Please go to the SS home page: http://www.ssa.gov/ to check for yourself any information provided here. You can get your SS history and estimated retirement and survivors benefits statement from this site.

After you receive your history calculate your estimated benefits by using their online calculator at: http://www.ssa.gov/planners/calculators.htm

Be sure to take into account the Windfall Elimination Provision because the estimate of benefits may be lower than that shown on you history and benefits statement. Also, if you are short of the forty quarters (10 year) pay in requirement please see Totalization Agreement elsewhere in this section.

Japanese Pension:

I am told that you have to pay in 20 or 25 years into this system in order to get any benefits. However, I went to the National Pension Office and confirmed that, because of my age when I entered the system, I only have to pay in for 14 years and 3 months. You may want to check this out for yourself. The required pay-in period will, for many, be in effect eliminated under the Totalization Agreement. See below.

If you leave Japan before qualifying for benefits, I understand that you can apply at an overseas Japanese consulate to get some approximation of 3-5 years worth of the premiums that you have paid, subject to some maximum. I don't know how this will change with the Totalization Agreement . It may be that after leaving Japan, you may not want the refund as under the Agreement, you may qualify for a pension from Japan based on your contributions. For example if you paid in for 15 years it may be better to get a pension based on 15 years of contributions rather than a refund of only 5 years contributions. I have no idea how the Japanese government will enact provisions in this respect.

Totalization Agreement:

This Agreement was signed in February 2004. The Japanese government has ratified it and it went into effect on October 1, 2005. The biggest effect on my clients is that it provides that the minimum pay-in period ((14? to 25 years in Japan and 40 quarters (10 years) in the US)) can be met with pay-in periods in the other country. So even if you work only 3 or 4 years in Japan, you may qualify for a Japanese pension if you meet the Japanese (25 year?) requirement by counting years that you paid into the US social security system. The pension is likely to be very small, but every American who has ever paid into the Japanese Pension system should be aware of this. The Agreement does not address the issue of qualifying for US Medicare insurance. The SSA site gives the following explanation which I believe is reciprocal in qualifying for Japanese pension benefits:

Question

I have worked overseas. Can I apply this work to my Social Security record?

Answer

Your work overseas may help you to qualify for U.S. benefits if it was covered under a foreign Social Security system. The United States has Social Security agreements with a number of other countries. One of the main purposes of these agreements is to help people who have worked in both the United States and the other country, but who have not worked long enough in one country or the other to qualify for pension benefits.

Under the agreement, we can count your work credits in the other country if this will help you qualify for U.S. benefits. However, if you already have enough credits under U.S. Social Security to qualify for a benefit, we will not count your credits in the other country. If we count your foreign work credits, you will receive a partial U.S. benefit that is related to the length of time you worked under U.S. Social Security.

Although we may count your work credits in the other country, your credits are not actually transferred from that country to the United States. They remain on your record in the other country. It is therefore possible for you to qualify for a separate benefit payment from both countries.

Things you should do:

1. Contact any American friends who have left Japan to let them know about this Agreement.

2. Keep your little Japanese pension book FOREVER.

3. If you know of anyone who has left Japan and is applying for the 3-5 year refund of Japanese pension payments, you may want to tell them about this. I have no idea if the unrefunded portion of contributions will qualify for a Japanese pension. The person may decide that a Japanese pension at retirement age is better than the partial refund of contributions now.

4. If you are working private jobs in Japan purposefully to pay into US social security for 40 quarters (10 years) as a self-employed person, this may not be necessary under the Agreement. Your period of payment into the Japanese Pension System may satisfy this test.

5. It is important to be aware that the Agreement does not relate to US medicare benefits at age 65. If you plan to retire in the US and qualify for medicare, you still need to have 40 credits (ten years) of payments into medicare

6. Tell your Japanese friends who have worked in the US for more than generally 1 ? but less than the 10 years necessary to qualify for SS retirement benefits that they may qualify for SS benefits under the Agreement.