Translating the survey’s categories
Japan uses several public classifications of industries and occupations. The Japan Standard Industrial Classification and Japan Standard Occupational Classification serve statistical purposes; the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s occupational classification supports employment placement and related services. Each reflects its purpose. Both links are in Japanese.
The Cabinet Office survey behind Rokugeisha’s basic viewer uses survey-specific industry and occupation categories. It does not reproduce these public classifications unchanged. Our first task in translating the viewer is to preserve the scope of each category. The Cabinet Office describes the surveys and open data here (in Japanese).
For example, we translate 大学等研究機関所属の教員・研究者 as “Academic staff and researchers at universities and other research institutions”. This preserves both teaching and research roles and includes research institutions outside universities.
Educational categories require the same care. We distinguish 国立 and 公立 as “national” and “local public”, drawing on sources such as NIC-Japan’s account of institutional types while checking their fit with the survey. Where a short label needs explanation, we will add a note and retain access to the Japanese source name.
Identical English labels do not establish equivalent categories for international comparison. Comparisons over time also require checking how categories and questions have changed. This translation covers the 2025 survey; correspondence with other countries’ classifications or earlier survey years remains to be examined.
These are provisional translations by Rokugeisha, not official Cabinet Office translations. Developing this Japanese–English reference is a continuing part of our work. We will review it against classifications and terminology used in comparative research and public documentation, and refine it through discussions with researchers and practitioners. Those discussions will address both category boundaries and institutional meanings. A concrete set of translations provides a starting point for examining individual choices.
The aim is to help readers explore their own questions about education and work in Japan, then return to the original terms and survey documentation for a closer look.
Related sources
- MEXT: Overview of Japan’s education system — Opens with “Principles Guide Japan’s Educational System” and explains educational principles, the legal framework, school structure and institutional types. A starting point for understanding educational categories in their Japanese context.
- NIC-Japan: Types of higher education institutions — Institutional types and establishing bodies, providing context for the terminology used in Japanese higher education.
- Cabinet Office: Surveys and open data on human resources (in Japanese) — An overview of the surveys behind the viewer and access to the published data.
- e-Stat: Japan’s standard statistical classifications (in Japanese) — Includes the Japan Standard Industrial Classification and Japan Standard Occupational Classification.
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Occupational classification (in Japanese) — The classification used for employment placement and related services.