70% in some sales offices…rapidly increasing! Chinese sales staff at life insurance companies: “Luxurious parties for top achievers are full of Chinese people.
Gastroenteritis doesn’t require hospitalization, but if you are hospitalized for even one day while back in China, you will receive a lump-sum hospitalization benefit of 300,000 yen.
[Claire] Japanese life insurance is a real bargain.
Chinese words like these are flying around on the Chinese SNS “Xiaohongshu. A Chinese person told me to search for “lump-sum hospitalization payment,” and an array of images of pamphlets from major Japanese life insurance companies popped up. It seems that the pamphlets introduce examples of abuse of the lump-sum hospitalization payment by Chinese salespeople working for major life insurance companies.
The number of Chinese nationals working for Japan’s leading life insurance companies is increasing. When the author interviewed several Chinese sales employees, he found out some surprising facts.
According to Mr. A, who works at a branch office in eastern Japan, the branch office has more than 400 employees, about 100 of whom are Chinese. The sales department in the branch office has more than 30 employees, and several of them, including Mr. A, are Chinese.
Mr. B, who works for another life insurance company, says that his branch office has about 600 employees, of which more than a hundred are Chinese, and that as of the summer of ’25, a whopping 70% of the employees at the sales office to which Mr. B belongs are Chinese.
He also heard many other comments such as, “One-third to one-fourth of the sales office is Chinese,” and “When I went to a luxurious party to which only the top achievers from all over the country were invited, it was full of Chinese people.
Much better than a part-time job.”
Mr. A said, “If things continue as they are, Japanese may be in the minority in life insurance sales. There is a possibility that the day will come when Chinese will dominate the top ranks of all salespeople in Japan,” he said.
According to Mr. A, an increasing number of Japanese have been shying away from life insurance sales for the past 10 years, and there is a shortage of staff. He says that some sales offices have been forced to merge or downsize. The number of women who used to be called “life insurance ladies” is decreasing, due in part to the image that life insurance salespeople have strict quotas.
On the other hand, an increasing number of Chinese are seeking life insurance sales jobs. What is the reason for this?
The answer is clear. First, the hurdles to entry are very low, with no academic background or experience required. If you can speak Japanese to some extent, there is no problem.
Second, the basic salary is guaranteed. The system differs from company to company, but it is guaranteed for one to two years after joining the company. Many find it attractive that they are paid even during the training period. They think it is “much better than working part-time for an hourly wage” and “I can learn about life insurance while getting paid.
Another attraction is the freedom of working style and the ability to decide one’s own working hours. As long as they perform certain tasks, they can go directly to work and return home. The fact that you don’t have to sit in an office is also “suitable for Chinese people who don’t want to be constrained” (Mr. B).
Some people have annual incomes of 200 million yen.
The most attractive point is that income is based on commission. Unlike the in-house sales staff working at the head office, the income of life insurance sales staff varies depending on the number of contracts and other factors. According to a Japanese employee in an in-house position, a top performer at a sales office can earn around 20 million yen a year, and some of the top performers nationwide earn 100-200 million yen a year.
Attracted by these points, these women are joining life insurance companies. The number of these women has especially increased since the COVID-19 crisis. As inbound-related business declined and the performance of Chinese companies in Japan became more difficult, they found that life insurance was “surprisingly easy for foreigners to get into, even though it is a major Japanese company,” and this information spread by word of mouth among Chinese living in Japan.
According to Mr. A and Mr. B, more than 80% of their customers are Chinese living in Japan. Some of them are not fluent in Japanese, or even if they are fluent, it is difficult for them to understand the contents of life insurance products, and even if they wanted to join a life insurance company, they are unable to do so. Therefore, Chinese salespeople explain to them in Chinese.
While human relationships among Japanese people have become thin and an increasing number of them feel “bothered” when solicited by relatives and friends, there are dense human relationships among Chinese living in Japan, and there is a “latent need” to purchase life insurance products.
Chinese life insurance salespeople are using social networking services such as Wechat to sell life insurance products and are achieving good results. In other words, both sellers and buyers are Chinese.
In Part 2, we will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of the rapidly increasing number of Chinese salespeople.
Reporting and writing： Megumi Nakajima (Journalist) PHOTO： AFRO