Daycare in Japan: hoikuen, fees and child allowance

Finding daycare in Japan is mostly a paperwork job, and the paperwork runs on the city's calendar, not yours. Licensed daycare centres (保育園, hoikuen) are allocated by your city or ward office, the main April intake closes months in advance, and the documents you hand in decide how many points you get. The good news: once your child is 3, the basic fee is free almost everywhere, and Japan pays a monthly child allowance from birth.

This guide covers the types of childcare, how the application works, a real April 2027 timeline from Shinjuku City, costs, waiting lists, and the child allowance (jidō teate). Everything below was checked against Children and Families Agency (CFA) and municipal pages on 31 October 2026. Each city runs its own system, so treat Shinjuku as an example and check your own city's page.

Hoikuen vs kindergarten in Japan: what is the difference?

The CFA describes four main types of early childhood education and care. Which one you can use depends partly on whether both parents work.

Daycare centre (保育所 or 保育園, hoikusho or hoikuen), ages 0 to 5. A licensed centre that looks after children whose parents cannot care for them at home, for example because both work. Care runs until the evening, and many centres offer extended hours.
Kindergarten (幼稚園, yōchien), ages 3 to 5. A school that gives early education before elementary school. The national curriculum sets 4 hours a day as the standard education time, so the day usually ends in the early afternoon. Some kindergartens offer extended care in the afternoon and in the holidays. Any family can use a kindergarten, whether or not the parents work.
Centre for early childhood education and care (認定こども園, nintei kodomo-en), ages 0 to 5. A mix of the two. Children aged 3 to 5 can attend whatever their parents' work situation, and they can stay at the same centre if that situation changes.
Community-based childcare (地域型保育, chiiki-gata hoiku), ages 0 to 2. Smaller settings than a daycare centre, such as small-scale centres for 6 to 19 children and home-based care for 5 or fewer.

Outside this licensed system there are also unlicensed facilities (認可外保育施設, ninkagai), which you contract with directly. They matter for the free childcare rules below.

Working full time? A yōchien day usually ends in the early afternoon, so a hoikuen or kodomo-en is usually the realistic choice.

Step 1: get a "need for childcare" certification

To use a daycare centre, a kodomo-en in its daycare role, or community-based care, your city must first certify that your child needs childcare. The CFA lists three certification types:

Type 1 (1号認定): education only, for kindergarten or a kodomo-en.
Type 2 (2号認定): childcare for children aged 3 and over, at a daycare centre or kodomo-en.
Type 3 (3号認定): childcare for children under 3, at a daycare centre, kodomo-en or community-based care.

For types 2 and 3, each parent needs a reason from the national list. The main ones are work (full time, part time, night work or work at home), pregnancy or childbirth, illness or disability, caring for a relative, job seeking (including preparing to start a business), and study.

The city also sets how much care you need. "Standard hours" (保育標準時間) allows up to 11 hours a day and is meant for full-time work. "Short hours" (保育短時間) allows up to 8 hours and is meant for part-time work. Each city sets the minimum working hours for short hours somewhere between 48 and 64 hours a month.

Step 2: apply through your city, not the centre

For licensed daycare you do not apply to the centre. You apply to your city or ward office, listing the centres you want in order. The city then ranks applicants using its own criteria (利用調整, riyō chōsei, often explained as a points system: Shinjuku calls the scores 指数, shisū) and decides who goes where. The CFA notes that single-parent families, households on public assistance, families where the main earner has lost their job, and children with disabilities may be given priority.

Kindergartens work the other way round: you apply directly, and the kindergarten handles the certification with the city.

Documents you will need

Every city has its own forms, but Shinjuku's list is typical:

The application set (入園申込書 and the household and child information sheets).
Proof of the reason for care: an employment certificate (就労証明書, shūrō shōmeisho) on the city's own form, filled in by each parent's employer, or a medical certificate or proof of enrolment.
Other documents depending on your situation, such as a declaration that you will return to work after childcare leave.

Ask your employer for the employment certificate early, because HR has to fill in your hours, start date and contract on the city's own form.

A real example: Shinjuku's April 2027 intake

April is the main intake, because that is when most places open up. These are Shinjuku City's dates for children starting in April 2027:

First round: applications from 27 October 2026 to 7 December 2026, results planned for 12 February 2027.
Second round: applications from 8 December 2026 to 3 February 2027, results planned for 26 February 2027. Shinjuku says there are no places kept back for the second round: it is decided after the first round has been allocated.

Shinjuku also takes applications for other months (children start on the 1st, and there is no March start), with deadlines roughly a month before. Residents can apply by post or online; counter visits need a phone booking.

If you are still abroad, you can often apply before you move. Shinjuku accepts applications from families planning to move into the ward, including from overseas, as long as the new address is confirmed by the deadline and the home is not single-person housing.

