Principles of Childcare 2: Childrearing Support, History and Current Issues

Chapter 4 has three parts: 1) basic matters on childrearing support at nursery centres, 2) support for parents who use the centre, and 3) support for parents and others in the community. "Support for Parents" was the chapter title before the 2017 revision; the revision renamed it "Childrearing Support" and reorganised and expanded its content. Chapter 4 covers the community as well, and support for parents using the centre is also in Chapter 4. Under the Child Welfare Act (児童福祉法), nursery teachers are professionals who also give guidance on childcare to parents, so this is not a task only for the director.

The guidelines ask staff to accept parents' feelings, build mutual trust, and respect parents' own decisions (self-determination). Deciding on one method and giving orders goes against this. Nursery centres are expected to use their professional knowledge to support parents, so refusing to talk or holding back advice is not appropriate. Telling the name or situation of another family breaks the duty to keep information confidential.

The guidelines say that when parents show parenting anxiety, staff should try to give individual support according to the parents' wishes, and when abuse is suspected, they should promptly notify the municipality or the child guidance centre (児童相談所). Notifying at once, or contacting an agency without telling the parent, just because of anxiety does not fit support based on the parent's wishes. For suspected abuse, waiting for evidence, deciding after talking with the parent, or waiting for the parent's consent would not be a prompt notification.

The basic matters say staff should accept parents' feelings, build on trust and respect their decisions, and use the features of the nursery centre, such as staff expertise and an environment where children are always present, so parents can feel the joy of raising children. Making families follow the centre's policy goes against respecting parents' decisions. Confidentiality applies "as long as it does not go against the child's interests", so there are exceptions, such as notifying suspected abuse. The guidelines also ask centres to cooperate with local agencies and build a support system across the whole centre.

Based on Article 48-4 of the Child Welfare Act (児童福祉法), the guidelines say the centre should try to actively provide childrearing support using its professional expertise, "as long as it does not hinder its own childcare", taking into account local conditions and the centre's capacity. It does not take priority over regular care. For temporary childcare and similar activities, staff should keep in mind the link with daily care and run them flexibly. For children in need of protection, the centre should work with agencies such as the regional council for children requiring aid (要保護児童対策地域協議会). There is no rule limiting support to families planning to enrol.

This is the definition of the community childrearing support centre programme in Article 6-3(6) of the Child Welfare Act. The temporary childcare programme looks after infants and young children, mainly in the daytime, when care at home is temporarily difficult. The sick child care programme cares for sick children at nursery centres, hospitals and similar places. The childrearing mutual help programme (Family Support Centre) links people who want help with people who want to give it. The infant drop-in nursery programme gives children under 3 who do not attend a nursery a place to play and live (the "Nursery for every child" system).

The guidelines say staff should use many chances linked to daily care to share and gather information on the child's daily life and explain the aims of care, to build mutual understanding; and when a child shows a disability or a developmental issue, they should give individual support to parents while cooperating with the municipality and other agencies. Parents' active participation helps them build their own ability to raise children, so it should be encouraged. For sick child care and similar services, staff should respect the child's welfare and consider the continuity of the child's life. Families needing special consideration, such as families with foreign nationality, should receive individual support according to their situation.

In 1816 Owen set up the Institution for the Formation of Character at the New Lanark mill, which also had a school for infants. Oberlin started daytime care for young children of poor families in Alsace, France, in the late 18th century (1779); it was Marbeau who started care for factory workers' children in Paris in the mid-19th century (1844). The options placing Oberlin in mid-19th-century Paris and Marbeau in late-18th-century Alsace swap the two people. Froebel opened the facility in Blankenburg and named it the kindergarten, and the Institution for the Formation of Character was Owen's.

Froebel wrote The Education of Man (1826), valued play, devised the Gifts (恩物, meaning "gifts from God"), and named his facility the kindergarten in 1840. The option pairing Pestalozzi with the Gifts and the 1840 kindergarten describes Froebel, not Pestalozzi. It was Pestalozzi who taught children at Stans and wrote The Evening Hours of a Hermit. Montessori, a physician, devised sensory education materials at the Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) in Rome. Owen set up the Institution for the Formation of Character.

The children at the kindergarten attached to the Tokyo Women's Normal School, opened in 1876, came mainly from upper-class families. In 1882 the Ministry of Education encouraged simpler kindergartens that would also accept children of poor labouring families whose parents had no time to raise them. Limiting them to upper-class children is the opposite. Factory nurseries were a separate, private development from the middle of the Meiji era, and there was no rule about doctors or children under 3. In 1884 the Ministry asked that children below school age should stop being sent to primary school and be cared for using kindergarten methods instead.

In 1890 Akazawa Atsutomi and his wife Naka looked after young children whom students brought along, in a separate room at the Niigata Seishu School, so that the students could attend class. It is said to be the oldest childcare facility in Japan. In 1900 Noguchi Yuka and Morishima Mine opened Futaba Kindergarten to bring kindergarten education to children of poor families too. The facility opened in 1876 was the kindergarten attached to the Tokyo Women's Normal School, not Futaba. The Akazawas' facility was at a school in Niigata, not a factory in Tokyo. Kurahashi Sozo was active in the Taisho and Showa eras at the kindergarten attached to the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School.

