With his broad smile, Tatsumi Hokuto helps an elderly woman in a Japanese care home almost effortlessly to her feet and makes sure she is steady.

At first glance, Hokuto cuts an unlikely figure for a carer role: a powerfully built 27-year-old in tight leggings and a black singlet, with the physique of a dedicated bodybuilder.

But for Nagoya-based Visionary, a company that operates nursing and care facilities across Japan, that contrast is precisely the point.

Visionary’s “macho carers” like...