My Number Card at the Pharmacy: What to Show Now

At the pharmacy counter today, you show one of two things: your My Number Card, registered as your health insurance card (also called a my number health insurance card, or maina hokensho マイナ保険証), tapped at a card reader at check-in - or, if you haven't registered your My Number Card that way, an Eligibility Confirmation Certificate (資格確認書) issued by your municipality. Japan stopped issuing new standalone insurance cards on 2 December 2024, and every card still in circulation expired by 1 December 2025. Neither credential is optional at this point - one of the two is what confirms your coverage before a pharmacist will apply your insurance discount.

At a dispensing pharmacy, you tap your registered My Number Card at a reader when you check in, the same way you would at a clinic. The reader confirms your insurance status directly, which is what lets the pharmacist apply your co-pay instead of charging full price. The card itself isn't automatically an insurance credential the moment you receive it - it has to be registered for that purpose first. A My Number Card you've never registered as hokensho won't be recognized at the reader, even though it's a valid ID otherwise.

Your municipality issues an Eligibility Confirmation Certificate to residents who don't have a My Number Card registered as their health insurance credential. It's a paper document rather than something you tap at a reader, but it does the same job at the counter - a pharmacist checks it to confirm you're enrolled and applies your co-pay instead of full price. Treat it the way you'd treat the registered card: keep it with you and bring it every time.

Showing a registered My Number Card or your Eligibility Confirmation Certificate is what unlocks your co-pay in the first place - without one, you're billed full price regardless of how your enrollment stands. For how that co-pay breaks down by age, see how much prescriptions cost in Japan, and for what's covered versus excluded overall, see does Japanese health insurance cover prescriptions. One exclusion worth flagging: oral contraceptives stay self-pay no matter which credential you show - see birth control cost in Japan.

For the wider system this credential sits inside - enrollment, co-pay brackets, referral fees - see the health guide. Just arrived and haven't registered at your ward office yet? The moving to Japan guide covers that step first, since insurance enrollment depends on it.