I know there are a few stories of PR holders receiving a lump sum pension withdrawal but in trying to help a friend, I found that the form defines the eligibility period (受給資格期間) as including a complementary period 合算対象期間 covering the time from before the person received PR and was living abroad between the ages of 20-60 as counting towards the 10 year period for eligibility for pension and \*ineligibility\* for the withdrawal. (日本で永住許可を得た外国籍の方については、海外在住期間のうち、1961 年４月から永住許可を取得するまでの期間（20 歳以上 60 歳未満の期間に限 る。)
My friend only paid into pension for around 3 years and plans to leave permanently, but I think that according to this she is ineligible for the lump-sum and instead is eligible for (a massively reduced) pension at old-age, even though she has just 3 years of payments.
Taking all the rules together, wouldn’t this mean that anyone who moved to Japan after age 30 and then got PR would actually be eligible for a old-age pension (and ineligible for lump-sum) regardless of how many periods they actually contributed?
by evokerhythm