Day care wait lists still growing in much of Japan
Day care waiting lists have declined slightly overall but still grew on the year in 16 of 34 major Japanese municipalities, suggesting that the government remains far from its goal of clearing the chronic backlog. The Nikkei surveyed 20 cities and Tokyo’s 23 wards, with 14 cities and 20 wards responding by Thursday. The total number of children on waiting lists in these areas fell 7% to around 6,500 as of April 1. Just six municipalities cut their lists to zero, including Tokyo’s Toshima and Chiyoda wards and Kumamoto city.
