What Is Changing
The care insurance certificate is becoming an electronic record
Japan is building a national care information platform so that municipalities, care providers, and clinics can read a person's long-term care eligibility electronically instead of passing paper between them.
Almost every family managing care in Japan knows the kaigo hokensho, the long-term care insurance certificate. It is a folded paper card issued by the municipality to residents aged 65 and over, and to eligible residents aged 40 to 64, showing the insured person's number and, once a certification is granted, the assigned care level. Care managers ask for it, day service providers copy it, and families abroad are often asked to photograph it during a hospital admission. That paper is now being layered over with an electronic system.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is building what it calls the care information platform, the kaigo joho kiban. The stated purpose is to let municipalities, care businesses, and medical institutions view care information electronically rather than mailing and faxing it. Once a municipality is connected, the ministry describes an online service where care insurance certificate information, including the burden ratio certificate and the cost-ceiling certificate, plus the certification result and the status of a pending certification application, can be checked electronically. Doctors will also be able to submit the doctor's opinion letter to the municipality through the system rather than by post.
For families, the headline is not the technology. It is that the documents and waiting times you have planned around are about to behave differently, and not on the same schedule everywhere. If you are still learning how the underlying system works, the hub guide on long-term care insurance in Japan explains eligibility, premiums, and the certification process; this article covers only what the digital shift changes on top of that.
The two dates that decide what applies to your parent
The rollout is phased by municipality, so April 2026 and April 2028 mark the start and the target end of a two-year period in which practice varies by city.
According to the ministry's description of the platform, from 1 April 2026 onward, municipalities that have finished standardising their care insurance systems begin migrating data from their own care insurance system to the national platform and start sharing information through it. The migration is explicitly sequential: cities go live as they finish, not on a single national switchover date. The ministry states that the aim is for all municipalities to complete migration and begin using the platform by 1 April 2028.
A pilot ran ahead of that. Under the ministry's fiscal 2025 advance implementation project, Oita City was selected to test the business flow for confirming insured-person information using the My Number card, and the ministry records that the advance verification began in mid-June 2025. So the practice has been running somewhere in Japan since 2025, which is why some families have already been told at a service provider that the paper certificate was not needed.
Press reporting has put numbers on the middle of that curve. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported in August 2026 that roughly 408 municipalities are expected to have introduced the integrated arrangement by the end of the fiscal year, and that the ministry expects use to have begun in around ninety percent of municipalities by April 2028. Those figures come from the newspaper's reporting rather than from a ministry page we could verify directly, so treat them as an indication of pace rather than a commitment your parent's city has made.
Who Is Affected
Foreign residents aged 65 and over in Japan
Long-term care insurance in Japan follows residence registration, not nationality, so a registered foreign resident aged 65 and over is enrolled and holds the same certificate as a Japanese neighbour.
A foreign resident who is registered at a Japanese municipality and aged 65 or over is a Category 1 insured person under long-term care insurance in the same way a Japanese resident is, and receives the same paper certificate today. That means the digital shift applies to them on the same municipal timetable, with one extra complication: linking a My Number card requires the card itself, and card holding among older foreign residents is uneven. Anyone still working through residence registration, the My Number card, and insurance enrolment in sequence will find the ordering set out in the article on the My Number health insurance card for foreign seniors.
Language is the practical risk here rather than eligibility. Electronic eligibility checks tend to move the conversation from a document a family can photograph and translate to a screen at a counter that the family cannot see. If a family abroad has been relying on a photo of the certificate to understand a parent's care level and burden ratio, that habit needs a replacement before the paper stops being reissued.
Families coordinating a parent's care from overseas
Two parts of the change matter to a family outside Japan: the certification timeline may shorten, and the documents you can hold a copy of may shrink.
The first effect is timing. Because a doctor's opinion letter can be submitted electronically instead of posted, and because care businesses can read the information from the system, the ministry's rationale is faster certification and faster care plan preparation. If that materialises in your parent's city, the gap between applying for certification and receiving a usable care plan may narrow. That is genuinely good news for a family trying to schedule a trip to Japan around a certification decision, but it also means a decision may land earlier than you planned to be in the country. The mechanics of that letter are covered in the doctor's opinion letter for care certification.
The second effect is visibility. A family abroad usually builds its picture of a parent's situation from copies: the certificate, the burden ratio slip, the care plan. As those move into a system the family cannot log into from overseas, the copy-based method weakens. The practical replacement is to ask the care manager to confirm care level, burden ratio, and monthly limit in writing after every renewal, rather than assuming a photograph will be available. Renewal timing itself is unchanged, and is set out in care certification renewal in Japan.
Older people who do not hold a My Number card
Holding a My Number card is voluntary, and the reporting on this change indicates that paper certificates continue to be issued for people who do not hold one.
This is the point where families most often assume the worst. The Yomiuri report states that, in consideration of older people who do not hold a My Number card, issuance of the conventional certificate continues. That is a meaningful difference from what happened with health insurance cards, where new paper cards stopped being issued outright and a separate certificate had to replace them. If your parent has declined a My Number card, the reasonable planning assumption for now is that they keep receiving a paper care insurance certificate, while confirming this with their own municipality rather than relying on a national summary.
What Families Should Confirm
Six questions worth asking the municipality or care manager
Because the rollout is municipal, general information is worth little; the answers that matter come from your parent's own city office or care manager.
- Has this municipality already connected to the national care information platform, and if not, what is its expected timing
- Is the paper care insurance certificate still being issued and reissued here, and does that change at renewal
- If my parent links their My Number card, do they still receive a paper certificate as a backup
- Where should a family now obtain a written confirmation of care level, burden ratio, and monthly benefit limit
- Is the doctor's opinion letter for the next certification being submitted electronically or on paper by this clinic
- What does my parent physically bring to a day service or short stay on the first visit after the switch
Comparing what your parent may be asked to present
During the transition, three situations coexist depending on the municipality and on whether a My Number card has been linked.
| Situation | What is typically presented | What a family abroad can obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Municipality not yet connected to the platform | The conventional paper care insurance certificate, as before | A photograph or copy of the certificate, as before |
| Municipality connected, My Number card linked | The My Number card for an electronic eligibility check | A written confirmation from the care manager or municipality, since there may be no new paper to photograph |
| Municipality connected, no My Number card held | The conventional paper certificate, which reporting indicates continues to be issued | A photograph or copy of the certificate, as before |
What Not to Assume
This is a different change from the health insurance card
The health insurance card and the long-term care insurance certificate are separate documents on separate timetables, and conflating them produces the wrong plan.
Japan stopped issuing new paper health insurance cards in December 2024, and the tolerance period for expired cards ended in 2026. That change was national, comparatively abrupt, and produced a replacement document, the shikaku kakuninsho, for people without a linked My Number card. The care insurance change described here is municipal, phased across two years, and reported to keep issuing the conventional certificate for people without a card. A family that assumes the care certificate is disappearing on a fixed national date will make unnecessary trips and unnecessary calls.
It is also worth separating the eligibility document from the eligibility itself. Nothing in this change alters who qualifies for long-term care insurance, what the care levels mean, or what services cost. It changes how the fact of eligibility travels between the municipality, the clinic, and the care provider.
Nationwide does not mean simultaneous
The 2028 target describes when every municipality is intended to be using the platform, not when every family experiences the same procedure.
The ministry frames April 2028 as the goal for all municipalities to have completed data migration and begun using the platform, and the connection depends on each municipality finishing the standardisation of its own care insurance administration system. Municipal IT timelines slip. A family should treat any date they read, including the ones in this article, as a plan rather than a guarantee, and should confirm the position for the specific city where the parent is registered. This is general information about a system in transition, not advice about an individual case, and a municipal care insurance desk or a care manager is the appropriate place to confirm what currently applies.
Practical Next Steps
What to do before the next certification renewal
The transition is manageable if the family stops relying on holding a copy of a document and starts relying on written confirmation of the underlying facts.
If the family is spread across time zones and nobody can visit a city office on a weekday, this is exactly the kind of coordination that stalls for months. Our care navigation service exists to make those confirmations on a family's behalf and to report back in English, so a phased municipal rollout does not become the reason a parent's care plan waits.
- Photograph the current paper certificate now, on both sides, and store it where every sibling can reach it
- Record the certification expiry date and set a reminder three months ahead, since renewal is the moment the procedure is most likely to change
- Ask the care manager to send a short written summary of care level, burden ratio, and monthly limit after each renewal, by email if possible
- Check with the municipality whether it has connected to the platform before booking any trip built around a certification decision
- If your parent wants a My Number card and does not have one, treat that as a separate municipal errand with its own timeline, not something to arrange during a hospital discharge
Frequently asked questions
Is the paper kaigo hokensho being abolished across Japan on a single date?
No. The ministry describes a phased rollout in which municipalities begin migrating to the national care information platform from 1 April 2026 as they complete system standardisation, with a target of all municipalities using it by 1 April 2028. Reporting also indicates that conventional certificates continue to be issued for people who do not hold a My Number card. What applies depends on the municipality where your parent is registered.
Will linking a My Number card make my parent's care certification decision come faster?
Possibly, in municipalities that have connected. The stated rationale for the platform includes doctors submitting the opinion letter to the municipality electronically instead of by post, and care businesses reading the information from the system, which the ministry expects to shorten the certification period and speed up care plan preparation. Whether your parent's city has reached that stage is a question for the municipal care insurance desk.
Does a foreign resident in Japan need a My Number card to keep using care services?
Long-term care insurance enrolment follows residence registration rather than nationality or card holding, so eligibility itself does not depend on the card. Reporting on this change indicates conventional certificates continue for people without one. That said, an older foreign resident without a card may find some counters slower during the transition, so it is worth confirming the local position rather than assuming it.
How can a family living abroad see a parent's care level once the certificate goes electronic?
The electronic service is designed for municipalities, care businesses, medical institutions, and the insured person, not for an overseas relative, so a family should not plan on logging in from another country. The practical substitute is to ask the care manager to confirm the care level, burden ratio, and monthly benefit limit in writing after each certification or renewal, and to keep a photograph of the last paper certificate that was issued.
How Japan Care Concierge can help
We walk families through the system steps on this page for their specific case: what to confirm first, which office to contact, and what to prepare before each conversation.
Primary and official references
We prioritize primary and official information when checking this article. Rules, costs, and local procedures can change, so verify the linked official sources before making a final decision. Last source check: 2026-08-19.
About this article
This article is general orientation, not medical, legal, or individual care advice. Rules, costs, and service availability vary by municipality and by situation, so confirm specifics with the institutions involved or with licensed professionals. Publication and update dates above are actual dates. How we research, source, and correct articles is described in our editorial policy.