Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Friday announced a plan to boost capacity at day care centers for children in Tokyo to 17,000 as part of efforts to ease the country's chronic shortage of such spots at care facilities.
The number of children on waiting lists in the capital was 8,466 as of April 1, the highest of the nation's main cities and 652 higher compared to the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
To address the issue, Koike has drafted a proposal for an additional budget of ¥12.6 billion to provide assistance to operators of child care centers and will ease regulations to make it easier to establish new facilities.