Hey y’all! I’ve been thinking about how many government subsidies are out there that often go unused because people simply don’t know they exist. These could be through municipal, prefectural or national programs.
It could be anything from energy-saving rebates, educational grants, small business support, or healthcare cost subsidies. If you know of a subsidy or program, share it here!
The more information the better as it helps us know what to keep an eye out for.
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16 comments
Municipal: Kokubunji, Tokyo
家庭用防災用品購入費補助事業
Subsidy program for purchase of household emergency supplies (up to 5000 JPY)
[https://www.city.kokubunji.tokyo.jp/kurashi/bousai/machizukuri/1030191.html](https://www.city.kokubunji.tokyo.jp/kurashi/bousai/machizukuri/1030191.html)
※ I learned about this while prepping a course on geophysical hazards. My own municipality had a similar one.
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Education and Training Benefit System｜教育訓練給付制度
>The education and training benefit system is designed to support the independent skill development and career formation of working people and to promote employment stability and employment opportunities.
In short it help subsidizes the cost of training / certification programs.
[https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/jinzaikaihatsu/kyouiku.html](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/jinzaikaihatsu/kyouiku.html)
[https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001155029.pdf](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001155029.pdf)
Waiting for people to tell me about Kansai area subsidies
As a rule of thumb, assume that any big expense or accident you may encounter could be subsidized or you can deduct taxes from. Just keep that in mind every time shit hits the fan and look for related info on your prefecture/ward website.
These are some sample situations:
1. You bought/renewed/repaired a house
2. You or a relative went through a big medical expense (both in bulk or through the whole fiscal year)
3. Kid stuff (birth, vaccinations, doctor visits, starting elementary school…)
4. You are unemployed or just lost your job
5. You had a big loss in your investments
6. There was a natural catastrophe nearby and you were somehow affected
Not really a subsidy but the last few years I’ve been jumping on the hometown tax scheme.
Might as well get as much free stuff as possible for paying taxes. .
I have resident tax subsidies for disability 2級。
Shibuya-ku provides 2000 yen for helmet purchases. It’s only for the first 4,000 individuals though.
My city (Shinagawa, Tokyo) has subsidies for [home waste composters](https://www.city.shinagawa.tokyo.jp/PC/kankyo/kankyo-gomi/gomi-shinsei/hpg000008238.html) and [rooftop greening](https://www.city.shinagawa.tokyo.jp/ct/other000085000/h29okujojosei.pdf).
This is a great thread! Following for more. There are many schemes like this and I’m always surprised how few ppl know about them. Especially in times of money need like me, they’re so helpful.
any for living in Aichi?
Furusato Nozei is a good one. Depending on your salary you can get from about 10k yen (making ~3 million yen) to 100k yen (making ~12 million yen) of free stuff. Or even more if your salaries higher.
Just requires you to pay 3x the price up front. Then you get all the money back in tax deductions in the next year.
Saitama city has a subsidy for buying [rain collectors](https://www.city.saitama.jp/001/009/001/p040103.html). They will pay for up to half the cost (including installation) and you just have to send receipts, a picture of the tanks connected, and a rough map of where they are on your property.
Hello Work has something called ‘ReSkill’ where they reimburse you up to 70% of the cost of a course.
I think you have to have been working for a minimum of 2 consecutive years and be working when you complete the course.
I took advantage of this when I was learning programming.
If you read your city magazines (the koho/ 広報雑誌) you can probably find some. Ours post about them almost every edition
As for small business subsidies, they are just a massive pain in the ass to get. I’m pretty sure they make it as difficult as possible so that people just give up. You have to read some horribly confusing and poorly formatted pdf or website, do mountains of paperwork, turn it in, get it sent back because the guy checking it didn’t like something, confirm problem with some joker on the phone, fix it, send it back in, get it sent back because a different guy checked it and said it had to be done the way you had it before, fix it, send it back in, go to the shrine and pray and then a month later you might get the ok and find the money in your bank account. Either that or hire a guy who’s specialized in dealing with BS government documents who will then skim a percentage of the subsidy off the top for handling most of the paperwork.
At least that’s been my experience.
We just bought an EV (Nissan Sakura) and three different subsidies applied – one from the national gov, one from our prefecture, and one from our city. Added together it took about 30% off the price of the car.