How to become an Orthoptist
Also called: Certified Orthoptist
Tests patients' eye function under an ophthalmologist's supervision and restores sight and eye function through training.
Main tasks
- Operating various testing machines to examine the structure and function of patients' eyes as the doctor directs
- Reporting accurate measurements to the doctor to help decide on treatment
- Planning corrective training programmes with the doctor
- Giving vision training using optical equipment and other tools, following the programme
- Communicating with patients during tests and training, giving instructions and asking how they feel
- Choosing aids to make the most of remaining sight and training patients to use them
- Recording and managing how programmes are going and how the patient's condition is improving
- Working out and prescribing the strength of glasses and contact lenses
- Teaching patients how to use eye drops, contact lenses and glasses
- Testing patients with squints or lazy eye and giving the training needed
- Carrying out tests and vision training for children
- Checking the condition of patients with long-term illnesses such as diabetes
- Cleaning the clinic and keeping it in good order
- Collecting and analysing data for conference presentations and papers
Workers in this job say vocational college (senmon gakko) or 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
To become an orthoptist you study for one to three years at an orthoptist training school, or four years at a university with an orthoptics course, and then pass the national orthoptist exam. To sit the entrance exam for a training school you must have graduated from high school, or from a tanki daigaku (junior college), a nursing school or a childcare worker training school. Tests and training are based on the patient's answers, so how you deal with patients and build relationships is important for getting accurate results and making training more effective.
Ways in
- University: Allied Health degrees, Offered by 52 universities in Japan
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Other medical courses. 専修学校 courses in その他 (医療関係) had 4,305 graduates in the 2024 school year, 3,644 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 視能訓練士. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥4,436,000 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 ¥286,000, and the middle half earn ¥255,600 to ¥328,300 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Physical, occupational and speech therapists and orthoptists
- 3.08 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 can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Orthoptist?
To become an orthoptist you study for one to three years at an orthoptist training school, or four years at a university with an orthoptics course, and then pass the national orthoptist exam. To sit the entrance exam for a training school you must have graduated from high school, or from a tanki daigaku (junior college), a nursing school or a childcare worker training school. Tests and training are based on the patient's answers, so how you deal with patients and build relationships is important for getting accurate results and making training more effective.
How much does an Orthoptist earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥4,436,000 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Physical, occupational and speech therapists and orthoptists, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become an Orthoptist?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 62% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of an Orthoptist?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, 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