Minato daycare points: how the ward ranks April 2027 applications

Minato ward (港区) ranks licensed-daycare applications by a household total called the index (指数, shisū). The ward's fiscal-2027 guide (保育園入園のごあんない 令和9年度版) prints the table, quoted from the ward's own rules (港区保育の実施に関する事務取扱要綱). The highest total is offered a place first. A tie goes to the priority list below.

How the total is built

Father's base + mother's base + adjustment = household total (父 基準指数 ＋ 母 基準指数 ＋ 調整指数)

A single-parent household adds 20 to that parent's base before the adjustments.

Base points per parent (基準指数, kijun shisū)

Work (就労, shūrō), already working:

Days a month	8 h+ a day	6–8 h	4–6 h
20 days or more	20 (also: 160 h+ a month)	17	14
16 days or more	17	14	11
12 days or more	14	11	8
None of the above, but 48 h+ a month	8

A job offer that has not started (就労内定, shūrō naitei) scores lower: 14 / 11 / 8 at 20 days, 11 / 8 / 5 at 16 days, 8 / 5 / 2 at 12 days, and 2 for 48 h a month.

Other reasons, from the same table: giving birth (出産) 12; job hunting (求職) 2; disaster recovery 20; hospital stay of about a month or more 22. Illness, disability, caring for a relative and study have their own rows, from 2 to 20.

The guide's notes on base points:

• Only one reason per parent is recognised.
• Work hours include breaks (休憩時間を含めた時間). For work at home, only actual working time counts.
• A parent returning from maternity or childcare leave is scored as work. If hours after return are the same, the ward uses the hours before the leave.
• If you will increase hours after entry, you are scored on the hours before the increase. If you reduce hours, you are scored on the reduced hours. Childcare short-time work (育児短時間勤務) of 6 h+ a day, or cut by up to 2 h a day, is scored on your regular hours.
• If your real work differs from what you applied with, an offer can be cancelled.

Adjustments (調整指数, chōsei shisū)

No.	Condition	Points
1	Household on public assistance	+8
2	Both parents absent (death, detention, missing)	+8
3	Main earner lost their job and has an offer or is job hunting (not single parents)	+3
4	Single parent, new application	+2
5	Applying child, or a child living with you, has a disability (new applications)	+2
6	Siblings applying to the same facility together, or a sibling already at it	+1
7	Twins or more, new application	+1
8	Became a single parent within the 3 months up to the offer month, with an offer or job hunting	+3
9	Dangerous self-employed work at home while minding the child	+1
10	Another child in the household without a care-need certificate (with exceptions)	−1
11	Caring at home for a relative at care level 3–5 or with a level 1–2 certificate	+3
12	Both parents embassy-related staff, with no visa or permission that allows work (就労の資格を有する査証・資格外活動許可書のない世帯)	−3
13	Live outside Minato, one or both parents commute to work in Minato (not moving in)	−9
14	Daycare fees unpaid 3 months or more without good reason	−20
15	Parent has a job offer as a licensed nursery teacher or nurse at a childcare facility (1 year+)	+6
16	Can accept a longer childcare leave if not placed in a chosen facility	−40, and no other adjustment applies

Tie-break order (優先順位, yūsen jun'i)

When totals are equal, the guide applies these in order:

1. Registered and actually living in Minato.
2. New application (not a transfer).
3. Single-parent household.
4. Parent with a disability or illness, or a child with a disability.
5. Both parents working (not job offers).
6. A child living with you already attends a licensed facility in Minato.
7. Returning after a childcare-leave withdrawal (1 year+ since leaving).
8. Siblings applying at the same time.
9. More children of elementary age or younger.
10. Nursery teacher or nurse returning, or with a job offer (1 year+).
11. Transfer from the ward's home-visit care for waitlisted children.
12. Lower municipal income tax (区市町村民税所得割額).
13. Longer residence in Minato.

If you are not placed

• For April 2027, the first-round result is mailed on 26 Jan 2027. The waiting notice (保育所入所待機通知書, taiki tsūchisho) is sent only for the first result day, and for April it is mailed on 2 Mar 2027.
• If you decline your first choice, or hand in the decline form late, the ward issues no waiting notice that month, and the guide warns you may not be able to extend childcare-leave pay.
• An application stays valid through March 2028 entry (令和10年3月入園分), except for job hunting, birth and study, which last as long as the certificate.
• Families who get no offer in either April round can be considered for the ward's home-visit care for waitlisted children (待機児童向け居宅訪問型保育事業), ages 0–2, if they wrote it on the form.

What the guide's Q&A adds

• Listing more facilities does not help or hurt your ranking. If several of your choices have room, you are offered the highest one on your list. List them in the order you would actually attend.
• A parent working away from home, including overseas, still counts as a two-parent household. Adjustments 4 and 8 and priority 3 do not apply.
• The ward does not publish competition ratios by facility and will not say what total gets a place. It posts monthly vacancies and the lowest totals offered in the April 2026 first round on its website.
• You cannot apply before the child is born.

Ask your district office (総合支所 区民課 保健福祉係) if a line is unclear. Points decide the order, not whether a place exists.