Since I reached the age of 65, I went to Hello Work (Employment Security Office) and got a release form.
According to Japanese law, if you turn 64 years old and submit a job release form to receive unemployment benefits, your pension will be suspended for that period.
So I waited until I turned 65 and went to Hello Work.
Now I can receive both unemployment benefits and pension.
The amount of the daily benefit for job seekers (the daily amount of the basic allowance) is calculated based on the wages for the six months prior to leaving the job, and the period of payment is determined by the period of time the person was insured by employment insurance.
In my case, I was insured for over 20 years, so 150 days. I calculated that the daily basic allowance would be less than 5,000 yen.
If you leave your job after you turn 65, you will receive a lump sum of 50 days of the daily basic allowance as a benefit for older job seekers, not as a benefit for job seekers. The difference is 100 days, which is quite large.
As the name "job seeker's benefits" implies, the condition for receiving these benefits is that I must be looking for work.
So in order to be considered unemployed, I need to be actually looking for a job at least twice a month.
I am required to go to Hello Work for job counseling, send my resume to companies that are actually hiring, and go to interviews.
Normally, there would be a briefing session after I submitted my release form, but due to the new corona, there was no briefing session and I was just handed materials at the consultation counter and that was it.
For seven days from this date, there is a waiting period during which I cannot work at all, including part-time jobs.
After 7 days, I can work part-time for less than 20 hours per week, but if I work more than 20 hours, I will be treated as employed and my benefits will be suspended.
Anyway, it gave me a few months to decide what to do next.
