Hoikuen applications (保活, hokatsu) in Tokyo for foreign families保活・保育園の申込
Licensed daycare in Tokyo is applied for through your ward, in rounds, and places go by points. This page gathers the rounds, the money, the ward deadlines and every guide we have, in the words of the sources.
Who: 0-year-old class to 5-year-old class
What it is
Licensed daycare in Japan sits inside a national funding system, and each city or ward still runs its own application.
Licensed daycare (保育園, hoikuen) starts with papers, not an interview. The city or ward certifies that you need care (保育の必要性の認定, hoiku no hitsuyōsei no nintei) and then ranks the household.
Dates and deadlines
From the rules this site's timelines run on. Your child's own dates, by birth date, are on their path page.
Hoikuen first-round application (一次申込, ichiji) for April entry 認可保育園 4月入園 一次申込
to Approximate
For entry in
Published dates for school year 2026Each ward sets its own dates. See your ward
Most licensed daycare (認可保育園, ninka hoikuen) places for April are filled in this round. Each ward sets its own window: from early October to late November in Tokyo, earlier in Kawasaki and Yokohama.
Source: 【令和9年4月（一次）入所】認可保育所等の申込受付を開始します
Hoikuen second-round application (二次申込, niji) 認可保育園 4月入園 二次申込
to Approximate
For entry in
Published dates for school year 2026Each ward sets its own dates. See your ward
Places left after the first round are offered again. If the first round said no (不承諾, fushōdaku), apply here and line up a bridge: unlicensed daycare (認可外, ninkagai) or a company daycare.
What it costs
Published figures only, each with its source. An average is not a bill.
A licensed daycare fee (保育料, hoikuryō) is not a price the daycare sets for your child. For a public or licensed private daycare it is a user charge the city calculates from household tax, the child's class age, and whether an older brother or sister is already counted.
From October 2019, the page says, fees were made free for ages 3–5 at certified children's centres, kindergartens, daycare centres and the related programmes (利用料を無償化).
Deadlines ward by ward
First-round windows for entry, copied from each ward's or city's own page: 22 places so far.
Free tools
- What grade is my child?
A birth date in, the Japanese grade out, including whether the child is 早生まれ (sōumare). Then open that birth year's path.
- Hoikuen deadlines for April 2027, ward by ward
The first and second rounds in each ward and city we have verified, with the official page.
- Hoikuen points calculator
Add the published daycare rows for Setagaya, Minato, Koto, Kawasaki or Yokohama.
- Deadlines for April 2027
Every hoikuen application window and junior-high exam date we have verified, month by month, each with its official source.
- Your child's path, by birth date
Which school year your child is in, and every window and exam date from hoikuen to high school.
Every guide for this step
32 guides, grouped by topic. Each one is checked against an official Japanese source.
How licensed daycare works
Points (指数) and how wards rank families
- Kawasaki daycare points: ranks A to H, then an adjustment index
- Koto daycare points: the fiscal 2027 base, adjustment and tie-break tables
- Koto ward hoikuen application for April 2027: windows and this year's point changes
- Minato daycare points: how the ward ranks April 2027 applications
- Setagaya hoikuen points and April 2027 dates: how the ward ranks daycare applications
- Yokohama daycare ranking: ranks A to I, then adjustment points
Waiting lists and childcare leave
Other childcare: certified, unlicensed, sick-child care
Fees and hours
Documents and moving
Health and daily life
Application rounds and ward deadlines
- Arakawa ward hoikuen application for April 2027: two rounds and the result days
- Bunkyo ward hoikuen application for April 2027: the window is announced as a plan
- Chuo ward hoikuen application for April 2027: two rounds, November and February
- Edogawa ward hoikuen application for April 2027: rounds depend on the child's class age
- Itabashi ward hoikuen application for April 2027: rounds close on different days
- Kita ward hoikuen application for April 2027: deadlines, including applying before birth
- Meguro ward hoikuen application for April 2027: deadlines, and a new rule for families outside the ward
- Mid-year daycare entry: monthly rounds after April, and the class age that does not change
- Nakano ward hoikuen application for April 2027: two rounds, and who is carried into the second
- Ota ward hoikuen application for April 2027: the mail deadline is earlier
- Shibuya ward hoikuen application for April 2027: the first-round schedule
- Shinagawa ward hoikuen application for April 2027: deadlines, without a published opening day
- Taito ward hoikuen application for April 2027: two rounds, and the mail deadline is earlier
- Yokohama hoikuen application for April 2027: rounds, childcare leave, and what declining a place means
People also search
What parents type into Google or ask ChatGPT about this step, and the page on this site that answers it.
In English
Questions parents ask
When do hoikuen applications for entry open in Tokyo?
The first round (一次申込, ichiji mōshikomi) for entry runs to (approximate). Each ward sets its own dates: 22 wards and cities have their verified window on this site.
Source: 【令和9年4月（一次）入所】認可保育所等の申込受付を開始します
When is the second round (二次申込) for entry?
The second round runs to (approximate). It offers again the places the first round left.
How do hoikuen points (指数, shisū) work?
In Setagaya (世田谷区), when more families apply to a licensed daycare (認可保育園, ninka hoikuen) than there are places, the ward ranks every application by points: the 保育の利用指数 (hoiku no riyō shisū). The higher total gets the place.
How are hoikuen fees set?
For a public or licensed private daycare it is a user charge the city calculates from household tax, the child's class age, and whether an older brother or sister is already counted.
Is daycare free from age 3?
From October 2019, the page says, fees were made free for ages 3–5 at certified children's centres, kindergartens, daycare centres and the related programmes (利用料を無償化). This page does not list lunch, extended hours or a ward's own charges.
What if we get no daycare place?
If the daycare round says no, many parents ask their employer to extend the childcare-leave benefit (育児休業給付金, ikuji kyūgyō kyūfukin, the leave pay from employment insurance).
Can we apply after April?
April is the large round. After that, licensed daycare still has monthly rounds (年度途中入所, nendo tochū nyūsho), but only for places that come free.
The other steps
What to do next
- Find your child's path: the free juken check
Free, no sign-in. The route that fits, what it costs and the deadlines on the way.
- See the season pass
Verified dates and fees for every school, a reminder before each deadline, unlimited questions.