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Other social welfare specialist professionals

How to become an Elderly Care Facility Counsellor

Also called: Support counsellor (long-term care health facility), Certified social worker (aged care facility), Life guidance worker (aged care facility), Life counsellor (aged care facility), Life counsellor (private aged care home)

Gives advice, help and coordination so that people who live in or attend aged care facilities can go about daily life comfortably and as independently as possible.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say vocational college (senmon gakko), university, or high school is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

Elderly care facility counsellors generally need to be a certified social worker, a psychiatric social worker, or hold the social welfare officer appointment qualification (needed to work for a local government, and gained by completing set subjects at university or similar, or by finishing a training school or course approved by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare). Some local governments also accept people who are certified care workers or care managers. Specialist knowledge and communication skills are important for understanding each older person's situation and working with others to give better support. You often act as the go-between for the person, their family, care workers and other organisations, so an objective view and sound judgement are also needed.

Ways in

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Questions people ask

How do I become an Elderly Care Facility Counsellor?

Elderly care facility counsellors generally need to be a certified social worker, a psychiatric social worker, or hold the social welfare officer appointment qualification (needed to work for a local government, and gained by completing set subjects at university or similar, or by finishing a training school or course approved by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare). Some local governments also accept people who are certified care workers or care managers. Specialist knowledge and communication skills are important for understanding each older person's situation and working with others to give better support. You often act as the go-between for the person, their family, care workers and other organisations, so an objective view and sound judgement are also needed.

How much does an Elderly Care Facility Counsellor earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥4,416,600 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other social welfare specialist professionals, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become an Elderly Care Facility Counsellor?

Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 42% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Social Work & Community degrees; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Social welfare.

Will AI change the work of an Elderly Care Facility Counsellor?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026