To become a registered dietician or nutritionist, you need a degree but not in all countries a dietician or nutritionist needs the same level of education to practice this job.
When you are going abroad to be a dietician or nutritionist it is important to know what kind of education a dietician or nutritionist needs. This is important because in some countries your position is very high, like a doctor but in other countries you are at the same level as a nutritional assistant for example.
To become a registered dietician or nutritionist in Japan, as a minimum, you need to have a Bachelor and an Associate degree. Both are required.
There are 306 institutions in Japan, that offer dietetics education programs. (International Confederation of Dietetic Associations, 2013)
Below you can see a table used by The Japan Dietetic Association to show you how to get a license as a dietician and a registered dietician in Japan. ( The Japan Dietetic Association, 2013)
In Japan there is a difference in education to become a dietician or to become a Registered Dietician. When you have followed the study for a Registered Dietician for four years, you get a dietician license and you can do the Registered Dietician national examination to get a Registered Dietician License.
When you have followed the dietician training school there are three ways to get a Dietician license. There is the possibility to do the study in two, three or four years.
When you have the dietician license, there is a possibility to get a registered dietician license.
When you do the study in two years, you need three years of experience in the work field to participate the Registered dietician national examination. If you have done the study in three years, you need two years of experience en when you have studied for four years you only need one year of experience to participate the Registered dietician national examination.
The Japan Dietetic Association set up a few ethical codes for Registered Dieticians or Nutritionist.
Established April 27, 2002
1. Members of the Japan Dietetic Association are aware of the mission and duty as registered dieticians and dieticians, and of the standard of performance that is expected.
2. Registered dieticians and dieticians will not discriminate by nationality, race, religion, belief, principle, lineage, social status, age or sex.
3. Registered dieticians and dieticians will provide public health, medical treatment, and welfare based on their accumulated knowledge, technique, and experience.
4. Registered dieticians and dieticians will always strive for the most appropriate training and work experience in order to meet the expectations and justify the trust of society.
5. Registered dieticians and dieticians will constantly improve their knowledge and technique by keeping up to date with the newest information, and will not divulge details of personal information collected in the course of their work.
6. Any breach of this code by a member will be subject to judgment by the ethics committee of the Japan Dietetic Association and subsequent expulsion from the membership according to the 8th article of the articles of association.
(The Japan Dietitic Association, 2013)
Job activities of a dietician and nutritionist in Japan
Dietician and registered dietician
In Japan are two sorts of dieticians. First is a “dietician” and second is a “registered dietician”. Dietician is a license of Prefectures governor. The job activities of a dietician is nutrition education as a dietician.
Registered dietician is a license of the Ministry of Welfare and Labour. A registered dietician has three different job activities. First is nutrition education to get medical treatment. The second activity is nutrition education to maintain health and promote it which needs high professional knowledge. The last job activity is that of food service management in catering and food companies. This requires special knowledge of the physical, nutritional and facility aspects of catering and meal supplying. In Japan extra education is necessary to improve these facilities. (Dietitian and Registered Dietitian, 2013).
Places where dietician services are most commonly employed
Below you can see in what kind of places dieticians and nutritionists in Japan can work (Work of Dietitians, 2010). This is divided into three different categories.
Healthy systems:
- community health centres
- doctor’s offices or medical clinics
- hospitals
- nursing homes or long term care
- public health agencies
- government department
Food and agriculture:
- food service/hospitality or association
- military food service
Other common settings for employment of dietician services:
- academic research organisation/school(system)
- recreation or sports facility or association
The position of a dietician or nutritionist in Japan
In the health care system of a country there are professions that have more prestige than other professions. This also influences how people look at a profession and what advise they would prefer above that of a more ‘important’ profession within the health care system. In the Netherlands for example a doctor has more prestige than a dietician. (Lems, 2001) But what is the position of a dietician in Japan? And how does someone that is a foreigner to Japanese culture and habits become a respected dietician in Japan?
A few years back the profession of dietician in Japan had a minor involvement in the health care system. The work of a dietician was centered around cooking and food science. The Japanese government then revised the role of the dietician in the health care system. They created a new dietetics education system that would professionalize the role of a dietician. This change has a significant and positive effect on the position of dieticians in Japan. With the new education the graduating students can and are helping people in the hospital that suffer from diseases like cancer, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. This change in work field gives the dietician more prestige and therefore a better position within the health care system. Sadly, even today, most registered dieticians are limited to working in food production, food management, kitchen development and community nutrition. (Curley, 2008)
In Japan a dietician is mostly dependent on the knowledge of the country, like the culture, kind of food they eat, habit and preferably the language. If a foreign dietician has knowledge about those things and can speak Japanese a bit the Japanese people respect that and will accept the dieticians counseling more. (Nihan & Johnson A, 2012)