Kato is hiring...

[railsquid]

.. for positions starting in April 2022: https://www.katomodels.com/recruit

[bill937ca]

The commuting allowance is the 100,000 Yen per month tax free commuting allowance Japanese employers offer to employees. You design model trains and ride real trains (at least between home and work). No driving to work!!

 

Starting salary is 182,000 to 210,000.   By comparison JR East pays 179,700 to 212,500 as starting salary for general occupation.   

 

https://takumick.com/jreast-annualsalary#

 

The Kato listing does not mention if the company pays a bonus in Summer and December. 2020 was a bad year, but in 2019 JR East paid a  bonus of 6.09 months  (2.91 months in summer + 3.18 months in winter). 

 

Most salaried Japanese employees are paid 2-4 months bonus twice a year. The highest are the auto makers like Nissan or Honda. Sony announced in March it would pay 7 months salary as 2021 bonus.   

 

https://www.arabnews.jp/en/business/article_42057/#:~:text=TOKYO%3A Sony Corp. said Wednesday,over 2 percent on average.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_bonuses_(Japan)

Edited May 16, 2021 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

They state "up to 100,000 yen", which would be annual, which works out to a little more than 8,000 yen a month, which is on the tight side if you're in Tokyo and need to use more than one company.

 

9 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

The commuting allowance is the 100,00 Yen per month tax free commuting allowance Japanese employers offer to employees. You design model trains and ride real trains (at least between home and work). No driving to work!!

 

Have you seen the car park in the main Saitama factory? https://goo.gl/maps/hJTrXYxktQsRHQii8

[bill937ca]

3 minutes ago, railsquid said:

They state "up to 100,000 yen", which would be annual, which works out to a little more than 8,000 yen a month, which is on the tight side if you're in Tokyo and need to use more than one company.

 

OK, I'll check my source.

[railsquid]

Says right there in the text:

 

Quote

通勤手当：実費支給（上限100,000円）

 

That would be annual, no company would reimburse that much monthly (for a normal salaried position).

 

What they do also offer is:

 

住宅手当：5,000円/月（本人名義の持家・賃貸の場合） :  housing allowance (5,000 yen a month for rental accommodation or property in your own name)

養育手当：10,000円/月（対象は18歳までの子ども）: child allowance (10,000 yen for children up to the age of 18)

Edited May 16, 2021 by railsquid

[bill937ca]

This comes from RAIL INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES IN TOKYO, from Simon Fraser University in 2009.         https://summit.sfu.ca/item/9470 There is a small link for a PDF copy.

 

"All workers in Japan receive a tax-free commuting allowance as high up to 100,000 yen ($1,000 USD or €750Euro) per month from their employers (Yamaga, 2000)"

 

The guy that wrote this had access to the Tokyu railway management.   It is very interesting because he compares many categories (like per capita ridership, auto ownership,  crime etc.) for Japan, USA and Canada.

Edited May 16, 2021 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

The comment about no driving to work came from an article about an American working in Japan. He wanted to ride his bicycle to work (with a railway) and was told no, ride the train.

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

Says right there in the text:

 

 

That would be annual, no company would reimburse that much monthly (for a normal salaried position).

 

 

It is not really from the company, but a tax free allowance passed on by the government.  Why?  Because of Japan's limited land mass and lack of domestic oil reserves the government has strict limits are car use.

Edited May 16, 2021 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, bill937ca said:

This comes from RAIL INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES IN TOKYO, from Simon Fraser University in 2009.         https://summit.sfu.ca/item/9470 There is a small link for a PDF copy.

 

"All workers in Japan receive a tax-free commuting allowance as high up to 100,000 yen ($1,000 USD or €750Euro) per month from their employers (Yamaga, 2000)"

 

The guy that wrote this had access to the Tokyu railway management.   It is very interesting because he compares many categories (like per capita ridership, auto ownership,  crime etc.) for Japan, USA and Canada.

 

I don't know how they came up with that information, but:

a) it's conventional (but not mandatory) for employers to provide a commuting allowance

b) I'm not aware if there's an upper limit, but if there is it's certainly not 10,000 yen

 

1 hour ago, bill937ca said:

The comment about no driving to work

It is not really from the company, but a tax free allowance passed on by the government. 

 

c) yes it is the company who pays the allowance, the government merely refrains from taxing it.

 

Source: I live in Japan and have worked for Japanese companies.

 

Quote

Why?  Because of Japan's limited land mass and lack of domestic oil reserves the government has strict limits are car use.

 

I don't know where you get that statement from, sounds like you're talking about Singapore? There is no compulsion to use the travel allowance for public transport (though that's what the amount is usually based on), though de-facto in dense urban areas, the logistics and cost usuallypreclude car use for typical suburb - city centre commutes. However outside of those areas car usage is much more common (see car park in the Kato factory linked above, which is up in the outer wilds of Saitama).

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

b) I'm not aware if there's an upper limit, but if there is it's certainly not 10,000 yen

 

Aha, the allowance for commuting via public transport or toll roads is untaxed up to 150,000 yen per month, but must have a "rational basis" (otherwise it'd be a beautiful tax loophole ).

 

There is a kilometre-based allowance for private vehicle usage (including bicycles) which tops out at 31,600 yen per month for a distance (one-way) of 55 kilometres or more.

 

Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/users/gensen/tsukin/index2.htm

 

In practice, with public transport commutes, companies will pay the amount equivalent to the cost of the commuter pass for the routes travelled (if you are lucky and creative and the company's HR is not too questioning, arranging things so the "official" route takes in three separate companies, but your actual route only uses two, will net a few thousand "extra" a month, don't ask me how I know this). However some companies will actually want to see receipts. YMMV, quite literally.

 

Quote

There is no compulsion to use the travel allowance for public transport (though that's what the amount is usually based on),

 

More precisely, if you were claiming for a commuter pass but using the money for other means, it would be technically a contravention of the tax code, but unless the company insists on recepts, normally no-one's going to question it.

Edited May 16, 2021 by railsquid

[bill937ca]

I said 100,000 Yen per month which this validates. That source I quoted was 2006.  I think 150,000 Yen a month goes someone like an executive on a JR double deck Green Car with a two-hour commute. I knew of the motor vehicle allowance and I think It was quoted as capping at 15% of the train allowance.

 

My understanding is you can make unlimited trips between home and work as long as you stay on the commuting route or routes. It absolutely is not an area wide pass  with unlimited rides like you would find in pretty well any major North American transit system.

 

[bill937ca]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

I don't know where you get that statement from, sounds like you're talking about Singapore? There is no compulsion to use the travel allowance for public transport (though that's what the amount is usually based on), though de-facto in dense urban areas, the logistics and cost usuallypreclude car use for typical suburb - city centre commutes. However outside of those areas car usage is much more common (see car park in the Kato factory linked above, which is up in the outer wilds of Saitama).

Everything in that study was Japan and in particular Tokyo.  I don't understand what the land mass of Japan has to do with it, but that is what it said.  The government reportedly has an issue with wide spread auto use because the importation of oil would create an negative balance of payments . Japan lacks tis own domestic source of oil.

 

I agree car use is precluded in Tokyo and Osaka.  But I find it much more normalized in Hiroshima.  The Book Off Super Bazaar in the centre of the city near Hondori, quotes 433 parking spaces. There are many wide boulevards any city would be happy with.

[railsquid]

59 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

I said 100,000 Yen per month which this validates. That source I quoted was 2006.  I think 150,000 Yen a month goes someone like an executive on a JR double deck Green Car with a two-hour commute. I knew of the motor vehicle allowance and I think It was quoted as capping at 15% of the train allowance.

 

 

Yes, but the Kato figure of 100,000 yen is not monthly (otherwise it would say 上限100,000円/月). It just happens to be the same amount as the old monthly upper limit on the untaxed commuting allowance. According to the linked webpage, Kato is not providing more than 8333 yen per month (I might be wrong and they might actually be willing to reimburse up to 100,000 yen a month on a 200,000 yen monthly salary, but seems unlikely).

 

(Ah - I see your original post originally said "the 100,00 Yen per month tax free commuting allowance" which had me confused as I thought you meant 10,000 yen).

 

Quote

My understanding is you can make unlimited trips between home and work as long as you stay on the commuting route or routes. It absolutely is not an area wide pass  with unlimited rides like you would find in pretty well any major North American transit system.

 

Basically yes, though you can be a bit creative with the start and end stations of the route and get an extra bit of "mileage" for the same price. I think sometimes system-wide passes are available, IIRC it's the only option for the Tokyo Toei bus network.

Edited May 16, 2021 by railsquid