How to become a Public Health Nurse
Protects the health of people in the community by spreading knowledge of health and hygiene and giving guidance through home visits, outreach visits and classes.
Main tasks
- Visiting people recovering at home and older people to interview them and give advice
- Visiting homes to check babies' and young children's development, such as weighing them and listening to their hearts with a stethoscope
- Advising parents of babies and young children on parenting when they ask for help
- Giving vaccinations to babies, young children and others
- Working with local childcare centres and kindergartens to support parents
- Giving parents of children at childcare all kinds of information on young children's health
- Supporting families and working with other agencies to prevent abuse of babies and children
- Handling paperwork to protect older people's rights
- Supporting older people going into and leaving hospital
- Working with doctors to carry out various health check-ups
- Analysing health check-up data
- Advising and guiding local residents on health and nutrition when they ask for help
- Making support plans for people who need help in daily life and coordinating with other agencies
- Helping to build the local healthcare system
- Spreading ways to prevent illness through classes and other activities
- Guiding, advising and helping people with mental illness in daily life
- Coordinating services to support people with rare and intractable diseases
- Working for companies or schools to look after the health of employees or students
- Supporting students' health and giving health guidance as needed
- Looking after staff health
- Attending occupational safety and health committee meetings
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
To become a public health nurse you must pass the national public health nurse exam. You must already have passed the national exam for registered nurses to be eligible, so after high school you complete three to four years of specialist study at a nursing university, tanki daigaku (junior college) or senmon gakko (vocational college) and then sit the nursing exam. Those who chose the public health nursing option at a nursing university become eligible for the national public health nurse exam once they pass. Others become eligible after two years at a nursing graduate school, or one year of specialist study on a postgraduate or special course at a nursing university, a postgraduate course at a nursing junior college or a public health nurse training school. Whichever route you take, you become a public health nurse after passing the national exam. As well as specialist knowledge and professional skills in medicine and health, basic counselling knowledge and skills are useful for understanding clients properly during health guidance and interviews.
Ways in
- University: Nursing & Midwifery degrees, Offered by 79 universities in Japan
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 保健師. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 看護師. 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: ¥5,513,800 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 ¥334,200, and the middle half earn ¥287,300 to ¥378,900 a month.
- 2.05 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 a Public Health Nurse?
To become a public health nurse you must pass the national public health nurse exam. You must already have passed the national exam for registered nurses to be eligible, so after high school you complete three to four years of specialist study at a nursing university, tanki daigaku (junior college) or senmon gakko (vocational college) and then sit the nursing exam. Those who chose the public health nursing option at a nursing university become eligible for the national public health nurse exam once they pass. Others become eligible after two years at a nursing graduate school, or one year of specialist study on a postgraduate or special course at a nursing university, a postgraduate course at a nursing junior college or a public health nurse training school. Whichever route you take, you become a public health nurse after passing the national exam. As well as specialist knowledge and professional skills in medicine and health, basic counselling knowledge and skills are useful for understanding clients properly during health guidance and interviews.
How much does a Public Health Nurse earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,513,800 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
Do you need a degree to become a Public Health Nurse?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 62% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of a Public Health Nurse?
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