Japan's "Hello Work"

For years, when I first came to Japan, I used to see signs for "Hello Work" without knowing exactly what it was. I assumed it was something to do with employment, like a recruitment agency, which isn't exactly true. It's much more than that. It's Japan's equivalent of public employment services.

In 1947, under a newly enacted Employment Security Act, Japan established a "Public Employment Security Office" known as 公共職業安定所 (Kōkyō shokugyō anteisho) in Japanese. Being a bit of a mouthful, people called "Shokuan" (職安) for short.  Their mission was simple, but vital; to provide free job placement and career guidance and unemployment insurance to support works rebuilding their lives after World War II. 

However, in 1990, feeling the name was too bureaucratic, the government changed the name of the service to "Hello Work". They thought that it would make the service more approachable and create a better, friendlier image. Today, and April 17th annually, is dedicated to the service and is known as Hello Work Day ハローワークの日 in Japan.

Have you ever used the services? I have no experience with it personally.