Japan to urge prefectures to promote building nurseries alongside condos

October 19, 2017

TOKYO- The Japanese government has urged prefectures and ordinance-designated major cities to ask developers of large-scale condominiums to build nurseries on the premises of such buildings when necessary.

The land and welfare ministries issued notice to that effect on Wednesday in line with a government plan, released in June, aimed at bringing down the number of children on waiting lists for nursery schools to zero.

Floor area ratio regulations, which limit the size of buildings, are relaxed for large condos if they house nurseries.

The notice urged local governments to consider, through coordination among related departments, whether new nurseries are needed when they are informed of development plans of large condos, while also taking into account the circumstances of nearby areas.

The ministries requested that if local governments see the need for new child care facilities, they should request developers to set up such facilities on the condos' premises by stressing their significance and showing examples that have utilized eased regulations on floor area ratios.

The notice also pointed out the need for local governments to explain that nurseries can be converted to other facilities, including for elderly people, if the number of children decreases, in order to ease the worries of the developers. Jiji Press