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Landscape gardeners, nursery workers

How to become a Landscape Gardener

Also called: Greenkeeper, Golf Course Turf Layer, Turf Layer, Certified Landscaper, Garden Builder, Gardener

Designs Japanese gardens and green spaces at apartment complexes and other sites, or directs and supervises construction from plans, does the work themselves, and maintains the gardens once finished.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say 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

No particular qualifications or level of education are needed to start, but some people study landscaping, floriculture, design, surveying or construction methods at high school, a senmon gakko (vocational college), tanki daigaku (junior college) or university before starting. After starting, you gain knowledge and skills through work on site and skills courses, and gain the qualifications you need as you build experience, until you can do the job fully. Related qualifications include the national trade skills test (ginou kentei) in landscaping set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the landscape construction management engineer qualification recognised by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which test knowledge and skills from designing to managing landscape construction. Landscape gardeners rarely do every part of a landscaping job themselves, but they need licences to operate the construction machinery used for ground preparation, and qualifications in slinging and small mobile cranes for stone setting and planting. The work is mostly outdoors, and caring for trees involves working at height, so you need reasonable fitness and a good sense of balance. When designing gardens or directing whole landscaping projects you need an eye for beauty. Knowledge of and interest in the features and handling of plants and stone are also needed.

Ways in

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Landscape Gardener?

No particular qualifications or level of education are needed to start, but some people study landscaping, floriculture, design, surveying or construction methods at high school, a senmon gakko (vocational college), tanki daigaku (junior college) or university before starting. After starting, you gain knowledge and skills through work on site and skills courses, and gain the qualifications you need as you build experience, until you can do the job fully. Related qualifications include the national trade skills test (ginou kentei) in landscaping set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the landscape construction management engineer qualification recognised by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which test knowledge and skills from designing to managing landscape construction. Landscape gardeners rarely do every part of a landscaping job themselves, but they need licences to operate the construction machinery used for ground preparation, and qualifications in slinging and small mobile cranes for stone setting and planting. The work is mostly outdoors, and caring for trees involves working at height, so you need reasonable fitness and a good sense of balance. When designing gardens or directing whole landscaping projects you need an eye for beauty. Knowledge of and interest in the features and handling of plants and stone are also needed.

How much does a Landscape Gardener earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥3,607,500 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Agriculture, forestry and fishery workers, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Landscape Gardener?

Usually not. In this job's census occupation group, only 16% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: National trade skills test (技能検定); Vocational college (専門学校) course: Horticulture.

Will AI change the work of a Landscape Gardener?

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