ICHINOMIYA, Aichi Prefecture--A Nagoya-based company is offering Japan's understaffed care industry a much-needed helping hand, with muscular arms to boot. 

Visionary has tapped into an ample stock of powerfully built men willing to care for people with disabilities.

The company operates 19 businesses, dispatching caretakers to homes of people who need help and running facilities such as a group home for people with disabilities.

The business had run into the wall of short staffing like many others in the industry until it started aggressively hiring “maccho” men, a Japanese term for the buffed. 

Currently, the company has 120 employees.

Of these, 20 or so are trained for “physique,” a competition similar to bodybuilding but not as extreme, which focuses more on proportion and symmetry among other attributes.

Some of them have performed brilliantly in national competitions.

“They have an intimate knowledge of the mechanics of muscles and the movement of joints, and they are professional in how to use the body,” said Yusuke Niwa, 37, president of Visionary, of the gym-honed men. “They are perfectly suited for a caretaker's job.”

PHYSIQUES NOT ONLY BENEFIT

Ryoya Niwa, 27, is one such “perfect” employee.

Niwa works as a home-care worker at a dwelling house dedicated to people with disabilities.

His body fat is 3 percent and he can bench-press 110 kilograms.

“I am confident in my physical strength,” he said.

And the job is “perfect” for him, Niwa added.

“My coworkers have an understanding about physique. There is no better company to work for,” he said.

Caretaking requires heavy lifting but it is not the only skill that maccho men utilize in carrying out their duties.

“I take advantage of the knowledge that I have obtained through training,” Niwa said.

Such knowledge includes how to properly use muscles when standing up, how to carry objects without injuring one’s back and how to eat a well-balanced meal.

Caretakers often suffer from back problems. But Niwa said he and his colleagues are free from those because, “We train every day, and the job is less of a physical burden for us.”

‘FEEL ABSOLUTELY SECURE WITH THEM’

Those who receive care have appreciated the V-shaped men with small waists.

Shunsuke Ogata, 23, who lives at The C Okucho, a shared house for people with disabilities in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, is assisted by two such men in being lifted from a wheelchair and moved onto a bed.

The caregivers perform the maneuver skillfully, and Ogata can see their bulging biceps peeking through the sleeves of their T-shirts.

Ogata, who is paralyzed from the neck down, said with a smile: “I can ask them to do anything. I feel absolutely secure with them.”

Such a favorable review is pleasing to Yusuke Niwa, Visionary president, who endured tough times when things were not all smooth sailing and his company was severely understaffed.

Niwa, a maccho man himself, started Visionary in 2008.

He had quit a hair stylist job after working for a year and had been out of steady employment since.

His older sister talked him into taking a part-time job visiting and giving haircuts to people with disabilities.

Niwa was moved by a man who received a haircut and said, “Thank you.”

The simple word was enough to motivate him into launching a caretaking business.

He rented the corner space of a "yakiniku" barbecue restaurant that his family owned, and started a business with his sister and her friend to dispatch home-care workers.

The business grew fairly steadily for a while. But soon, he faced a serious staff shortage.

He placed help wanted ads, to which only one or two people responded by email a year.

Generally speaking, the care industry is shunned by many because it is deemed among the “3K” industries in Japan--"kitsui" (hard), "kitanai" (dirty) and "kyuryo-ga-yasui" (low pay).

But it is a rewarding job, appreciated by service recipients and their families, Niwa said.

“All I ask people for is to know about the job, then they will find it compelling,” Niwa thought, getting frustrated.

‘POSTER BOY WITH MUSCLES’

The turning point came in 2017, when Niwa, who had martial arts experience, gave a casual try at competing in a fitness event.

At the competition, Niwa was wowed by a maccho man who lost a chance to win the championship and broke down in tears.

Seeing the way the man made a commitment and worked to improve himself, Niwa felt a surge of emotion, thinking, “I would be very pleased if this awesome guy entered the caretaking industry.”

In no time, Niwa decided to create a corporate fitness team within his company.

He became serious about training for competition. Within a year, Niwa ranked fourth in Aichi Prrefecture.

Using the network built through training, Niwa approached physique athletes who had many followers on social media and persuaded them to be a “poster boy with muscles” for his company.

Word soon got around that, “There is a caretaking company that hires only maccho people.”

The number of employees, which used to be 20, doubled in 2018.

Niwa also provided incentives to employees. Staff, including part-timers, can use a partnering gym for free.

Employees who belong to the corporate physique team are allowed to train for two hours of their eight-hour shifts.

The company provides an allowance for protein items and fees to compete in physique competitions.

They can be free from toiling away at a keyboard and eat chicken tenders without being rebuked by bosses or co-workers.

Such benefits are well-received by employees such as Ryoya Niwa.

Physique competitors “eat more meals a day than ordinary people,” he said. “So I appreciate that (the company) understands this and allows me to take time to frequently resupply my nutrients.”

For those who are inexperienced, the company provides support to obtain a license in the caretaking industry.

Although the company pays industry-standard salaries, inquiries from people seeking employment have risen to 300 or so a year.

“Maccho might well save the care industry,” said Niwa, the president.

Of course, the reality is far from what Niwa envisions.

The Care Work Foundation, a Tokyo-based public interest incorporated foundation, conducted a survey of care insurance service operators nationwide in 2020.

In the survey, 60.8 percent of the surveyed operators said they lacked sufficient human resources.

The top reason for the shortage, cited by 86.6 percent, was “difficulty in hiring.” 

The welfare ministry in July 2021 said about 2.8 million caretakers will be needed in fiscal 2040.

The figure suggests that there will be about 690,000 staffers short, compared to the number of caretaking staff in fiscal 2019.

Niwa, the president, said what Visionary is doing in terms of care services is not that unique, except that it hires muscular people.

“But it is nothing more than a start for people to know about the work of caretaking," he said.

“The work is difficult, but I don’t think our staff see the job as so-called ‘3K.’ I hope people listen to more from those who actually enjoy working in the industry.

“Therefore I want these maccho employees to stand out and draw attention.” 

They may not give a quick boost to the industry’s manpower shortage problem.

However, it “is the first step,” Niwa said.