Employment Contract and Onboarding Documents in Japan
A practical guide to contract terms, wages, working hours, social insurance, and visa consistency: rules, counters, documents, timing, costs, and follow-up updates.
Starting a job in Japan is not just signing an offer. Under Article 15 of the Labor Standards Act, the employer must clearly state working conditions in writing or approved electronic form. Those conditions connect wages, working hours, social insurance, tax withholding, and, for foreign residents, the scope of residence status.
Written labor conditions
The labor condition notice should cover the contract period, workplace, duties, working hours, breaks, holidays, wages, wage calculation, closing date, payment date, and resignation or dismissal rules. MHLW examples separate trial periods from the contract period; 3 to 6 months is common, and some companies set up to 1 year.
If there is no written labor condition notice, ask before the first workday. Article 15 is the key rule, and oral explanations are weak evidence when overtime, bonus, renewal, or resignation disputes appear later.
Onboarding documents
Keep your signed employment contract, labor condition notice, work rules, health insurance information, pension number notice, employment insurance number, My Number submission record, bank account form, and any health check result requested by the company. Make a MHLW-style scan set before the first payday.
If the company has 10 or more employees, work rules must be prepared and filed with the Labor Standards Inspection Office. They usually explain salary calculation, leave, discipline, commuting allowance, remote work, and expense rules.
Four social insurance systems
Regular employees and eligible part-time workers join 4 insurance systems: health insurance, employees’ pension, employment insurance, and workers’ accident compensation. Health insurance covers the 30% medical counter burden, childbirth allowance, and sickness allowance. Employees’ pension covers old-age, disability, and survivor pension, with an employee burden around 9.15%.
Employment insurance covers unemployment benefits, childcare leave benefits, and training support; the employee burden is around 0.6% and the employer side around 0.95%. Workers’ accident compensation covers work and commuting injuries, and the employer pays the premium.
If you were on National Health Insurance and National Pension before hiring, cancel National Health Insurance at the municipal office after company insurance starts. Otherwise you can receive duplicate municipal insurance bills for the same period.
Payslips and withholding
A salary slip usually separates payments, deductions, and net pay. Payments include base salary, housing allowance, commuting allowance, overtime, and bonuses. Deductions include health insurance, pension, employment insurance, income tax, and resident tax.
Save payslips for at least 2 years and keep the annual withholding slip for at least 5 years. The withholding slip is needed for tax filing, year-end adjustment at the next employer, visa renewal, housing screening, and loan applications.
Year-end adjustment is the company’s December income-tax reconciliation. When resigning or changing jobs, collect the separation documents and the current-year withholding slip before leaving, because unemployment benefits, tax filing, and residence-status renewal can all require them.
Residence status
Work status holders such as Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services or Highly Skilled Professional must notify ISA within 14 days when the contracting organization changes. The notice can be filed online or at an immigration office.
For renewal, the contract duties should match the status category. Keep copies of the labor condition notice, recent 3 months of payslips, withholding slip, tax certificates, and proof of social insurance. If the new job content is unclear, a Certificate of Authorized Employment can reduce renewal risk.
Common mistakes
Do not start without written conditions. Do not leave an old job without collecting the withholding slip and separation documents. Do not forget to cancel National Health Insurance after joining company insurance, or you may be billed twice for 1 or more months. Even during a trial period, dismissal rules become stricter after the first 14 days of employment.
For foreign workers, the 14-day ISA notification is small but important. Missing it may not stop the current job, but it can appear during the next 1 renewal review.
Useful terms
- Rodo joken tsuchisho: labor condition notice
- Shiyo kikan: trial period
- Shakai hoken: social insurance
- Gensen choshu hyo: withholding slip
- Keiyaku kikan ni kansuru todokede: ISA organization notice