With Japan placing around 85 percent of children and babies who need care in institutions, the nation needs to increase provisions for foster care, according to British-based experts on the welfare and rights of vulnerable children.
Japan's rate is one of the highest among developed countries, according to international studies. In most other industrialized nations, fostering is the norm rather than the exception.
Although fostering takes place in Japan, often this is when there is little likelihood of the child being returned to their birth parents and is seen as a proxy for adoption.