Day care centers — known as hoiku-jo or hoiku-en — take care of one of the country's most precious resources — its children. However, the failure of the central government to provide sufficient subsidies has led to chronic shortages of day care workers. The difficulties in attracting workers meant 25,556 children remained on waiting lists to enter day care centers in 2011. The current hiring and salary system demands improvement.

Day care workers' average monthly salary stands at ¥220,000, according to a government survey of wage structures in 2011. As a result, of the 1.06 million people qualified as day care workers, only 367,000 currently work at day care. Salaries scarcely increase even with years of experience.

As might be expected, many day care workers only stay a few years. The average tenure is 8.4 years, according to a 2011 survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.