I’ve just received a copy of the city-issued newsletter, Tsukuba no Ko (Issue 61, 2008 03 18). This issue is interesting for me because it reports on the results of a survey conducted last year among parents who use the public daycare system in Tsukuba. I participated in that survey, if only to contribute positively, in my own little way, to the improvement of this very important system. Why? If you were to ask me if there was one single thing that has allowed me to work all these years, it would be the hoikusho, or daycare. Aya has been enrolled in the daycare since zero-sai, or "zero" years old (a convenient way of referring to children’s age below 1 year old). I love the daycare because it is well-structured, organized, and dependable. It has allowed me to work without worrying about my daughter. Aya loves the daycare too, for it is where she enjoys playing and gets taken care of for the most part of the day, and she has developed really nice relationships with the kids in her class.
I’ve heard of the moves to privatize the daycare system across Japan, but I couldn’t really say that I understood well the reasons for it. Why? Because despite the fact that there are a number of foreigners like us who use the daycare system, there has been virtually no effort to communicate to us these things in a language that we understand. Personally, I would very much like to know the issues related to this very important aspect of our life here, because it affects us directly. But how? It is already complicated as it is. I think I’ve gotten some handouts at one time or the other about the privatization move, but I have a feeling that it is just stashed away somewhere in my growing pile of papers. Gomen ne, zenzen wakarimasen.