Kindergarten, daycare, a certified children's centre, and a small local programme
幼稚園・保育所・認定こども園・地域型保育
- Applies to
- All of Japan
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 子ども・子育て支援制度（こども家庭庁）
Families meet four names that sound alike. The Children and Families Agency's overview of the child-and-childcare system is the national description. Your ward still decides how you apply.
The names
- Kindergarten — 幼稚園 (yōchien): listed with certified children's centres and daycare centres as a facility that can receive the facility-type benefit (施設型給付).
- Daycare centre — 保育所 (hoikusho): the licensed daycare in that same benefit.
- Certified children's centre — 認定こども園 (nintei kodomoen): also in that benefit. The Agency has a separate page for the centre system, linked from this overview.
- Community-type programmes — 地域型給付 (chiikigata kyūfu): the overview's name for the payment that covers small-scale daycare and the other local programmes. The page's price tables also name home-based daycare (家庭的保育), small-scale types A, B and C, care limited to children who have turned 3, employer daycare (事業所内保育) and home-visiting daycare (居宅訪問型保育).
The overview also says there is support for a kindergarten that is not on the facility benefit, for unlicensed daycare (認可外保育施設), and for extended care at a kindergarten (預かり保育).
Fees
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. It does not itemize lunch or extra hours. Those are in the facility's or the ward's own guide.
This page does not say which setting a child should join, and it does not rank schools. Hours and admissions differ by facility. Verify with the facility and with your ward office.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.