Japan’s Disability Pension Review Questioned; Staff Say “No One Will Tell the Truth in Internal Probe”

A controversy has emerged over Japan’s disability pension system after reports that staff at the Japan Pension Service had, in some cases, secretly discarded doctors’ assessment results and asked other doctors to re-evaluate applications. An internal document acknowledged the risk that reviews could be repeated until staff were satisfied, suggesting potential arbitrariness, but the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare concluded it could not confirm such behaviour and attributed most cases to errors or scheduling constraints under a strict three-month processing deadline. However, some staff remain skeptical of the ministry’s findings, arguing that internal investigations cannot uncover the truth and that reassessments were sometimes influenced by expectations about how particular doctors would rule, raising concerns about transparency and fairness in the system. Episode notes: ‘Japan’s Disability Pension Review Questioned; Staff Say “No One Will Tell the Truth in Internal Probe’” ’: https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/05/27/japans-disability-pension-review-questioned-staff-say-no-one-will-tell-the-truth-in-internal-probe/