Makiko Esumi

The ad campaign cost the government ¥380 million. The government-sponsored TV commercial was aired nationwide 3,913 times and 29,600 posters featuring Esumi were printed.

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper quoted Esumi's agent as saying she owed about ¥320,000, two years' worth of unpaid premiums.

People aged between 20 and 60 are required to pay pension premiums, and receive benefits after retirement. But while there is no way for salaried workers to escape -- their premiums are deducted directly from their wages -- 37 percent of the nation's 18 million self-employed people and students aged 20 or older who were required to pay the premiums failed to do so in fiscal 2002, Esumi included.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 3, 2004
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