$Who Earns What

How much does a accounting clerk make in Japan?

Accounting Clerks

Answer: The average accounting clerk in Japan makes $34,149 (¥5.12M) a year (monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).

Average yearly pay of people doing this job in Japan
$34,149 (¥5.12M)

Monthly pay $2,283 × 12 + bonus $6,749. Average age 44; about 466,000 people work in this job. About the same as the Japan-wide average ($33,720).

Accounting clerk pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex)

Accounting clerk pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex) — Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025
Company sizeEveryoneMenWomenAge
Any size$34,149$41,800$29,94744
Big company$38,645$47,231$32,47442.5
Mid-size$33,760$40,921$29,88142.1
Small company$31,390$37,753$28,49547.3

Why does pay differ?

In Japan, pay can differ with experience and useful bookkeeping certificates, since experienced clerks may take on harder tasks such as closing accounts and budgets. Employer size and type, location, and full-time versus short-hours work also affect pay.

What if you were…

In Japan, age and company size matter most

Pick 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

Any size$34,149
Big company$38,645
Mid-size$33,760
Small company$31,390
Men$41,800
Women$29,947

What does a accounting clerk do?

What's a typical day like?

At a desk, an accounting clerk enters sales, bills, and payments into accounting software, then checks the records against bank balances. They may issue invoices, calculate pay, and help close the books at month-end.

How to get this job

Japan requires no particular degree or license. Many study business at high school, vocational school, or college, earn a useful bookkeeping certificate, then start with entries and learn closing and budgets on the job.

Did you know?

Japanese companies use double-entry bookkeeping: every transaction is recorded in two parts, not just cash movements, so the books show the full money story.

What about the US?

Nearly the same job
Accounting clerk (average)
$34,149
US
Bookkeeper (typical)
$50,670

Japan's figure is the average and the US figure is the median. Prices and exchange rates matter too, so it's a rough comparison.

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Sources and data

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

Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY