【Life as a care worker and a professional boxer】I want to believe in the infinite possibilities that open up through pursuing two paths—Ota Nursing Home Shoyuen Aoi Yokoyama

As the labor shortage has become a serious issue in the nursing care industry, we visited Ota Nursing Home Shoyuen in Ota-ku, Tokyo, to interview Aoi Yokoyama, a professional boxer who works at the nursing home as a caregiver. There we saw Yokoyama applying his strengths, his resilient body and mind, to forge ahead with full dedication on his two different paths. We also saw the smiling faces of those he served, something that Yokoyama, who puts his wholehearted effort in everything he does, can bring out.

“Deciding on one path is not always the answer”

Yokoyama’s determination to never give up on what he wants to do, and to open up unexplored new paths while developing his own abilities, seemed to teach us a new way of life that comes from believing in the infinite possibilities that lie before each and every one of us.

Take a look at this story of challenge, of someone who has stuck to his beliefs and continues to make untiring efforts toward his dreams.

―Profile
Aoi Yokoyama
He started practicing Kyokushin Karate at the age of three and won the national championships three times in a row in his third, fourth, and fifth years of elementary school. He then started boxing in his first year of junior high school and reached the top of the list as the All-Japan Champion in the bantamweight division during his university years. After graduating from university, he turned professional, and now works as a fitness trainer at a boxing gym. In addition, since June 2024, he has been providing care services to the users of Ota Nursing Home Shoyuen, a nursing home for the elderly, using the certified care worker qualification he obtained during his university days.

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—We heard that your connection with the medical and welfare fields began in your childhood. Why did you decide to work in the nursing care field on top of being a professional boxer?

As my mother and older sister were working in the nursing field, welfare was a familiar topic to me from an early age. I obtained my qualification as a certified care worker in my fourth year of university and worked part-time at a care facility. So it was natural for me to think that if I were to take up a job other than boxing, it would probably be in the care industry. After graduating from university, I was given the rare opportunity to devote myself to professional boxing. However, I understood that it was a tough business, with the constant danger of injury and only a handful of boxers becoming successful. For a time, I thought of concentrating on boxing, but then I changed my mind, thinking that gaining a variety of experiences in both boxing and caregiving would definitely benefit me in life. So, I decided to enter the world of caregiving.

—You’ve started your second career in the nursing field. Please tell us what you think is the best part of working in the nursing field and what you find difficult about it.

The best part of caregiving is interacting and communicating with the service users. It is always encouraging for me to hear the stories of their lives from our users, to see them treat me like family, and to hear their warm words of appreciation, such as, “Thank you” and “You helped me so much.”

I still have little experience as a caregiver, and there are times when it’s difficult for me to understand the feelings of our users. With the help of other staff members, however, I try to understand what kind of support our users need every day.

At our facility, the daycare users change from day to day, so they sit at different locations at the table to eat each day. I spend my free time poring over the list of users’ names, trying to somehow match names with faces, but it’s quite difficult to remember the physical characteristics, personalities, preferences, etc. of over 100 users. However, because I believe this is important to our users, I make sure not to cut corners in this effort.

—Please tell us how you are using the strength you have gained from boxing, which is the knowledge of how to deal with your body, in your work as a caregiver, and how your caregiver experience has influenced your boxing.

Our nursing home, which is categorized as a geriatric health services facility, assists users who require nursing care in becoming independent through offering rehabilitation and other support to help them return home. Therefore, observing the physical characteristics of each individual and supporting their movements during physical activities such as exercise or dancing is crucial in helping them to recover without injury. Accordingly, when I successfully helped a user return home using the knowledge I had developed regarding how to use and maintain my body from my experience as a boxer, it brought me tremendous joy and fulfillment.

My work as a caregiver gives me new energy to move forward as a boxer. Every time our users ask me when my next match is, or tell me enthusiastically that they are rooting for me, I feel I should give it my best!  Such support helps me face boxing with renewed enthusiasm.

—Please tell us your future goals.

My goal is to become a world champion boxer. As a professional who steps into the ring, I must practice every day to the utmost of my ability. I always strive to surpass myself. When I think how my efforts can also inspire the people at our nursing home, it doubles my motivation to work hard and meet everyone’s expectations. One day, I want to invite the staff of the nursing home and its former users who have returned to their homes to a match and show them how bravely I fight as a boxer. To that end, I will cherish each and every day and continue to keep on challenging myself, exerting my full strength without cutting corners.

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Care work is my calling — I want to absorb everything that can benefit the users

Hanae Mikami, Deputy Chief, Ota Nursing Home Shoyuen

—Please tell us what prompted you to choose a nursing care job.

More than 10 years ago, I had to look for a job because the restaurant where I was working was closing down. However, at that time I had a small child and my working hours were limited, so I had a hard time finding a job that met my desired conditions. Just then, a public employment security office introduced me to a job at a nearby nursing care facility. Until then, I had never even considered a career in nursing care. Once I started, however, I found it to be a lot of fun and the time passed by so quickly. After a few days of part-time work, I realized that nursing care was my calling, so I immediately decided to join the nursing care facility. Three months after joining the facility, I completed the training required for nursing care. Subsequently, in my desire to provide better services to our users, I have acquired a wide range of qualifications, including not only those for a certified care worker and a care manager, but also those for a dementia care-fitter, an oral care promoter, and a recreational care worker. There is no limit to the knowledge I’d like to acquire. So I have attended many seminars held in my area to master various techniques, including those of dementia support and oral care.

—You have been working in the nursing care industry for over 10 years. Is there anything you have learned from the younger nursing care workers?

We try not to impose the common sense of our generation on younger staff members. Moreover, we would like to absorb sensibilities that are different from our own and incorporate them into our care services. In fact, it’s not just us veteran staff members who are trying to learn from the younger workers. Our users also try to learn new things from the young staff members while appreciating their fresh minds. Some users who love karaoke learn new songs that are popular among young people and perform them in front of us. Many others compare the young staff members to their own grandchildren and try to find common topics of conversation, treating them like family. Seeing them interact with each other so happily makes me realize that the presence of young people has a positive impact in many ways.

—What do you think is fun and rewarding about working in the nursing field?

In the field of nursing care, many things happen every day. If you look at each moment in detail, there can be difficult times. Even with those moments, however, no two days are the same, and I think that’s what makes the nursing job so interesting. In my case, I don’t mind performing tasks such as toileting assistance and physical care, which are generally considered tough. I always plan events and recreational activities with our users in mind. So when I see smiles on their faces on such occasions, I feel rewarded in my job.

—What do you think of Mr. Yokoyama as a caregiver?

Mr. Yokoyama has the ability to listen, which is a very important element in the nursing profession. Among our users, there are a certain number of elderly people who avoid or reject new staff members, feeling alarmed or wanting to assert their superiority over them. However, Yokoyama was quickly accepted by the users, becoming part of their circle quite seamlessly. I think this is because Yokoyama conveys his sincere interest in listening to what the users have to say and trying to understand them. I also think that Yokoyama’s powers of observation are a very useful skill in the field of nursing care, where things don’t happen as the manual says. In the future, I would like him to use his experience as a boxer, a specialist in body movement, to teach exercise lessons.

—Mr. Yokoyama is a professional boxer in addition to being a care worker. What kind of presence does he bring to everyone at the home?

I think that Yokoyama is a source of motivation for everyone at the home. Given his usual gentle demeanor, I couldn’t imagine Yokoyama as a boxer. Therefore, I was truly astonished when I saw him brimming with fighting spirit in the ring during the live broadcast of his first professional fight. At the celebration party held at the home for Yokoyama after his victory in his first match, the users in attendance looked full of energy. Everyone at the home receives strength from Yokoyama, so we want to fully support him in achieving his dream of becoming a world champion.