Take-home pay in Japan: what comes off your salary and why

Your take home pay in Japan doesn’t need a salary calculator: for foreigners, payslip deductions follow the same official tables as for everyone else. As of October 2026, a Tokyo employee under 40 pays about 14.7% of pay in social insurance (health insurance, pension, a child support levy and employment insurance), then income tax on the rest. On a ¥300,000 monthly salary that leaves about ¥249,610 in your first year. Resident tax (住民税) is added from the June after your first 1 January in Japan.

What comes off a salary in Japan?

Your payslip (給与明細) usually shows these deductions (控除):

Social insurance is mandatory for you as it is for a Japanese employee. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省) says labor and social insurance laws apply to foreigners the same as to Japanese nationals, regardless of nationality. The Japan Pension Service (日本年金機構) says foreign nationals allowed to work must be covered at a corporation, or at a non-corporate business with 5 or more employees in a type of business set by law. Your visa type and PR status don’t change this.

How are health insurance and pension premiums calculated?

They are not a percentage of your exact pay. Your pay is placed in a band, the standard monthly remuneration (標準報酬月額), and the rate is applied to that band. Pay from ¥290,000 to under ¥310,000, for example, counts as ¥300,000.

• Health insurance. On Kyokai Kenpo (協会けんぽ), the rate is set by prefecture. Tokyo’s is 9.85% from March 2026 pay. You pay half: ¥14,775 at ¥300,000.
• Long-term care insurance. From age 40 to 64 you also pay 1.62%, which takes the Tokyo rate to 11.47%. Your half at ¥300,000 rises to ¥17,205.
• Child support levy. From April 2026 pay (collected in May), Kyokai Kenpo adds 0.23%. Your half at ¥300,000 is ¥345.
• Employees’ Pension. 18.3%, fixed since September 2017, split in half: ¥27,450 at ¥300,000. Pension bands run from ¥88,000 to ¥650,000, so pay above ¥650,000 a month pays the top amount.

The band is reset each September, based on your average pay from April to June. Overtime in those months can move you into a higher band for the next 12 months. Bonuses are charged too, capped at ¥1.5 million per payment for pension.

This example uses Kyokai Kenpo’s Tokyo table. Kyokai Kenpo publishes a separate table for each prefecture, and not every employer is in Kyokai Kenpo. Your payslip shows the exact health insurance amount.

How much is employment insurance in FY2026?

For FY2026 (April 2026 to March 2027), the worker share for most businesses is 5/1,000 (0.5%) of your pay, down from 5.5/1,000 in FY2025. Your employer pays 8.5/1,000. In construction, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and sake brewing, the worker share is 6/1,000.

You are covered, foreigner or not, if you are scheduled to work 20 hours or more a week and are expected to be employed for 31 days or more. This is the insurance behind unemployment benefits if you lose your job.

How is income tax withheld from my salary?

Each month your employer subtracts your social insurance from your pay and looks up the rest in the National Tax Agency’s withholding table (源泉徴収税額表). The amounts include the reconstruction special income tax (復興特別所得税). There are two columns:

• 甲 (kō) column: for people who gave the employer the dependents declaration (給与所得者の扶養控除等申告書). The tax drops with each dependent.
• 乙 (otsu) column: for everyone else. It is much higher.

At ¥255,930 after social insurance, the 2026 table gives ¥6,320 in the 甲 column with no dependents, ¥4,710 with one dependent, and ¥37,600 in the 乙 column.

Family abroad can count as dependents, but only some. A relative living outside Japan counts if they are 16 to 29, 70 or older, or 30 to 69 and a student abroad, disabled, or receiving at least ¥380,000 a year from you for living or education costs. You must attach documents proving the relationship. The year-end adjustment guide covers which papers you need and how December settles the year’s tax.

Worked example: ¥300,000 a month

This is an approximation, not a quote. Assumptions: Tokyo, Kyokai Kenpo, a general business, monthly pay of ¥300,000 from April 2026 onward, no overtime, no commuting allowance, no bonus, the dependents declaration submitted, no dependents.

Social insurance takes about 14.7% of gross pay for someone under 40. Income tax takes about 2%.

Why does take-home pay drop in the second year?

Because resident tax starts. You pay it to the city where you lived on 1 January, based on the previous year’s income. This depends on where you lived on 1 January, not on your nationality: if you were not yet living in Japan on 1 January, there is no bill for that year. From the June after your first 1 January, your employer deducts it in 12 monthly installments, June to May.

A rough estimate for the example above, using Setagaya’s FY2026 formula as if you had earned ¥300,000 for a full year:

The real bill can differ slightly because of rounding and the next year’s rules. The social insurance line assumes the April 2026 rates for the whole year; from January to March 2026 the rates were slightly different.

That brings take-home pay to roughly ¥237,000 a month in the second year. If you arrived mid-year, your first bill is smaller, because it covers only the months you earned in Japan. Your city’s notice gives the real figure. The resident tax guide explains the bill and what to do if you leave Japan.

Do I get my pension money back when I leave?

Partly, in most cases. Non-Japanese who leave Japan with at least 6 months of contributions and less than the 10-year qualifying period can claim the lump-sum withdrawal payment (脱退一時金). You must claim within 2 years of no longer having an address in Japan, and at most 60 months count. The pension refund guide explains the amount and what you give up by claiming.

Where can I check my own numbers?

• Your payslip and HR. They show your band, your insurer and which tax column you are in.
• The withholding slip (源泉徴収票) from your employer, for the year’s totals.
• Your city’s resident tax notice, for the resident tax figure.

For your own situation, such as side income, family abroad or a mid-year move, ask your tax office (税務署) or a licensed tax accountant (税理士). This page explains the system; it is not individual tax advice.

More guides

• Resident tax for foreigners
• Year-end adjustment and tax returns for foreigners
• Japan pension for foreigners
• Pension refund when you leave Japan
• Tax return in Japan for foreigners
• Minimum wage in Japan