How much does an associate professor make in Japan?
a year · about $30 an hour
The average associate professor in Japan makes $58,429 (¥8.76M) a year, monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, about 1.7× a typical worker in Japan (average, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).
What do they do?
They teach a class, then meet students to discuss research or a thesis. Later, they may do experiments, write a paper, attend a committee meeting, or prepare a conference talk.
Did you know? In Japan, university teachers often teach fewer class hours than schoolteachers, because they also spend time on research.
Is that a lot?
Compared with jobs you knowWhat if you were…
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How it changes with age
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How it changes with company size
How do you become one?
In Japan, study a subject at university and graduate school, usually earning a master’s or doctorate while building research and teaching experience. Many work as postdocs or fixed-term faculty, then apply through an open recruitment and pass a document review and interview; no national license is required.
Why does pay differ?
In Japan, pay depends on experience, degrees and research expertise, plus each university or technical college’s pay rules, size and location. Full-time or part-time status, hours, allowances and duties can also matter; no single national license sets the pay.
Jobs like this
Data table and sources
| Company size | Everyone | Men | Women | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any size | $58,429 | $59,527 | $55,638 | 49.3 |
| Big company | $61,695 | $62,340 | $59,645 | 48.9 |
| Mid-size | $53,359 | $54,383 | $51,455 | 49.8 |
| Small company | $45,565 | $43,775 | $47,459 | 54.3 |
Source: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (regular workers, by occupation) (e-Stat). Yearly pay = monthly contractual cash earnings × 12 + annual bonus. Averages for regular workers at firms with 10+ employees. Public employees (teachers, police, firefighters) and company executives are not in this survey. e-stat.go.jp
Pages used for the text
- shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/Occupation/Detail/184
- www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003447838
- www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003426315
- www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo4/003/gijiroku/06102415/006/004.htm
- jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?id=D125081373&ln=1&ln_jor=1
Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY