On hold
Yomiuri: Waiting list for day care rises despite more slots
There were 26,275 children waiting for spots in authorized day care centers across the nation as of April 1, up 891 over the previous year, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said, marking the third year in a row of waiting-list increases. The number of children waiting for spots increased despite a rise in capacity at day care centers by 25,809 over the past year. By prefecture, Tokyo had the largest number of children on waiting lists with 8,435, followed by 4,117 in Kanagawa Prefecture and 1,680 in Okinawa Prefecture. By municipality, Yokohama had the most standby children at 1,552, Kawasaki had 1,076, and Sapporo had 840. Compared with the previous year, Sapporo saw a sharp rise of 438 children, while Kawasaki's waiting list increased by 363 and Yokohama's by 262. Furthermore, there were 12,812 children who could not get into authorized day care centers going to unauthorized day care centers. These unauthorized childcare centers receive subsidies from local governments. There were 4,627 such children in Tokyo, 2,441 in Kanagawa Prefecture and 1,610 in Saitama Prefecture.
