Japan - shortage of day care

Japan is indeed a like a different planet and its set of unique problems and insights seems so different from the world we all live in. The latest we hear is that Japan faces an acute shortage of day care centers.

The day care centers there are not like ours, where even a bored housewife can start a day care center right at home, with no formal education. But in Japan, it is a professional service and the Japanese government subsidizes thousands of day care centers nationwide for families of all income levels. Caregivers pass rigorous exams in child care that usually require two years of special schooling.

But mothers are finding it increasingly difficult to get day care centers as more and more women are opting for office or management jobs.  The Japanese Govt is naturally worried as lack of day care centers means the large pool of young, highly educated women stay home to take care. Also lack of openings at more affordable public nurseries could probably lead more to couples opting for no children or lesser children and depressing the already low birth rate which is the lowest in the world.