How much does a copier operator make in Japan?
a year · about $15 an hour
The average copier operator in Japan makes $28,587 (¥4.29M) a year, monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, about the same as a typical worker in Japan (average, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).
What do they do?
Depending on the workplace, they sort requests and enter names and numbers, or run copiers and OCR machines. They check copies or scanned text for errors, fix them, and save records in the requested format.
Did you know? In Japan, a 1976 OCR machine could read handwritten katakana and small forms at 300 forms a minute—decades before smartphones!
Is that a lot?
Compared with jobs you knowWhat if you were…
In Japan, age and company size matter mostPick a company size, sex or age to see that group's average here.
How it changes with age
Tap an age to update the number above (Any company size, men and women combined)
How it changes with company size
How do you become one?
In Japan, no special degree or license is required; accurate typing helps, and data-entry employers often train new hires on their machines. There is no set apprenticeship or job-specific starting age; most work can begin only after the March 31 following a person's 15th birthday.
Why does pay differ?
In Japan, pay can vary with experience and whether the job is just entering data or also checking machine-read forms. Typing certificates can show skill, though no license is usually required; employer size and industry, location, full- or part-time status, and hours or shifts can also matter.
Jobs like this
In the US, a typical machine operator makes $40,960 → see more
Data table and sources
| Company size | Everyone | Men | Women | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any size | $28,587 | $34,046 | $25,006 | 43.4 |
| Big company | $27,421 | $33,073 | $24,055 | 43.9 |
| Mid-size | $31,974 | $37,216 | $27,818 | 43.6 |
| Small company | $24,853 | $29,407 | $22,392 | 42.8 |
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/429
- www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001546622.pdf
- www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/list/chinginkouzou_b.html
- www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?cycle=0&layout=datalist&page=1&stat_infid=000
- museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/ocr/index.html
- www.mhlw.go.jp/qa/koyou/kinshi/qa.html
Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY