[Basic Knowledge] Desired Career for boys / In 5 minutes to understand desired careers in Japan

With reading of this page, you will get above listed knowledges as well as Japanese have. I will be very glad if you could read this article to the end.

Thank you !

Hello, world ! This is shinta_in_japan.

Today’s topic is ‘Desired Career’ for boys.
What kind of career did you want to be in your childhood ?

It might be different from generation, area, culture, social conditions, etc. So I would hope that you can read something about latest in Japanese culture. This article is about top 20 careers desired by students of elementary school, with age from 7 to 12.

The source of this article is ‘White paper of elementary school students in 2019’ which is issued by Gakken, as provider of educational materials with long history. I hope you can enjoy the article, with 5 minutes of reading.

Have fun !

No.1 – No.5

Ranking	Career	Ratio
No.1	Youtuber	5.8%
No.2	Football Player	5.5%
No.3	Baseball Player	5.0%
No.4	Driver	4.7%
No.5	Policemen	3.3%

‘Youtuber’ is the most popular desired career for Japanese elementary school age in Japan. This is very new career. In 2016, this career is firstly listed in this report. Only with 3 years, it’s getting No.1 in Japan.

Baseball as No.2 and football player as No.3 are keeping in high rank long time. Top 3 are with large income. On the other hand, No.4, driver and No.5 policemen are supported by different points. They are very familiar Career for children.

No.6 – No.10

Ranking	Career	Ratio
No.6	Doctor	3.0%
No.7	Office Worker	2.8%
No.8	Researcher	2.3%
No.9	Engineer	2.2%
No.10	Civil servant	2.0%

In ranking of No.6 – No.10, there are various careers. Doctor is the most popular career in science relative category. Researcher and Engineer are also supported with high ratio.

No.7, Office worker and No.10 Civil servant are also with in higher rank. As these are very popular actually, it might be that children have familiar person who dedicate these careers.

No.11 – No.15

Ranking	Career	Ratio
No.11	Chef	1.8%
No.12	Firefighter	1.7%
No.13	Carpenter	1.7%
No.14	Programmer	1.7%
No.15	Athlete	1.3%

In No.11-15, there are the career with marketable skills, No.11, Chef, No.13, Carpenter, No. 14, Programmer. People think that it’s important to have good skill to make money whole life.

No.12 is Firefighter. Needless to say, children admire brave figure of firefighters. In No.15, Athletes, is also supported by children with great admiration.

No.16 – No.20

Ranking	Career	Ratio
No.16	Teacher	1.3%
No.17	Astronaut	1.3%
No.18	Entertainer	1.2%
No.19	Game Designer	1.2%
No.20	Pastry Chef	1.0%

Next is No.16-20. There are with variety. Teacher, Astronaut, Entertainer, Game Designer, and Pastry chef. It seems that the eyes of children are opening to the society. They know well already that there are various careers in human societies.

Summary

In the end, I would like to summarize the points of this article.

Thank you very much for your reading and see you again !

Postscript

How was the content today ?

I think some of you had a similar desire in childhood, and some of you don’t. When I was a child, there was no YouTuber, nor professional football league in Japan. Even in Japan, children’s desired career is changing little by little.

I hope you will have some communication with your Japanese friend, with reading this article, especially with friends having kids. My elder son 10 years old want to be Astronaut, and younger 7 years old want to be football player. It might be good topic in communication.

Thank you for reading and see you again!