Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
The government on Friday revised its policy on foreign residents and visitors, which includes denying entry to foreign tourists who have failed to pay medical fees during visits to Japan and rejecting visa extensions for foreign nationals who fail to pay premiums for the national health care and pension system.
Details of when and how it will be implemented have yet to be hammered out.
The policy changes were made during a meeting of relevant ministers at the Prime Minister's Office. Alongside an increasing number of foreign visitors to Japan, there have been growing calls for reform from politicians to address unpaid medical fees and health care premiums — deficits filled by taxpayers' money.
During the meeting, Ishiba said the government plans to establish a liaison office at the Cabinet Secretariat to tackle the wide range of issues across different ministries.
'If our current systems are unable to address the realities of globalization and fail to dispel public anxiety, then drastic reforms must be undertaken,' Ishiba said.
'We will make sure to consider the rights of foreign nationals are ensured and provide necessary support so they won't be isolated in our country,' Ishiba said. 'But we will take strict measures for those who don't follow the rules.'
The government also plans to check whether social welfare premiums have been paid by host organizations employing foreign workers with the specified skilled worker residential status. If they have been found to have a certain amount of unpaid premiums, they will not be allowed to employ those workers, according to the revised policy.
On Thursday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party committee submitted a proposal to Ishiba calling for a better dissemination of tax and social insurance information to foreign residents.
The plans for revisions were also included in a draft of the honebuto annual economic basic policy guidelines, which sets the tone for the national budget planning process for the coming fiscal year.
Foreign nationals who stay in Japan for more than three months are required to join the national health care program, known as kokumin kenkō hoken. Those who are hired as full-time employees at companies in Japan will have their and their family members' health insurance covered.
However, those who are not — such as exchange students — are sometimes unaware they need to join the national health care program. The current rules state that invoices are mailed out after enrollment, but many foreign residents fail to follow through with payments.
According to a health ministry survey of 150 municipalities from April to December 2024, only 63% of the foreign residents who need to pay the premium have done so — far below the 93% overall rate that includes Japanese citizens.
Information from Jiji added
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kyodo News
8 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Japan calls for tariff rethink in talks with U.S. commerce chief
KYODO NEWS - 10 hours ago - 12:34 | All, World, Japan Japan's chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa reiterated during a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday that higher import duties imposed by Washington should be reconsidered, as the countries continue negotiations toward a win-win deal. Akazawa is visiting the U.S. capital for the third straight week for another round of tariff talks at the ministerial level, hoping to smooth the way for a meeting of the countries' leaders in mid-June. Before his planned talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday, Akazawa sat down with Lutnick for nearly two hours to "strongly" urge the United States to reconsider the wave of tariff measures announced by President Donald Trump, according to the Japanese government. Akazawa and Lutnick discussed cooperation on trade, nontariff barriers and economic security, the Japanese side said. While continuing to demand the elimination of the higher tariffs, Japan is also weighing whether to accept a cut in the rates, with the United States resisting a full removal of the duties. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump plan to hold a meeting around the time of the three-day Group of Seven summit in Canada starting June 15. After meeting with Bessent and Lutnick last week, Akazawa said they had agreed their talks were "making progress." Akazawa, who is scheduled to leave Washington on Saturday, has declined to provide details, including in which areas progress has been made. Under Trump's so-called reciprocal tariff regime, announced April 2, almost all countries in the world have been hit by a baseline duty of 10 percent, with Japan facing an additional country-specific tariff of 14 percent for a total rate of 24 percent. Along with other countries, Japan has also been affected by the Trump administration's additional 25 percent tariff on automobiles and other sector-based levies implemented on national security grounds. Related coverage: Trump's steel tariff hike not raised in Japan-U.S. talks: negotiator Japan, U.S. agree tariff talks making progress toward deal Japan PM says mutual understanding "deepened" with Trump over tariffs
NHK
9 hours ago
- NHK
Japan govt. approves new 5-year plan to create disaster-resilient infrastructure
The Japanese government has approved a new infrastructure plan aimed at enhancing disaster prevention and preparedness measures over a five-year period starting next April. The plan was approved at Friday's Cabinet meeting. It calls for more than 20 trillion yen, or about 139 billion dollars, to be spent on projects, including the repair and replacement of water supply pipes and sewage pipes. This comes after a series of cave-ins occurred across the country. Old sewage pipes apparently caused the cave-ins. One massive sinkhole opened up in the city of Yashio, which is located near Tokyo. Under the plan, sewer pipes with a diameter of at least 2 meters that were installed 30 or more years ago will be replaced by fiscal 2030, if they are deemed to be at high risk of rupturing. Water pipes that are at least 80 centimeters in diameter and are considered to be at high risk of leaking will be replaced by fiscal 2041. Also under the plan, officials will focus on improving the accuracy of systems designed to predict the formation of bands of heavy rainclouds and typhoons. The plan calls for tsunami evacuation facilities to be provided as well. The enhancement of transportation networks in peninsulas and other places is among the other projects in the plan. This comes after a major earthquake hit the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day in 2024. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru said ahead of the Cabinet meeting that he hopes the relevant government agencies will work closely together, so that the country can become more resilient.
Japan Times
9 hours ago
- Japan Times
India's Modi opens strategic railway in contested 'crown jewel' Kashmir
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to Kashmir on Friday since a conflict with archrival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the contested region he called "the crown jewel of India." Modi launched a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the divided Muslim-majority territory, the center of bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed to on May 10. "Pakistan will never forget ... its shameful loss," the Hindu nationalist premier told crowds a month since India launched strikes on its neighbor after an attack on tourists in Kashmir. "Friends, today's event is a grand festival of India's unity and firm resolve," Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic. "This is a symbol and celebration of rising India," he said of the Chenab Bridge which connects two mountains. New Delhi calls the Chenab span the "world's highest railway arch bridge," sitting 359 meters above a river. While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China. Modi called it "an extraordinary feat of architecture" that "will improve connectivity" by providing the first rail link from the Indian plains up to mountainous Kashmir. With 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, the new railway runs for 272 kilometers and connects Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla. It is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, to around three hours. The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air. Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom," said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organized the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s. "In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India's forced rule." More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire during last month's conflict. The fighting was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing, a charge denied by Islamabad. Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged an insurgency for 35 years demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan. Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict — mainly in shelling along the heavily militarized de facto border with Pakistan, known as the Line of Control. "Their troubles are our troubles," Modi said.
