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---

# Working as a nurse in Japan

Nurse is a regulated profession in Japan. Foreign qualifications go through: The applicant submits documents for individual review against Japanese nursing education criteria. If recognised, the applicant may sit the Japanese nurse national exam; the foreign licence itself is not converted directly into a Japanese licence.

- Regulation: Regulated
- Recognition route: The applicant submits documents for individual review against Japanese nursing education criteria. If recognised, the applicant may sit the Japanese nurse national exam; the foreign licence itself is not converted directly into a Japanese licence.
- Recognition authority: MHLW handles exam-eligibility recognition for foreign-trained or foreign-licensed registered nurses.
- Language requirement: For foreign nurse-school graduates/licence holders who did not graduate from Japanese junior and senior high schools, the exam-eligibility criteria require JLPT N1.

## Sources

Foreign-trained nursing school graduates/licence holders are identified as applicants for Japanese nurse-exam eligibility recognition; legal basis cited on MHLW page. — https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_37760.html

## Cite

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately.

### APA

ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 16). Nurse in Japan: recognition [ImmigrationDB compilation; version e1d12c97fbcc3a2a71bdee2b66ded964]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/nurse/japan/ Retrieved 2026-10-16. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

### BibTeX

```bibtex
@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_nurse-in-japan-recognition_148d4c22cc6c,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Nurse in Japan: recognition},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-16},
  version = {e1d12c97fbcc3a2a71bdee2b66ded964},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/nurse/japan/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-10-16. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}
```

### Markdown

[Nurse in Japan: recognition](https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/nurse/japan/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version e1d12c97fbcc3a2a71bdee2b66ded964; retrieved 2026-10-16; built 2026-10-16.

- Citation schema: `immigrationdb-citation-v1`
- Canonical URL: https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/nurse/japan/
- Title: Nurse in Japan: recognition
- Author: ImmigrationDB
- Publisher: ImmigrationDB
- Snapshot: `approved-static-48d32b636f07abc8`
- Version: `e1d12c97fbcc3a2a71bdee2b66ded964`
- Retrieved: 2026-10-16
- Built: 2026-10-16
- Compilation license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

## Boundary

This is reference information, not legal advice. Verify current requirements with the linked authority.
