Japan's Public Pension Policy

It was in 1961 that the Japanese national pension (>i>Kokumin nenkin>/i>) for self-employed people was established. This opened the door to a universal pension system that included existing mutual aid association pensions (>i>Kyosai nenkin>/i>) for public service employees and employee pensions (>i>Kosei nenkin>/i>) for private sector workers. National pension benefit payments began almost ten years laterâsince, as an interim measure, people over fifty years of age when the system was established were allowed to receive benefits after a contribution period of five to ten years.