🇮🇳 COUNTRY A India VS 🇯🇵 COUNTRY B Japan

Japan has become an increasingly popular destination for Indian IT professionals — particularly as Japan's technology sector grapples with a significant engineer shortage and has actively relaxed immigration rules for skilled workers under its Specified Skilled Worker and Highly Skilled Professional visa categories. The Indian community in Japan, while smaller than in the US, UK, or Gulf, is growing rapidly in cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. From a tax perspective, Japan is one of the highest-burden developed nations for high earners: the combined national income tax (45%) plus resident tax (10%) reaches 55% at the top bracket, before social insurance contributions of approximately 14–15% (health + pension + employment). India's 30% top rate is substantially lower. However, Japan's absolute salaries for senior engineers are rising, and the yen depreciation (2022–2024) has made Japan more competitively priced for internationally-paid workers. Key Japan tax features: (1) Resident tax (juminzei) is paid the year after it is assessed — creating a 'double year' burden in the first year and a refund buffer in the final year; (2) Japan's My Number system (like a tax ID) is mandatory for all residents including foreign workers; (3) Social insurance (nenkin for pension, kenko hoken for health) is obligatory for most employees; (4) Non-permanent residents (less than 5 years cumulative in Japan over past 10 years) are taxed only on Japan-source income and foreign income remitted to Japan — a significant advantage for Indian workers with foreign-source income in early Japan residency years.