YOKOHAMA -- Naomi Toyama didn't hesitate when she agreed to take her 16-month-old son, Keisuke, from Okinawa to Yokohama for a month to receive an advanced operation to cure a congenital disease.
She knew she would be staying at Yokohama Family House, an inexpensive facility that would allow her to visit Kanagawa Children's Medical Center every day. Keisuke was hospitalized in mid-July.
The facility, owned and managed by Takao and Toshiko Saeki, opened in 1999 on the second floor of their home. It offers three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom for parents like Toyama, who need a place to stay while waiting for their children to recover. The cost is just 1,500 yen a night.