Pension and Health Insurance for Japanese Chefs Working Abroad

Chefs about to work in a Japanese restaurant abroad tend to ask two things: what happens to my Japanese pension, and can I use Japanese health insurance if I get sick abroad? The answers depend almost entirely on whether they stay employed by a Japanese company or are hired directly by the overseas company.

This guide is written so employers can explain it to their chefs. It covers pension and health insurance by type of arrangement, based on the Japan Pension Service, the Japan Health Insurance Association (Kyokai Kenpo) and the relevant legislation.

1. Three ways of working abroad

For a full comparison when choosing between secondment and local hire, see secondment vs local hire. This guide focuses on what the chef and the company need to do in each case.

2. Secondees: when Japanese health insurance and pension continue

According to a Japan Pension Service leaflet, when an employee works abroad while keeping their employment relationship with a Japanese employer covered by employees' pension, and that employer pays some or all of their salary, health insurance and employees' pension coverage generally continues.

The leaflet also explains which pay counts toward the standard monthly remuneration on which contributions are based.

• Anything received regularly and in substance as payment for work, and shown on the payslip, is as a rule counted as remuneration.
• Pay from the overseas workplace also counts if the Japanese company's pay or secondment rules show that it is in substance paid by the Japanese company.
• Pay the overseas workplace makes directly under its own rules, where the Japanese company's rules say nothing about overseas staff, does not count.

In other words, how you write the secondment rules decides whether pay made abroad enters the Japanese contribution calculation. Check with the pension office while drafting the rules. The same leaflet tells employers to consult their pension office if a case does not fit its examples.

3. When a secondee sees a doctor abroad

A secondee who stays on Japanese health insurance can use Kyokai Kenpo's overseas medical expenses benefit (kaigai ryoyohi). According to Kyokai Kenpo, it refunds part of the cost when someone travelling or on assignment abroad falls suddenly ill or is injured and has no choice but to be treated locally.

• Scope: only treatment recognised as insured treatment in Japan. Travelling abroad in order to get treatment is not covered.
• Amount: the cost the same treatment would have had at a Japanese medical institution (or the amount actually paid, if lower), minus the patient's share.
• Timing: the review usually takes several months.
• Payment: money cannot be sent abroad directly, so the chef nominates the employer or a family member in Japan to receive it.
• Documents: the claim form, a statement of treatment (forms are available in English and other languages), proof of the travel period and a consent form, among others.

Because the refund is based on Japanese medical costs, the gap between what the chef pays and what comes back may be large in countries with expensive healthcare. Decide before departure how local insurance or private cover will fill it. Companies whose employees are in a corporate health insurance society rather than Kyokai Kenpo should check that society's own guidance.

4. Family members who go too

Since 1 April 2020, a person generally needs an address in Japan (a residence record) to be recognised as a dependant on health insurance, including as a category 3 national pension member. According to the Japan Pension Service, the following are recognised by exception.

• A family member accompanying an insured person on an overseas assignment (supporting documents such as the visa, the assignment order and a copy of a residence certificate from a foreign public authority)
• A student studying abroad
• Someone travelling abroad temporarily for purposes other than work, such as tourism, rest or volunteering
• Someone whose family relationship with the insured person arose during the assignment, such as through marriage or birth abroad
• Others judged to have the basis of their life in Japan

When a spouse or child leaves Japan with the chef, and when they return, a notification to the Japan Pension Service is needed. If an accompanying family member starts working abroad, or otherwise stops meeting the exception, they cease to be a dependant. For bringing family generally, see our guide on bringing family and each country's rules (in Japanese).

5. Local hires: national health insurance and national pension

National health insurance

Article 5 of the National Health Insurance Act makes people with an address in a prefecture members of national health insurance (kokumin kenko hoken). Once a chef files notice of moving abroad and no longer has an address in Japan, they fall outside it. For a local hire, medical cover comes from the host country's scheme and any insurance the employer provides.

Voluntary national pension

According to the Japan Pension Service, Japanese nationals can join the national pension voluntarily between the ages of 20 and 64, even while living abroad long term.

• Where to apply: before moving, at the municipal office where they live; once abroad, at the pension office covering their last address in Japan. Someone who has never had an address in Japan applies to the Chiyoda pension office.
• How to pay: a relative or other helper in Japan pays on their behalf, or contributions are debited from a bank account in Japan.

Joining is the chef's decision, but mentioning it at the offer stage takes some of the worry out of moving abroad.

6. How this fits with local schemes

If a secondee stays in the Japanese schemes and must also join the host country's, contributions are paid twice. Social security agreements deal with this. According to the Japan Pension Service, an employee sent to an agreement country for an expected period of five years or less stays in the Japanese system only and is exempt from the host country's, provided the Japanese employer applies for a certificate of coverage.

Japan had agreements in force with 24 countries as of 2 June 2026, but not with Singapore, Hong Kong or the UAE, for example. The schemes covered and procedures by country are in social security agreements and chefs.

7. Checklist before departure

For tax, see tax for employees working abroad. For housing and travel costs, see housing, flights and relocation allowances.

General information, not social insurance advice. The treatment in each case depends on the employment contract, the secondment rules and the health insurer. Check the official sources below, verified in September 2026, and consult the pension office, the health insurer or a sharoshi (labour and social security attorney).