Japan, with its declining birthrate and aging population, must inevitably reduce the role of public pensions and seek a more prominent role for private pension plans. This report presents the recent developments in the reform of the defined contribution (DC) pension system in Japan. With...

The actuarial valuation report of the Japanese public pension system was released in June 2014. It showed that the success of the government growth strategy holds key to the public pension system's sustainability. Also, the assumption for the expected return on the public pension reserve fund...

Japan's public pension system underwent radical reforms in 2004, and the results of the first financial review under the new regime were released in February 2009. Although the review concluded that systemic revisions were unnecessary, some observers have criticized the report for its use of...

Japan had over 3.21 million people enrolled in defined contribution (DC) plans as of end-March 2009. Although the plans are steadily gaining in popularity, there are still a number of issues that must be worked out. In this article, we propose some fundamental DC reforms, including making...

Within Japan's aging society, public pensions in which the working generation supports retirees will by necessity play a reduced role, while corporate pensions will gradually become more important. Among corporate pensions, traditional defined benefit plans have changed dramatically since...