is for a Gyoseishoshi; selecting and leasing the property is for a real estate company (each a separate business entity, contracted separately).
When introducing telework (working from home), how do you arrange the rules on working hours and cost-bearing?
Even if you introduce telework (working from home), the Labor Standards Act applies the same way. In principle the employer has a duty to grasp working hours by objective records and the like, and the off-premises deemed working-hours system (Article 38-2 of the Labor Standards Act) may be used only in certain cases where working hours are hard to calculate. When workers bear, or are paid, communication costs or a work-from-home allowance, set it out in the work rules (an establishment with 10 or more workers at all times has a duty to create and file them; Article 89 of the Labor Standards Act). The MHLW guideline on the appropriate introduction and implementation of telework (revised 25 March 2021) organizes the thinking on grasping working hours and cost-bearing. Putting telework and work rules in order is for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; the taxation of costs and their treatment as necessary expenses is for a tax accountant (a separate business entity, contracted separately).
Social insurance for construction businesses and the special labor-insurance enrollment of a one-person master (hitori-oyakata)
A construction business license requires "appropriate social insurance enrollment" in health insurance, employees' pension and employment insurance (the amended Construction Business Act, in force from 1 October 2020). A one-person master (hitori-oyakata), who works without using workers as a rule, is not a "worker" under labor insurance, so to be covered they use the special enrollment for one-person masters (Type 2, Article 35 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act) through an association. This differs, in both the enrollment channel and the requirements, from the special enrollment of a small and medium business owner who hires workers (Type 1, Article 34). Enrollment procedures are for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; the construction license application is for a Gyoseishoshi (a separate business entity, contracted separately).
When a fixed-term contract exceeds five years in total, how does the conversion to a permanent contract arise?
When a fixed-term labor contract with the same employer exceeds five years in total, the worker gains the right to apply for conversion to a permanent (no-fixed-term) contract (Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Labor Contract Act). If the worker applies, the employer is deemed to have accepted, and the next contract becomes one with no fixed term. Unless there is a separate provision, the working conditions after conversion are the same as the immediately preceding fixed-term contract. If there is a gap of six months or more between contracts (cooling), the total resets. Putting work rules in order and labor-management response are for a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; an individual dispute such as a non-renewal to dodge conversion is for an attorney (a separate business entity, contracted separately).
The child and childcare support levy — how does it affect payroll from 2026?
The child and childcare support levy is a new charge collected on top of medical insurance premiums from April 2026 (Reiwa 8) to fund measures against the falling birthrate. Under employees' insurance, the company and the employee split it, and the premiums withheld from pay rise. The first thing a business must do is reflect the new rate shown by its health insurer in its payroll system and check the deduction amount and payslip display. Payroll reflection and social insurance procedures are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; year-end tax adjustment is a tax accountant's — each contracted separately as separate, independent entities.
Labor at a dental clinic and dental lab — part-time and shorter-hours dental hygienists and how to think about social insurance
For social insurance, a dental clinic is a "medical business" and a dental lab a "manufacturing business," the opposite of service industries such as restaurants and beauty salons. Even a sole proprietorship becomes compulsorily covered for health and pension once it regularly uses five or more staff, and a corporation is covered with even one director. Part-time dental hygienists and technicians' overtime are designed on this foundation, drawing the line by hours. Work rules and social insurance procedures are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; the opening notification a Gyoseishoshi's; tax a tax accountant's; property a real estate agent's — each contracted separately as separate, independent entities.
Opening a hair salon — how do you set commission pay, chair rental, and social insurance?
At a hair salon, commission pay must still meet the minimum wage and the guaranteed wage, and the line between chair rental (subcontracting) and employment is decided by the actual working reality, not the title of the contract. Whether health and pension insurance is compulsory turns on corporation versus sole proprietor and on headcount. Work rules and social insurance are the work of a Shakai Hoken Roumushi; the beauty-salon notification of a Gyoseishoshi; contracts and disputes of an attorney; tax of a tax accountant; and property of a real estate agent — each contracted separately as separate, independent entities.
How far do foreign executives and officers enroll in Japan's social insurance?
A representative who comes to Japan on the Business Manager status and sets up a corporation is an insured person for health and pension insurance if they receive remuneration. Officers are, in principle, outside workers' accident and employment insurance, but the treatment changes for an employee-officer. Enrollment in and payment of social insurance are also examined at residence-status renewal. Residence status and company setup are the work of a Gyoseishoshi, registration of a judicial scrivener, and tax of a tax accountant — each contracted separately as separate, independent entities.
When you move from technical intern training to specified skilled worker, what happens to social and labour insurance? (food service, manufacturing)
If you only change the residence status from technical intern training to Specified Skilled Worker (i) at the same company, the insured status for health insurance, employees' pension, workers' accident compensation and employment insurance in principle continues, and no loss or acquisition procedure is needed, because insurance attaches to the employment relationship, not the residence status. When the move involves changing companies, a loss procedure at the old company and an acquisition procedure at the new one are needed. A Specified Skilled Worker (i)'s pay must be equal to or higher than a Japanese worker's, so a wage rise may call for a revision of the standard monthly remuneration. Checking and handling social and labour insurance and designing wages is a Shakai Hoken Roumushi's work; the residence-status change application and registered support organisation work belong to a Gyoseishoshi, and you contract with each separately as an independent business entity.
Were the "comprehensive-support type" and "specific-programme type" introduced for after-school day services? Staffing and add-on labour after the 2024 revision
The two types "comprehensive-support type" and "specific-programme (specialised) type" were not introduced in the FY2024 (Reiwa 6) remuneration revision. They were a proposal at the study stage. What was actually decided was to make comprehensive support covering all five domains the basis, to make preparing and publishing a support programme mandatory (a 15% reduction of the set units if not published, enforced 1 April 2025), and to divide the basic remuneration by support-time bands. The staffing standards themselves did not change. What matters for labour is full-time-equivalent conversion and working-hour management. Designing staffing, FTE, work rules and shifts is a Shakai Hoken Roumushi's work; the designation application belongs to a Gyoseishoshi, and add-on calculation and NHIF billing are done by the establishment, each under a separate contract as an independent business entity.
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