we talked about how difficult it is for men to become flight attendants in Japan, where the job is still considered women's work. However, another occupation that in the past was solely associated with women, nursing, is now openly encouraging male applicants, and the men are signing up. In the West, of course, there have been male nurses for decades, but because of tenacious gender roles and the fact that nursing is still a poorly paid position, Japanese men until recently have never tried to break into the field. That's changing.

According to health ministry surveys, there were 63,000 male nurses working in Japan in 2012, which is two-and-a-half times the number ten years ago and six times the number 20 years ago. Nevertheless, this number only accounts for 6.2 percent of all the nurses in Japan. It is still overwhelmingly considered a woman's job, but the numbers are increasing. Asahi Shimbun reports that 17 percent of the 112 students who enrolled last spring at a nursing school in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, were male. The portion of men among the new class was even larger at a nursing school in Osaka City — 28 out of 118.

What's significant, however, isn't the portion, but the age range. The youngest are just out of high school or college, while the oldest is in his mid-40s. Since nursing schools are essentially technical schools (senmon gakko), they don't follow the archaic university custom of effectively limiting enrollment to recent high school graduates, and many men who want to change career paths are opting for nursing.