January 2025
21Jan

Japan to have more part-timers join employee pension program

Japan plans to have a wider range of part-time workers join the kosei nenkin employee pension program by changing some rules, sources have said. Currently, companies with 51 or more employees must have their part-time workers join the kosei nenkin program, which pays benefits on top of those paid under the basic pension program providing universal coverage. The government plans to lower the corporate size threshold to 21 employees in October 2027 and scrap it two years later. The government sees the need to...

January 21, 2025
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08Jan

Japan’s GPIF-commissioned report finds gaps in infrastructure assets data

Fund managers’ current data reporting practices for infrastructure assets do not provide Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund and other asset owners with adequate information to measure fair value and manage risks in their portfolios, a report commissioned by the pension fund found. Tokyo-based GPIF had ¥252.86 trillion ($1.61 trillion) in assets as of Sept. 30. Money managers that follow ethical guidance under the Global Investment Performance Standards are expected to provide “a full and fair disclosure of their performance,” but research...

January 8, 2025
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December 2024
06Dec

Household Saving in Japan: The Past, Present, and Future

By Charles Yuji Horioka This paper explores the determinants of the level of, and trends over time in, Japan’s household saving rate, with emphasis on the impact of the age structure of the population, and makes projections about future trends therein. The paper finds that Japan’s household saving rate has not always been high either absolutely or relative to other countries and that it was only during the 1961-86 period that it exceeded 15%. Past and future trends in Japan’s...

December 6, 2024
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November 2024
13Nov

Danish pension fund pushes for Japan, Korea to abandon coal

PensionDanmark, Denmark’s $51 billion pension fund, is calling on Japan and South Korea to completely wean themselves off coal-generated power by 2030. “We have decided not to finance new coal power planned after 2023 anywhere in the world," Jan Kæraa Rasmussen, head of ESG and sustainability at PensionDanmark told AsianInvestor. "Our ask for utilities in developed countries, including in Japan and South Korea, is that they present comprehensive plans to phase out coal as soon as possible. And that should be closer...

November 13, 2024
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October 2024
25Oct

Well-Being of Older People in East Asia: The People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea

By Hidehiko Ichimura, Xiaoyan Lei, Chulhee Lee, Jinkook Lee, Albert Park, & Yasuyuki Sawada East Asia is undergoing a rapid demographic transition and “super” aging. As a result of steadily decreasing fertility and increasing life expectancy, older people’s proportion of the population and the old-age dependency ratio is rising across all countries in East Asia, particularly in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK). In this paper, we empirically investigate the well-being of older...

October 25, 2024
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September 2024
18Sep

Japan faces labor shortages and demographic crisis as elderly population hits record high

Japan commemorated its “Respect for the Aged Day” earlier this week, with the national holiday underscoring a somewhat problematic fact — the country has a record number of elderly citizens to celebrate. Government data released ahead of the event showed that Japan’s population aged 65 and over had risen to an all-time high of 36.25 million. While the country’s overall population has been declining, the segment of those aged 65 and above has grown to 29.3% of the population, the highest...

September 18, 2024
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05Sep

Working till your 70s — Japan’s prospective gift to the world

Japanese people are living longer, but with a struggling pension system and the highest inflation in decades, more are delaying retirement until their 70s or later to make ends meet. Michie Hino is one of them. She works at an elderly care home east of Tokyo, where she spends eight hours a day cleaning the facility and washing laundry even though she’s 77 years old herself. She’s part of the workforce supporting Japan’s growing ranks of aged and infirm. Her monthly...

September 5, 2024
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August 2024
02Aug

Japan. Pension fund dumps ESG benchmark for passive investments

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), one of the largest managers of retirement savings in the world, has dumped the ESG index it had been using for its passive investments in previous years. In March, the fund said it has decided to change its benchmark from the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index to MSCI Nihonkabu ESG Select Leaders Index. This change means: the new benchmark excludes REIT there are 516 shares in the new benchmark compared to 239 shares in...

August 2, 2024
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July 2024
29Jul

Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments

Tokyo-based Beyond Next Ventures’ latest startup fund is 56% bigger than its predecessor, thanks to growing interest from the country’s traditionally risk-averse pension funds. Of the ¥25.7 billion ($160 million) the company raised for bets on cutting-edge tech and research startups, 20% came from trustees handling annuities and other long-term investments, according to the company. It’s one of the first signs that a trickle of money from the aging economy’s $$3.3 trillion’ worth of pension assets is going into the...

July 29, 2024
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25Jul

Japan to abolish gender-specific survivor’s pension benefits, introduce fixed-term payments

The Japanese welfare ministry is set to revise the survivor's welfare pension for men and women in their 20s to 50s without children, changing it to a five-year fixed-term benefit from the current gender-specific rule where the widow receives the benefit indefinitely if she is 30 or older, while the widower cannot receive payments unless he is 55 or older. The planned adjustment will be made over several decades to ensure that current recipients won't face a disadvantage. The ministry...

July 25, 2024
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