In this photo provided by security firm Juko, employees work out in the company gym.
SEIKA, Kyoto — A security company in Kyoto Prefecture has launched a recruitment campaign under a bold slogan: “Japan’s most worker-friendly company for fitness lovers.”
The company behind the effort is Juko, which was founded in 2012 and dispatches security guards across Kyoto, Osaka and Nara prefectures for facility protection and traffic control.
At its headquarters in the town of Seika, Juko has converted a storage space into a compact gym fitted with a training machine and even brings in professional instructors from a nearby fitness center. Employees can train for free — a perk that has several goals beyond recruitment.
According to labor ministry statistics, Japan’s job-to-applicant ratio for “security and protective services” stood at 6.92 in December 2025 — evidence of an acute labor shortage. Juko currently employs 87 people, including both full-time staff and part-timers, yet founder and now adviser Hiroyoshi Okuno, 56, stated, “There are too many service requests and not enough personnel, so we often have to turn down jobs.”
Another challenge is age. The firm’s average employee age is in the 50s, but that figure is pulled down by university student part-timers — most workers are around 70. Some have had to stop working after developing health problems.
Okuno began looking for a remedy. Having heard about welfare and nursing facilities that support their muscular “macho” workers, such as by subsidizing protein powder, he thought a similar approach might suit the security industry, “where physical strength is everything.”
Juko founder and now adviser Hiroyoshi Okuno points to the fitness machine in the company gym, in Seika, Kyoto Prefecture, Feb. 18, 2026. (Mainichi/Yuki Ohigashi)
In December 2025, Juko remodeled its storage space and spent about 1.5 million yen (approx. $9,625) installing a full-scale training machine, along with dumbbells ranging from 1 to 10 kilograms.
The firm also added a new “bodybuilder track” to its hiring categories, inviting applicants who aim to compete in physique contests. Recruits under the program can use the in-house machine as much as they like, receive subsidies for protein supplements and contest participation, and get regular lessons from professional instructors through a partnership with nearby gym D’gra.
Existing employees are welcome to train as well. Okuno hopes the fitness facility will help them stay healthy and remain on the job longer. “For clients, too, security guards who look strong are reassuring,” he said. The initiative, he added, could attract younger workers while improving employee well-being and customer confidence. As a Seika town assembly member, he also wants to encourage younger residents to settle locally — turning the effort into, as he put it, “a multi-benefit project.”
Promotion is already underway. On TikTok, Juko has begun posting short videos showing Okuno demonstrating the machine while inviting new hires to join.
“I want to change the image of the security industry and energize the field,” said Okuno, who once practiced boxing and the martial art Nippon Kempo. Laughing, he added that he might start training again himself. Inside Juko’s gleaming new storage house gym, he sees the potential for something much larger than muscle.
(Japanese original by Yuki Ohigashi, Kyoto Bureau)
AloJapan.com