Today, I want to finally touch on the topic of childcare cost here in Japan. In the States, most of the discussion about childcare is centered around how expensive it can be. I, too, worried about how outrageous childcare could be for an infant, but I was in for a pleasant surprise! 

My husband and I applied for Japanese nursery school when my daughter was only two months old so that she could start when she turned six months old. Here in Japan, home daycare centers and baby sitters are not the norm. Private daycare centers and government run daycare make up the majority of childcare, and instead of it being very expensive, it is highly competitive. To be accepted into a government run daycare is a huge feat in itself! (If you want to read more about daycare types in Japan, please visit my article here!) 

Fortunately, we were accepted into a highly respected daycare in our community, and even though it was a long and arduous adventure to get in, now that we are in, things are so straightforward and easy!

In Yokohama City, there are two classes for government run facilities, 0-2 year old class, and 3-5 year old class (Kindergarten, early childhood education centers). My daughter falls into the 0-2 year old class and the tuition is determined by the amount of municipal tax we pay, so basically, your income. The higher your income, the more tax you pay, which means the higher your tuition cost will be. There is a chart with which bracket you fall into, and it's all public information.

I also want to mention however, there are conditions that can be taken into consideration, such as households with yearly income of 3.6 million yen or less (roughly 31,000 USD), single parent households, and households with people who have a disability certificate, etc. These households can apply for tuition reduction to help lessen the burden of childcare costs! 

Alright, so now let's look into how much we pay for tuition a month. 

First, look at the chart that has a list of tuition, and identify the kind of nursery school you are applying to or have been accepted into. In our case, our daughter's daycare is classified as a small-scale childcare business. Her nursery school only accepts 0-2 year old children and the entire nursery school has a capacity of 19 children. So, although it is considered a "public" daycare (we had to apply through the government), it's technically a business that gets subsidy/support from the government, and it's a bit cheaper than a strictly "public" daycare. 

Next, identify how many children you are enrolling/have enrolled. In our case, we only have our daughter. You also need to identify if you will use "short time" or "standard time". Our daughter attends 4 days a week from 8:30-4:30, which means she falls under standard time. 

Finally, you need to identify how much you (or whoever has the highest income) pay in taxes. In our case, we fall under D-27, which means we pay 58,100 yen (527$) a month, and we believe that is a complete bargain, especially for her being an infant.

If you do the math, she attends nursery school about 18 days a month, so that's only 3,227 yen a day! That's only about 400 yen (4$) an hour. It's completely a bargain for the quality of care she receives. Even if we extend her time and begin attending five days a week, we wouldn't be charged anything more.

The nursery school also give us 1 free extra day a month.  She can come in (on a day she doesn't usually attend). So, if your child attends Mon-Fri, than you can bring him/her in on one Saturday a month for free so that you can rest or do errands child-free. It's a great initiative from the government!

We don't have to pay for lunch, wipes, utensils, hats, smocks, or jackets. All of that is provided by the daycare. We only need to provide a change of clothes, shoes, a blanket for nap time, and diapers. 

Our daughter is so happy when she comes home from nursery school and the teachers are all licensed, kind, and go over and beyond to accommodate us (her sleep schedule, me speaking English, etc.) It's been a really great experience so far. The nursery school also has an app that we can communicate through, and they send pictures every month. I can be rest assured that she is safe because they put a heart monitor on her when she sleeps, and they are very meticulous about her health and physical condition. They have also been doing research about bilingualism, etc. since she is the only "half" child at the her daycare.

We've been attending her nursery school for about four months now, so I will do a complete update after one year!