Mid-year daycare entry: monthly rounds after April, and the class age that does not change

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. Two fiscal-2027 guides were read: Kawasaki (川崎市) and Koto ward (江東区). A family arriving in June does not use the April deadline, and the child's class does not tick up on a birthday.

The class age stays the April age

Both guides set class age on 1 April and keep it for the whole fiscal year. Koto states that it does not change mid-year. Kawasaki's question-and-answer section says the same: a child who is in the 0-year-old class on 1 April stays there until March, even after a first birthday. You cannot file a mid-year application to jump to the 1-year-old class. Kawasaki's cover says the April class table is also the table for a mid-year start.

For Kawasaki in fiscal 2027 that means, among other rows, a 0-year-old class for children born on or after 2 April 2026, and a 1-year-old class for births from 2 April 2025 through 1 April 2026. Koto prints the same kind of table against 1 April 2027. Check the row in the guide you are using before you choose a facility. Some rooms do not take the youngest infants at all.

Kawasaki from May onward

If Kawasaki held your child back in the April round, you stay in the pool for the rest of that fiscal year without filing a new application. You do file again if the daycare you want, or the household, has changed. The next year's April still needs a full new set.

For a start on the 1st of May or any later month, Kawasaki ranks the papers it has on the 10th of the previous month. If that 10th is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the deadline moves to the previous day the office is open. Applications are taken from about two months before the month you want. Post for these monthly rounds must arrive at the ward office by the deadline. A postmark is not enough. That is different from the April round, where a postmark on the closing day counts. Online filing can be down for maintenance. The same deadline is the last day to change your list of daycares or your household details for that month.

You can ask for a December 2026–March 2027 start together with the April 2027 first round. An offer is for the 1st of the month. Kawasaki will not start you mid-month. If you are leaving a daycare in another city, that place ends at month-end and Kawasaki starts on the 1st. Any day enrolled is a full month's fee, including a settling-in period that begins later.

Koto from May through January

Koto runs monthly rounds from May through January only. It does not take February or March entry. You may apply where the list shows no empty place; a sudden leaving can open one. Vacancy lists go up around the end of the month two months before.

The printed windows, which are also the dates the ward scores the file:

Start	Koto accepts applications
1 May 2027	Mon 8 March – Mon 5 April 2027
1 June 2027	Tue 6 April – Thu 6 May 2027
1 July 2027	Fri 7 May – Fri 4 June 2027
1 August 2027	Mon 7 June – Mon 5 July 2027
1 September 2027	Tue 6 July – Thu 5 August 2027
1 October 2027	Fri 6 August – Fri 3 September 2027
1 November 2027	Mon 6 September – Tue 5 October 2027
1 December 2027	Wed 6 October – Fri 5 November 2027
1 January 2028	Mon 8 November – Fri 3 December 2027

The January window may open earlier. Koto says it will post that on the ward site before the window starts. Fax is not accepted. The counter is the childcare desk on the third floor of the ward office, or post, or electronic filing. Toyosu Civic Center does not take these applications.

Koto phones the households it can offer a place, around the 15th of the previous month, and then posts the notice. If the call does not get through, the offer can be cancelled. That is the line to plan for if your Japanese phone manner is still thin: the ward has to be able to reach you. A withdrawal has to arrive by the same deadline. After that date, Koto in principle will not let you pull the application.

Birth-before-arrival applications are an April first-round device in Koto. The second April round and the May–January rounds do not take them. File after the birth.

What it costs

The fee rules are the same as for April entry, in the fees article. A mid-year start is still a monthly charge. There is no separate mid-year application fee in either guide.

Being held back in April does not, by itself, issue a fresh refusal letter every month. Kawasaki says it does not reissue the hold notice, but you can ask the ward office or the online service for a certificate that you are still held, which is the paper some employers and Hello Work ask for when childcare-leave pay is extended. Ask the employer what date they need before you assume the April letter is enough.

What goes wrong

• Using the April postmark rule for a Kawasaki month that requires the papers to have arrived.
• Missing Koto's phone call and losing the offer.
• Planning a February or March start in Koto. Those rounds are not held.
• Expecting the class to change on a birthday, or a start on the 15th of the month.
• Letting a job-search certification expire. Koto's job-search certification lasts three months from the month you wanted to start, and the application can then be withdrawn automatically if you are still waiting and have not filed the activity report.

An application is not a promise of a place. Monthly rounds only fill spaces that exist.

What to do now

1. Another city's calendar will not match these two. Ask that office before you book a flight around a start date.