About OT Japan & the Author

Last updated: 2026-08-01

OT Japan is the English-language section of 作業療法.net, an independent Japanese website about sagyō ryōhō (作業療法, occupational therapy). I'm Hiroemon, a licensed occupational therapist working in Japan, and I write and edit every page here myself. This page explains why the site exists, who I am, how the English and Japanese sites relate, the editorial rules I follow, and how to reach me.

Why OT Japan Exists

Japan has one of the largest occupational therapy communities in the world: 118,465 people held the national OT license as of March 31, 2025, according to the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists (JAOT) membership statistics. The association has also been a full member of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists since 1972.

Yet almost everything this community knows — its frameworks, its research, its everyday clinical culture — is published in Japanese. JAOT maintains an English gateway site, but beyond that, very little of Japanese OT practice is visible to English-speaking readers. OT Japan exists to open that window.

I write about the questions international readers actually ask: how licensing works here and what it realistically takes to work in Japan, the Kawa model as seen from inside Japanese practice, Japanese OT research and how to access it, and what a working day in a Japanese clinical setting looks like. My rule is simple: verifiable information from primary sources, written honestly — even when the honest answer is less encouraging than you might hope.

Who I Am

I'm Hiroemon, a licensed occupational therapist — sagyō ryōhō shi (作業療法士, occupational therapist) — with over 13 years of clinical experience in Japan. My work has spanned physical rehabilitation, geriatric and dementia care, and mental health, including support for adults with developmental disabilities.

I also hold Japan's care manager certification — kaigo shien senmon-in (介護支援専門員, care manager) — a national credential for coordinating services under Japan's long-term care insurance system. That combination shapes what I write about: not just therapy techniques, but the institutions and insurance systems that OT in Japan lives inside.

Hiroemon is a pen name — a common practice among Japanese healthcare professionals who write publicly, and I use one for the same everyday reason: to keep a clear line between my clinical workplace and my writing. What I don't hide is anything that matters for judging this site: my license, my experience, my sources, and the fact that I run both sites you see here.

OT Japan and 作業療法.net

Full disclosure: OT Japan is not an outside review of someone else's website. I run 作業療法.net — the domain itself is the Japanese word for occupational therapy — and this English section is part of the same site, written by the same person.

The Japanese site has more than 250 published articles, with a new one scheduled every morning. Every article can be switched between two reader modes — one written for professionals, one for patients and families. It covers practical guides organized by condition and daily activity (physical rehabilitation, geriatric and dementia care, mental health, developmental disabilities), career and licensing information for Japanese OTs, and a practice bank of past national exam questions — roughly 3,000 questions spanning 15 years.

If you read Japanese — or want to try with a translation tool — a good entry point besides the top page is the site's standard explainer, 作業療法とは (“What is occupational therapy?”).

Editorial Policy

• Primary sources first. Statistics and institutional facts come from primary sources — JAOT statistics, government documents, peer-reviewed journals — and are linked with an “as of” date. If I can't verify a number, I leave it out.
• Visible dates. Every page shows a “Last updated” date that matches its most recent substantive revision.
• Corrections. When an error is confirmed, I correct it promptly. If you spot one, please tell me — reporting a mistake is a favor, not a nuisance.
• AI assistance, human verification. I use AI tools to help draft and polish the English. Every claim is checked against the linked primary sources before publication, and I'm responsible for every published word.
• Independence. OT Japan and 作業療法.net are personal, independent projects, not affiliated with JAOT or with any employer, school, or vendor.

Contact

The easiest way to reach me is through the contact page of the Japanese site. A heads-up: that page is written in Japanese and there is no contact form — it links to my X (Twitter) and Facebook accounts, and a direct message there is how to get in touch. You're welcome to write in English.

Please note that I can't give individual medical advice — for personal health questions, consult your physician or a local occupational therapist. Corrections, questions, and suggestions about anything on OT Japan are always welcome.