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Day care centers will be opened in urban parks across Japan to address the shortage of childcare facilities.
Due to the growing need for more day care centers in cities, the government has lifted the law that prevents the building of day care centers inside urban parks. Following this amendment, 13 day care centers are set to be built in parks by April 2019 to accommodate around 1,200 children.
Tokyo’s Shioiri park was one of the first parks to house a day care center. The day care center can accommodate up to 162 children from ages zero to five. The center is equipped with cameras and self-locking gates to ensure security.
Other day care centers have also opened recently in parks across Tokyo, Fukuoka, Sendai, and Yokohama. Additional centers are expected to begin operations in Osaka and some other parks in Tokyo by September 2017.
Establishing day care centers in parks is part of the government’s efforts to reduce the number of children on the waiting list for existing day care centers. Based on national statistics, around 23,553 children are still waiting to be accepted to centers as of April 2016.
Because of lack of facilities for childcare, some working parents are reluctant to have more children. Nevertheless, the government assured that it will accommodate all children on the waiting list.
As day care centers have been permitted to operate in parks, land shortage will no longer be a major concern. Local government officials are now hoping to achieve cooperation between day care workers and landowners.