Japan Press Weekly

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2013 March 13 - 19 [WELFARE]

Make use of Tokyo public land for more childcare centers: JCP

Oyama Tomoko, Japanese Communist Party member of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, on March 13 proposed that Governor Inose Naoki take advantage of unused metropolitan-owned land to help decrease the number of children on waiting lists to enter public childcare facilities.

Oyama showed that Tokyo has 123 unused locations of land totaling more than 500 square meters that can be used to build licensed childcare facilities meeting the national government’s standards.

An official in charge of Tokyo’s health and welfare affairs office answered, “We will make use of the unused metropolitan-owned land.” The chief of the finance bureau responded, “In regard to locations not planned to be utilized, we will consider selling or leasing them to municipalities in Tokyo after confirming their intentions.”

According to the JCP Tokyo metropolitan assembly members’ group, more than 22,000 children will be unable to enter nationally-standardized childcare centers in April. In Tokyo’s 23 wards alone, more than 40% of applications were rejected.