After reading a book this year about serious flaws in the pension system, retired deliveryman Yoshikazu Hirano thought he'd check his own records just to be safe.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070906f2a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='185'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>A pensioner –

confers with Social Insurance Agency consultant Kiyoshi Kawaguchi at an agency branch office last month. AP PHOTO

He's glad he did: The 74-year-old discovered the government had shortchanged him by ¥460,000 in benefits he accrued while driving a truck for three years in the 1950s and 60s.