Kurahashi Sozo (1882–1955) was a professor at the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School and head of its attached kindergarten. He reformed the Froebelism that had become formal in the Meiji era and argued for care centred on children's daily life. His ideas were collected in works such as The True Meaning of Kindergarten Care (幼稚園保育法真諦), and at their core was "guided care" (誘導保育), which organises activities around themes that follow children's life and interests. The chief teacher who spread Froebel-style care was Matsuno Clara; Children's Houses and sensory materials belong to Montessori; and Futaba Kindergarten in Yotsuya and its branch were the work of Noguchi Yuka, Morishima Mine, Tokunaga Yuki and others. The Guidelines for Nursery Care were first made in 1965, and kindergartens and nurseries were never merged.

Under the 1899 Kindergarten Childcare and Facilities Regulations (幼稚園保育及設備規程), the childcare items were play, singing, talking and handwork. The 1926 Kindergarten Ordinance, the first independent imperial ordinance on kindergartens, added "observation" and the word "etc.", giving "play, singing, observation, talking, handwork, etc." and more freedom in content. Reading and writing were primary school content, not childcare items. Gymnastics was not an item added by the ordinance. The Gifts were play materials devised by Froebel, not a childcare item added by the ordinance.

The Child Welfare Act of 1947 made nursery centres (保育所) child welfare facilities. The School Education Act of the same year made kindergartens, not nursery centres, a kind of school. The Childcare Outline issued by the Ministry of Education in 1948 was a common content standard for both kindergartens and nursery centres. The Kindergarten Ordinance was a pre-war rule that ended with the School Education Act, and kindergartens and nurseries were never merged. The Guidelines for Nursery Care (保育所保育指針) were first made in 1965.

Of the 2,435 children on waiting lists on 1 April 2026, 2,117 (86.9%) were one- or two-year-olds and 98 (4.0%) were aged 3 or over. Urban areas (7 prefectures, designated cities and core cities) accounted for 75.5%, about three quarters. The peak was 26,081 in 2017; numbers then fell, and although 2026 was 181 higher than the year before, it was less than one tenth of 2017. 189 municipalities had children on waiting lists, while 1,552 (89.1%) had none.

In the Children and Families Agency's summary, cases where parents want only a specific nursery although another is available, are on childcare leave (unless their wish to return to work is confirmed), have paused job-seeking, or use a local government's own childcare scheme are not counted as waiting-list children, and their numbers are shown separately. So not every child who could not get a place is counted. Children who have not applied are not counted. Children of parents on childcare leave are counted if the wish to return to work is confirmed. Children are counted from age 0, and most are one- or two-year-olds.

The 2024 revision changed the ratio for 3-year-olds from 1 teacher per 20 children to 1 per 15, and for 4–5-year-olds from 1 per 30 to 1 per 25. The change for 4–5-year-olds was the first in 76 years since the system began (as a transitional measure, the old standard may still be used for the time being for 4–5-year-olds, and until the end of fiscal 2027 for 3-year-olds). The current Article 33(2) requires at least about 1 per 3 infants, 1 per 6 children aged 1 to under 3, 1 per 15 children aged 3 to under 4, and 1 per 25 children aged 4 and over. The ratio for 0-year-olds did not change. The 1-per-5 ratio for 1-year-olds is being promoted through an extra subsidy from fiscal 2025, not by revising the standard. The ratio for 4–5-year-olds is 25, not 20, and 3-year-olds were not changed back to 20.

The system is a benefit that started nationwide on 1 April 2026. It covers children from 6 months to under 3 years old who do not attend a nursery, and they can use it flexibly, for example by the hour, regardless of whether their parents work. In fiscal 2026 the limit is 10 hours per child per month (in fiscal 2026 and 2027 municipalities may set a limit from 3 to under 10 hours). Children aged 3 to 5 and children who already attend a nursery are not covered. Parents' work is not a condition.

Article 6-3 of the Child Welfare Act sets the capacity of small-scale childcare at 6 to 19 children and of family-based childcare at 5 or fewer. The choices "family-based childcare — 6 to 19" and "small-scale childcare — 5 or fewer" swap the two. A capacity of 20 or more is the size of a nursery centre, not family-based childcare. Home-visit childcare is given in the child's own home, and the article sets no 6-to-19 capacity for it. These programmes mainly serve children under 3.

The programme made fees free for all children aged 3 to 5 using kindergartens, nursery centres, certified centres for early childhood education and care (認定こども園) and similar facilities, and for children aged 0 to 2 in households exempt from resident tax. Ages 0 to 2 are not covered for all households. Parents still pay for transport, food ingredients, events and similar costs. Kindergartens are covered up to 25,700 yen a month. Unlicensed facilities are covered only with certification of the need for care, up to 37,000 yen a month for ages 3 to 5 and 42,000 yen for ages 0 to 2 in resident-tax-exempt households.