How to become an Optical Shop Sales Assistant
Also called: Eyewear sales assistant
Tests customers' eyesight in an optician's shop and chooses and prepares glasses to suit them.
Main tasks
- Displaying products in the shop
- Answering and explaining customers' questions about eyesight and field of vision
- Operating a lensmeter and lens analyser to identify the lenses a customer currently wears
- Doing standard sight tests or operating an autorefractor (a device that measures how the eye focuses) to measure customers' eyesight
- Operating measuring instruments to take customers' measurements, such as the bridge of the nose, eye size, temple length, head position, pupil distance and visual centre line
- Choosing lenses that give the eyesight needed, based on the test results
- Recommending special lenses, coatings and frames to suit customers' needs
- Deciding on lenses while checking what the customer wants
- Giving design advice when customers choose frames, and measuring the face and eye positions to adjust the frames
- Writing job sheets for preparing lenses and adjusting glasses
- Preparing lenses according to the prescription
- Checking that prepared lenses meet the specification
- Operating an automatic patternless edger to grind and shape lenses
- Heating and shaping plastic or metal frames by hand or with pliers to fit the lenses
- Explaining to customers how to wear and care for their glasses properly
- Repairing broken frames
- Operating an ophthalmometer to measure the curve of the cornea, under a doctor's direction
- Teaching customers how to put in contact lenses
- Teaching customers how to use and look after contact lenses to avoid eye injury and accidents
- Operating instruments to test hearing
- Selling glasses accessories, hearing aids and similar products
- Recording customers' prescription details in the customer register
- Managing customer information such as past purchases and orders
- Handling customer complaints
- Sending direct mail and advertising to customers
- Ordering and buying stock and negotiating with suppliers where needed
Workers in this job say university 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 education or qualifications are needed to start, but graduating from an optical senmon gakko (vocational college) is an advantage. Optical shops often send job openings to optical colleges. A related qualification is certified optical technician (megane sakusei ginoushi), which shows a certain level of knowledge and skill in sight testing, choosing lenses and frames, adjusting fit and lens layout. As well as specialist skills and knowledge, you need customer service abilities such as serving customers, selling and business management. You also need a good sense for quickly understanding what customers want and picking the most suitable product from a wide range. It is important to use your specialist knowledge and skills to give advice on eyesight and glasses that suits each customer's concerns and purposes. As more people wear contact lenses, skill in teaching customers to fit them is also in demand. With experience and specialist skills, some people open their own shop.
Ways in
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Junior college (短期大学) programme. 19% of workers surveyed by job tag say junior college graduates are common in this job. In March 2025, 2,483 junior college graduates started work in sales jobs (39% 家政, 24% 社会) (School Basic Survey 2025, table 103).; National trade skills test (技能検定). Certified skilled worker (技能士) grades that job tag lists for this job: 眼鏡作製技能士. The trade skills tests are national tests set under the Human Resources Development Promotion Act.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥3,847,600 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥247,600, and the middle half earn ¥202,000 to ¥306,700 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Shop assistants
- 1.85 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Optical Shop Sales Assistant?
No particular education or qualifications are needed to start, but graduating from an optical senmon gakko (vocational college) is an advantage. Optical shops often send job openings to optical colleges. A related qualification is certified optical technician (megane sakusei ginoushi), which shows a certain level of knowledge and skill in sight testing, choosing lenses and frames, adjusting fit and lens layout. As well as specialist skills and knowledge, you need customer service abilities such as serving customers, selling and business management. You also need a good sense for quickly understanding what customers want and picking the most suitable product from a wide range. It is important to use your specialist knowledge and skills to give advice on eyesight and glasses that suits each customer's concerns and purposes. As more people wear contact lenses, skill in teaching customers to fit them is also in demand. With experience and specialist skills, some people open their own shop.
How much does an Optical Shop Sales Assistant earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥3,847,600 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Shop assistants, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become an Optical Shop Sales Assistant?
Usually not. In this job's census occupation group, only 21% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Junior college (短期大学) programme; National trade skills test (技能検定).
Will AI change the work of an Optical Shop Sales Assistant?
Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
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