People working part-time in Japan often hold their hours down because of a figure: ¥1.06 million a year. Word has spread that this wall is being removed. Open the provisions, though, and ¥1.06 million is not there. Neither is a date for its removal.
The short answer first.
- "¥1.06 million" appears nowhere in the law. What the provisions contain is ¥88,000 a month. ¥88,000 × 12 = ¥1,056,000, rounded up in conversation
- Abolishing that wage requirement was settled by statute. But the statute contains no date: it is "a day to be specified by Cabinet Order within three years from the date of promulgation"
- The ministry's policy page is still conditional: the timing will be judged "having regard to the regional minimum wage reaching ¥1,016 or more nationwide"
- That condition has already been met. For FY2025 the lowest regional minimum wage anywhere is ¥1,023
- The ministry's January 2026 leaflet says the wage requirement is "to be abolished in October 2026"
- However, as of 14 August 2026 I could not confirm from primary sources that the Cabinet Order fixing that date has been promulgated. The e-Gov text still carries "less than ¥88,000"
- Removing it does not remove the wall. The 20-hours-a-week requirement and the exclusion of students remain
- The company-size requirement takes ten years: 36+ employees from October 2027, 21+ from October 2029, 11+ from October 2032, fully abolished October 2035
- ¥1.06 million and ¥1.3 million are social insurance. ¥1.23 million and ¥1.6 million are income tax. Different regimes
The rest of this article traces each point back to the provisions and to ministry material.
This article organises what the law and public documents say. Actual enrolment is handled by the insurer and the employer. Provisions and material are as I checked them on 14 August 2026; a Cabinet Order or its commencement date may move after that. Translations of Japanese legal text are my own and are given for orientation, not as official renderings.
1. "¥1.06 million" is not in the law
Article 12, item 5 of the Employees' Pension Insurance Act lists the cases in which a short-hours worker does not become insured. Sub-item (b) reads:
(b) that the amount calculated in accordance with Article 22, paragraph 1, as prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in respect of remuneration (excluding what is prescribed by Ordinance as corresponding to the wages listed in the items of Article 4, paragraph 3 of the Minimum Wage Act), is less than ¥88,000.
Employees' Pension Insurance Act, Article 12(5)(b) (my translation)Article 3, paragraph 1, item 9(b) of the Health Insurance Act says very nearly the same. ¥88,000 × 12 months = ¥1,056,000. Round that up and you get the ¥1.06 million everyone talks about.
Search the full text of both Acts and the string "1.06 million" returns nothing. It is absent from the Japan Pension Service page on expanded coverage and from the ministry's own page setting out the requirements. What appears there is ¥88,000 a month.
The unit of assessment is different. Social insurance is assessed on monthly pay and weekly scheduled hours. It is not an annual total added up over the year. The "¥1.06 million" shorthand is easy to say, and it quietly implies that annual income is what decides the matter.
2. The requirements as they stand
These are what applied on 14 August 2026.
| Requirement | Content |
|---|---|
| Hours | Scheduled working hours of 20 or more per week |
| Pay | Scheduled monthly pay of ¥88,000 or more (excluding temporary allowances, overtime and commuting allowance) |
| Students | Not a student (those with a certificate of expected graduation, evening courses and so on may be covered) |
| Company size | 51 or more insured employees (i.e. "more than 50 on a regular basis") |
The company-size requirement sits not in the main text but in Article 17, paragraph 12 of the Supplementary Provisions to Act No. 62 of 2012, which reads "whose total number… regularly exceeds fifty". "51 or more" is a restatement of that.
3. The wage requirement — no date in the statute
The abolition was enacted by Act No. 74 of 2025, passed on 13 June and promulgated on 20 June 2025. The ministry's explanatory material states the content and the commencement together.
Abolish the wage requirement among the coverage requirements for short-hours workers
Commencement: a day to be specified by Cabinet Order, within a period not exceeding three years from the date of promulgation
So the abolition is settled by statute, while the date is delegated to a Cabinet Order. And the ministry's policy page still reads:
The requirement of ¥88,000 or more per month will be abolished. The timing of abolition will be judged within three years of promulgation, having regard to the regional minimum wage reaching ¥1,016 or more nationwide.
MHLW, "On the expansion of social insurance coverage" (as at 14 August 2026, my translation)The words "October 2026" do not appear on that page. Read it alone and the date looks undecided.
4. The condition has already been met
On the ¥1,016 side the bar has been cleared. The ministry's national table of FY2025 regional minimum wages gives a weighted national average of ¥1,121, with the lowest — Kōchi, Miyazaki and Okinawa — at ¥1,023. No prefecture sits below ¥1,016.
On that basis, a ministry leaflet dated January 2026 does put a date on it.
Because the FY2025 regional minimum wage has exceeded ¥1,016 per hour in every prefecture, everyone working 20 hours or more a week will automatically fall within social insurance coverage.
The wage requirement is to be abolished in October 2026.
A draft Cabinet Order setting the commencement date at 1 October 2026 also went out for public comment, from 22 May to 20 June 2026, with promulgation given as "early July 2026 (planned)".
What I could not confirm. Whether that Cabinet Order has in fact been promulgated could not be established from primary sources. On e-Gov, the version of the Employees' Pension Insurance Act commencing 1 October 2026 still carries "less than ¥88,000" in Article 12(5)(b). The Japan Pension Service page, updated 17 April 2026, still presents ¥88,000 as a current requirement.
Put together: the abolition itself is settled in statute, the condition has been met, the ministry has published the date October 2026 — and the policy page is still worded conditionally while the law itself has yet to change.
5. What remains after abolition
Removing the wage requirement leaves the others standing: 20 or more scheduled hours a week, and not being a student. "The ¥1.06 million wall disappears" drops both.
