Japanese Vocabulary for Jobs and Occupations

Here are useful Japanese words for jobs and occupations. Some name a role, others a qualification or workplace. Use the notes to distinguish them, and prefer current terms such as 看護師 for nurse.

For the Japanese people, the rapid changes in their core societal structure, as well as the adoption and development of new technologies starting the Meiji era, gave rise to many of the modern words used to denote profession and occupation within the country today.

In this brief article, we have listed some of the more general and well known terms related to this subject, with a slightly higher priority for older jobs that maintained their relevance well up to the very end of the 20th century.

More specialized terms include 小児科医（しょうにかい, shōnikai）, pediatrician, and 眼科医（がんかい, gankai）, ophthalmologist. The systems and professional roles do not always correspond exactly to English labels. 歯医者 can refer to a dentist or dental practice; 歯科医 is the professional title. パン屋 may mean a bakery or its operator. 先生 is an address/title used for teachers and some other professionals; 教師（きょうし, kyōshi） names the occupation. Older texts may use 看護婦 (kangofu), but the current gender-neutral title is 看護師 (kangoshi).

For instance, like in English, there are also specific Japanese terms for doctors for each medical category (e.g paediatrician – shounikai (小児科医), optometrist – kengan-i (検眼医), etc.).

However, these professions are a bit too specific and situational, and would probably only be relevant to a foreign listener once the related activity of the profession becomes the central subject.

Let us know what else you can add to this list by leaving a comment below!