On a sunny September day, a nurse held a 3-month-old baby while another fed a hungry 7-month-old. Outside, two boys played in a sandbox in a spacious yard, where in the summer a wading pool will be set up so the children can splash about.
Opened Sept. 1, Kid's Square Nagatacho is just like any other day care center — except it is located in the newly constructed complex of politicians' offices opposite the Diet building, the country's political power center, in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.
"There was demand from staffers in the Diet chambers and politicians," said Hayato Shirasaki, secretary to Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Hiroshi Hase, who advocated the center. "We can finally meet those needs."