The same leaflet carries a further proviso.
However, the Minimum Wage Act provides an exception permitting a reduction of the minimum wage in certain cases, and among short-hours workers covered by that exception, those whose monthly pay is under ¥88,000 will in principle not be enrolled in social insurance.
MHLW, "Key points on expanded social insurance coverage for short-hours workers", January 2026 (my translation)That reduction exception is the one a prefectural labour bureau director may permit where, for instance, disability markedly reduces a person's working capacity. The pay line does not vanish altogether.
6. The company-size requirement does have dates in the statute
Here the contrast is sharp. The ministry's material states a period:
The company-size requirement will be abolished in stages between 1 October 2027 and 1 October 2035.
MHLW, detailed explanatory material on the pension reform act (my translation)| Company size (insured employees) | Covered from |
|---|---|
| 51 or more | already covered |
| 36–50 | October 2027 |
| 21–35 | October 2029 |
| 11–20 | October 2032 |
| 1–10 | October 2035 — requirement fully abolished |
No "having regard to" here. On e-Gov, amendments by Act No. 74 of 2025 commencing 1 October 2027 and 1 October 2029 are registered as not yet in force.
7. The ceiling on standard monthly remuneration also rises
The ceiling now is ¥650,000. The Japan Pension Service explains that standard monthly remuneration runs "from grade 1 (¥88,000) to grade 32 (¥650,000)". That ¥650,000 has applied since September 2020, under Cabinet Order No. 246 of 2020.
| Ceiling | From |
|---|---|
| ¥650,000 | now |
| ¥680,000 | September 2027 |
| ¥710,000 | September 2028 |
| ¥750,000 | September 2029 |
As with the company-size requirement, no conditional wording attaches. All three commencement dates are registered on e-Gov as not yet in force.
8. The social insurance walls and the tax walls are different regimes
They get lumped together as "income walls", but the ministries and the units of assessment differ.
| Called | What it is | Assessed on |
|---|---|---|
| ¥1.06 million | Social insurance; the person becomes insured | ¥88,000/month and 20 hours/week |
| ¥1.3 million | Social insurance; leaving dependant status under health insurance | annual income |
| ¥1.23 million | Income tax; the line seen from the supporting relative's side | annual total income |
| ¥1.6 million | Income tax; employment income at which the person still owes none | annual employment income |
The tax side moved in the FY2025 reform. The National Tax Agency states two things:
For the employment income deduction, the minimum guaranteed amount has been raised from ¥550,000 to ¥650,000.
These amendments in principle came into force on 1 December 2025 and apply to income tax for 2025 onwards.
The basic deduction is now graded by total income; at ¥1.32 million or below it is ¥950,000. The dependant threshold became total income of ¥580,000 or less, which in employment income is ¥580,000 + ¥650,000 = ¥1.23 million. The point at which the person themselves owes no income tax works out at ¥950,000 + ¥650,000 = ¥1.6 million.
That ¥1.6 million figure is not written on the National Tax Agency's pages. It is calculated from the two figures the agency does state — the ¥950,000 basic deduction and the ¥650,000 minimum employment income deduction. Note also that the enhanced basic deduction between ¥1.32 million and ¥6.55 million is a measure for 2025 and 2026; from 2027 it returns to ¥580,000.
9. What is still running, and what has ended
The "income wall support package" began in October 2023. As at 14 August 2026:
The Career Up Subsidy course aimed at the ¥1.06 million wall covered employers acting "by 31 March 2026", and that period has passed. The ministry now directs employers acting from 1 April 2026 to a successor course on extending short-hours workers' hours.
The measure for the ¥1.3 million wall continues.
By attaching a certificate from the employer stating that the income is temporary, the person can in principle remain a dependant for up to two consecutive occasions.
Dependant certification by employer's certificate remains available.
Alongside this, the annual income requirement for dependants aged 19 to under 23 has been raised to under ¥1.5 million.
Closing
What stayed with me is that a single reform act fixes its dates in two different ways. The company-size requirement got calendar dates. The wage requirement was handed to a Cabinet Order. The first has a ten-year path already set out; the second is still written as something to be judged.
"The ¥1.06 million wall goes in October 2026" will most likely prove accurate. But that one line loses the 20-hour requirement that stays, the exception for those under the reduced minimum wage, and the fact that company size takes until 2035. That the rules were written conditionally is itself the substance here.
What is written here is one way of looking at it. Cabinet Orders and notices get amended, and the picture moves with each publication. If you notice something, I would be glad to hear it through the contact form.
Sources
- Employees' Pension Insurance Act (Act No. 115 of 1954), Articles 12 and 20 e-Gov (Japanese)
- Health Insurance Act (Act No. 70 of 1922), Article 3 e-Gov (Japanese)
- Japan Pension Service, "Expansion of coverage for short-hours workers" page / "Employees' pension premiums" page / "Revision of the ceiling on standard monthly remuneration" page
- MHLW, "On the expansion of social insurance coverage" page / special site on expanded coverage site
- MHLW, "Key points on expanded social insurance coverage for short-hours workers", January 2026 PDF
- MHLW, detailed explanatory material on the pension reform act (Act No. 74 of 2025) PDF / outline of the bill PDF / notice of passage page
- MHLW, "FY2025 regional minimum wages, national table" PDF
- e-Gov Public Comment, draft Cabinet Order partially amending the Employees' Pension Insurance Act Enforcement Order and others consultation page
- MHLW, "Responses to the income wall" page / "Income wall support package" page / leaflet on the ¥1.3 million wall PDF
- National Tax Agency, "On the revision of the basic deduction for income tax under the FY2025 tax reform" page / "No. 1199 Basic deduction" page