For those who enjoy helping others, being a nurse can be a very rewarding career. Nursing is a highly respected field that allows you to make positive contributions to society. There are many different branches of nursing which offer competitive salaries and ample opportunity for advancement.
Growing Demand
By 2025, one in five Japanese people will be more than 75-years-old. According to Japan’s Ministry of Labor the country will be short 377,000 health care workers by this time as well. The quickly aging population means that the share of elderly people in the population is increasing and they need healthcare. That means the country needs many nurses and will pay well for them.¹ If you are looking for a career where you will be in demand and can move where you’d like, nursing is the perfect choice.
Many Career Choices
Being a nurse gives you the advantage of working in many subcategories, including in hospitals, clinics, nursing, retirement and old age homes, home care services, public health, positions helping in labs or research at universities and medical foundations and even as an industrial nurse working on-site for a company and ensuring the health of employees. Nursing gives individuals the chance to specialize in the precise career that interests them the most and be fairly compensated for it.
Reasonable Salaries
The average salary for a nurse in Japan is 220,000 JPY but it can go up to over one million JPY.² This means that as a nurse you do not have to worry about being underpaid or struggling to afford the necessities of life because you will always be well remunerated.³
Schedule Flexibility
Having a flexible schedule can be a major benefit of a nursing career. Many shifts in nursing are at irregular hours and also may require on-call work, but the upside is that many jobs in nursing give you a flexible schedule where you can set your hours in the way that works best for you. Many nurses, for example, work three 12-hour shifts and then take four days off, or work on weekends and offset it with other weekdays away from work.
Mentally Rewarding
A career in nursing gives you the opportunity to help others every day and make a positive difference in their life. You can assist doctors and surgeons in life-saving operations and make patients more comfortable as they recover their health. Contributing positively to the good health of society is one of the best parts of being a nurse.
Extra Benefits
Being a nurse generally entitles you to a healthy share of paid vacation time, sick leave and paid time off. Having these benefits makes the sometimes stressful aspects of a nursing career easier to unwind from, since you know you will be able to get enough time off.
Learning New Things About Health Every Day
Being a nurse makes you part of a trusted and well-respected profession. As someone whose job is to help others you can feel confident knowing that your job saves lives every day.⁴
If you are looking to become a nurse, there are many online services to help get started. If you are already a nurse and looking to change jobs, there are many online services to help with this as well. Performing a simple online search is a great way to get started with a fantastic career in nursing. Best of luck with having a long and successful nursing career.
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/27/reference/nursing-care-workers-hard-to-find-but-in-demand-in-aging-japan/
[2] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/27/reference/nursing-care-workers-hard-to-find-but-in-demand-in-aging-japan/#.Xiw8cSNS-00
[3] http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=107&loctype=1&job=865&jobtype=3
[4] https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume52000/No2May00/JapanElderlyCentury.html
