Safeguarding children’s well-being: The case of Jidoukan (children’s hall) in urban Japan

Continuous decrease in birth rate in Japan, coupled with the slowing-down of economic growth and increase in number of women entering labor market, bring challenges to Japan in ensuring the well-being of the children. With the economic situation, Japanese women who are originally expected to provide for the care to the family members mainly the children, have less option to be full-time stay-at-home mothers. These challenges are more pronounced in the urban areas, which then brings shifts in the urban governance and the role of the urban community in ensuring the well-being of the children. The establishment of jidoukan or geographical community based children’s halls in various part of urban areas has been one policy aiming at supporting the wellbeing of the children age 0 – 18 years. The principle of inclusiveness and community based had succeeded in a certain point of time. This paper focuses on case of jidoukan in Sendai city, on the intertwining relationshi between the city government, non-government actors and the people of the community in their effort of providing equal access to the children through jidoukan to ensure the well-being of the children. The data collected through interviews and observations for this paper, as well as secondary data, are analyzed from the perspective of urban governance.