Located near a train station, Sotetsu Genkids typifies the type of day-care center that working Japanese mothers favor to provide care for their children on weekdays and Saturdays.
While Japan is witnessing a fall in its birthrate, there are still too few officially recognized day-care centers entitled to state subsidies.
They numbered 22,200 as of April 2000, according to figures from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, while there were 8,856 centers that had not received state approval as of April 1999.
Within a two-minute walk of Ryokuentoshi Station in Yokohama's Izumi Ward, Genkids is one such facility not recognized by the state.