The counselling profession in Japan arose after the end of World War II, as the General Headquarters suggested the Japanese education system be reformed to introduce and include psychology, counselling, and vocational guidance from the United States (Grabosky, Ishii & Mase, 2012). The University of Tokyo set up the first counselling rooms in 1953 and in 1955, the Japanese Association of Student Counselling (JASC) was established (Fukuhara, 1989). Other associations followed in the subsequent years and in 1999, the Japanese Union of Psychological Associations (JUPA) was developed to overlook and organize activities between the growing number of these associations (Grabosky, Ishii & Mase, 2012).
Though the mental health infrastructure in Japan is growing with it slowly becoming less taboo to discuss seeking professional help, counselling still is not actually recognized as its own distinct speciality from psychology (Watanabe-Muraoka, 2007 as cited in Grabosky, Ishii & Mase, 2012). Thus, instead of being licensed under a specific counselling body, counsellors in Japan are licensed under the Japanese Board for Clinical Psychologists (JBCP) and according to Tokyo Counselling Services, all mental health professionals aiming to work in Japan must be able to speak Japanese in order to pursue their license.