In a spacious sunlit room, an infant is dawdled by his smiling nurse. Two toddlers fidgeting quietly in their sleep are patted by their doting teacher. Shelves are lined with infant formula, puzzles and a picture library that includes "The Hungry Caterpillar."
These are not the typical scenes at the headquarters of one of the world's largest banks. But for the tots at Citi Kids Garden, which opened in early January and is located on the first floor of Citi Japan's headquarters in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, playing while mom or dad are at work is becoming business as usual.
Though there are now more than than 3,000 corporate day-care centers in Japan, more than 60 percent of them cater to medical professionals and are housed in hospitals and other medical institutions.