How much does daycare in Japan cost?

Fees for licensed childcare are set by each city, within a national cap, and are based on the parents' municipal residence tax (the income portion). Our residence tax guide explains how that tax is worked out. Under the national rules, if siblings use childcare at the same time, the second child pays half and the third and later children are free.

Free early childhood education in Japan

Since October 2019, Japan's free early childhood education and care policy (幼児教育・保育の無償化) has covered:

Ages 3 to 5: the basic fee is free at kindergartens, daycare centres, kodomo-en and community-based care. In principle this runs from the 1 April after your child turns 3 until they start elementary school.
Ages 0 to 2: free only for households exempt from municipal residence tax.
Unlicensed facilities and kindergarten extended care: covered up to a monthly cap, but only if the city certifies that you need childcare. For unlicensed facilities, the facility must have notified the prefecture and meet national standards.

"Free" means the basic fee. Transport, meals and event costs are still paid by parents, although side dish and snack costs are waived for households with annual income under ¥3.6 million and for the third child onward.

Some cities go further. Shinjuku, using a Tokyo Metropolitan Government programme, has made the basic fee at licensed daycare free for every child, including the first child aged 0 to 2, from September 2025. You still have to declare your income every year, because it decides extended-hours fees. If some of your income was not taxed in Japan (for example because you lived abroad), Shinjuku asks for an annual income declaration so it can estimate your bracket. Outside Tokyo, check your own city's fee page.

Waiting lists (taiki jidō)

Children who meet the conditions but cannot get a place are counted as "waiting children" (待機児童, taiki jidō). The CFA's count for 1 April 2026 was 2,435 nationwide, 181 more than a year earlier. About 89% of municipalities had none at all. The pressure is on ages 1 and 2, which made up 2,117 of the 2,435. If your child is in that age group, list as many centres as you would realistically use, including small-scale ones.

If no place comes up, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) allows childcare leave benefit to be extended beyond your child's first birthday (up to 1 year and 6 months, and in some cases 2 years) when you applied for licensed daycare and could not get a place.

The new drop-in option: "Kodomo Daredemo Tsūen"

From April 2026, a new national benefit called こども誰でも通園制度 (kodomo daredemo tsūen seido) is being run by municipalities across Japan. Children aged 6 months to under 3 who do not attend daycare can use a centre for up to 10 hours a month, whatever their parents' work situation. Ask your city how to register.

Child allowance in Japan (jidō teate)

The child allowance (児童手当, jidō teate) is paid by your city to the person raising a child who lives in Japan, from birth until 31 March after the child turns 18. The key condition is that the child lives in Japan. Since October 2024 there is no income limit.

Child's age	Per child, per month
Under 3	¥15,000 (¥30,000 for the third child and later)
3 to high school age	¥10,000 (¥30,000 for the third child and later)

"Third child" is counted from the oldest, and older siblings up to 31 March after they turn 22 still count if you support them financially. The allowance is paid six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October and December, each time covering the previous two months.

Who receives it, and the 15-day rule

When both parents raise the child, it goes to the parent who supports the household more, which in principle means the one with the higher income.
You must apply (認定請求書) at your city office within 15 days of the day after the birth, or the day after you move in from another city. Payment starts from the month after you apply. If you apply late, the months you missed are normally lost.
If you give birth away from home, you still apply to the city where you are registered.
Bring proof of your pension or health insurance if you are an employee. If you were not registered in your current city on 1 January, you may need an income certificate from your previous city.
The yearly "current situation notice" (現況届, genkyō todoke) is no longer needed in principle since June 2022, but some cities and some situations still require it, so read anything your city sends in June.
The allowance is generally not paid for a child living abroad, except in some study abroad cases.

If your baby is not born yet, our guide to giving birth in Japan lists every step after the birth in order, including this one.

If you are moving in, you can do this on the same visit as your address registration. Our 14-day city hall guide covers what else to bring.

Daycare applications are full of dates that are easy to miss: the city's deadline, the employment certificate your HR team needs time for, the 15-day child allowance window. Daruma tracks these as your personal deadlines, scans the Japanese letters from your city office into plain English (including the allocation result), tells you which counter to go to and what to bring, and answers questions about your own situation. If your family is in Japan on a Dependent visa, our dependent visa guide covers the visa side.

Useful Japanese

保育園 (hoikuen): daycare centre
就労証明書 (shūrō shōmeisho): employment certificate for the daycare application
待機児童 (taiki jidō): child on the waiting list
児童手当 (jidō teate): child allowance
入園の申込みをしたいです。 (Nyūen no mōshikomi o shitai desu.): I would like to apply for a daycare place.

Where to confirm this

Guides are dated rather than undated: last reviewed 31 October 2026. This is an organisational aid, not legal or immigration advice — always confirm anything consequential with your ward office, the Immigration Services Agency, or a qualified professional.