Abstract
In Tokyo, encouraging the acceptance of childcare centers is an urgent issue as many children still need a nursery. The Japanese government has implemented an institutional reform, and local governments have formulated a new child-rearing support plan along with the reform.However, the reform is focused on extending the duration of child care at nurseries and on increasing the capacity of nurseries. Consequently, kindergartens and small childcare facilities with short childcare durations are concerned about not being able to attract customers or even face closure.This study reports the case of City A in Tokyo, where an innovative approach was adopted in the formulation of an administrative plan, which entailed considering the opinions of various stakeholders and evaluating them at the planning stage.The method involved tracking the progress of the city's child-rearing support plan from the beginning to its completion and interviewing the staff in charge of planning. In City A, while investigating the demand for services expected of the new plan, opinions from small childcare facilities, kindergartens, child-rearing support NPOs, etc. were also gathered. In a departure from the usual conduct of administrative plans, in City A, citizens were included in the process of gathering information, which happens prior to the formulation of the draft.The Administrative Procedure Law of Japan does not have provisions for administrative planning, and no measures enable the participation of citizens in this process. The case of City A offers a solution to this problem.
Author Information
Noriko Kurata, Tokyo University of Science, Suwa, Japan
Paper Information
Conference: IICSEEHawaii2018
Stream: Economic and Social Inequality
This paper is part of the IICSEEHawaii2018 Conference Proceedings (View)
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