Record-low 12,000 on nursery waiting lists; goal of zero abandoned

"The situation is severe. We will aim to bring the number to zero in fiscal 2021 or later," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference. "Efforts to increase capacity have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic."

Hahahahahahahahahaha! I find this claim to be rather outlandish and quite rubbish. Also, is that your best excuse? Because of the corona virus? Come now! In my neighborhood over the span of 6 months I saw 4 NEW buildings and homes built within a 2km radius of my home DURING this "pandemic". So don't use that as an excuse. These kids are being denied a better start at a decent future!

 abandoned the goal of reducing the figure to zero by next March.

Yet another failed campaign promise from Abe and his LDP cronies. Weren’t they supposed to make childcare free too?

We have been on a waiting list for 2 years now. All that time paying 70,000yen per month for a private nursury. Every 6 months have to reapply with all the same forms and certificates again having to get both our companies HR to print and Hanko the same forms again. All of this and then I read articles about the government trying to encourage more people to have kids, it's laughable.

Of course, Shinzo Abe’s wife never produced children so he had little idea of what constitutes raising a family properly...

Yeah, WASTED, in capital letters. Just think what could have been achieved if someone effective and who actually cared about the people were the PM. Somehow, I don't think anything will change.

During his office one of top priority is to change constitution, even there's no urgency. That's why it's hard to make all lawmakers agree for his proposal, since there's no urgency.

While neglecting helping family for Japan next generation.

BTW, here's something that Nagareyama City in Chiba is doing.. might be worth looking at.

In early 2000 CE, Nagareyama had an exodus of young people. Men and women are usually occupied with jobs during daytime. However, Nagareyama lets women pursue their career while their children spend time in childcare facilities. In 2003, mayor Yoshiharu Izaki made investments in childcare centers a primary focus of the city's government. It includes a transit service at Nagareyama-centralpark Station where parents can drop off their children on their way to work. The children are shuttled with buses to daycare centers. Senior people of the local community help with shuttling the children. Many parents say this transit service was one of the biggest reasons for them to move to Nagareyama. The result is over the past 13 years (2006-2019 CE) the population has grown by more than 20%. 85% of children have more than one sibling. Young children are expected to outnumber elderly in the future. Parents worry less about having more children, because the whole community helps with raising children and parents don't feel isolated. People in Nagareyama have a strong local network, with a friendly neighborhood. People share information and concerns. There are also many local events and community spaces where children and elderly interact. There's a summer camp for children while their parents work during holidays. These family friendly approaches lured young working parents from Tokyo to Nagareyama.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagareyama

And how many of that number are people who have removed their kids from the waiting list because they lost their job or are afraid of coronavirus?

Exactly!! Not to mention that every year the number of children born decreases.. so that might have something to do with it..

8 wasted years.

Yeah, WASTED, in capital letters. Just think what could have been achieved if someone effective and who actually cared about the people were the PM. Somehow, I don't think anything will change.

Another failure of reform promised by Abe. I'm sorry but his tenure has been an abject failure in every way. His first one was too. 8 wasted years.

It always amazes me to know how children in Japan are neglected by their seniors...

Abe made plan during his period, that no eligible children being left out from childcare by 2018 but that schedule changed to 2020. Now he is no longer in power and the problem still there.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Japan-Update/Japan-extends-deadline-to-eliminate-day-care-waiting-list

The tally was down 4,333 from the year before thanks to an increase in facilities, 

And how many of that number are people who have removed their kids from the waiting list because they lost their job or are afraid of coronavirus?