Spatial Distribution of the Day Care Centers in Tohoku District, Japan

Abstract

In order to gain an accurate profile of social welfare activities in the Tohoku District (the northeastern part of Honshu Island, Japan, encompassing Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures), the author investigated the spatial distribution of day care centers (hoikusho) by townships or shi-cho-son, in the district. The analysis, conducted in 1983, was based on the following data: fixed number (i. e., the number of children accepted by a center) and capacity rate (i. e., number of children per 100 in the centers/total population of children aged four and under in the municipality) of day care centers.In general, the fixed number of children in city day care centers exceeds that of smaller towns and villages but the average capacity rate is actually less (Table 3). The municipalities with the highest capacity rates were primarily located in underpopulated areas such as remote villages along the Ou Mountain Range (which runs north to south in the center of Tohoku) and places near the Kitakami Mountains fronting the Pacific Ocean. The number of municipalities with high capacity rates (30% and over) in each prefecture were as follows: Aomori, 56; Akita, 35; Iwate, 27; Fukushima, 19; Yamagata, 18; and Miyagi, 4.Both the fixed number and the capacity rates of day care centers in the three northern prefectures of Aomori, Akita, and Iwate are comparatively higher than those of the three southern prefectures of Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima (Table 4).Areal differentials exist in each municipality due to four factors: (1) variation in the fixed number; (2) variation in total population of children aged four and under; (3) the number of “both parents employed” households (with children under six years of age); and the size of a municipality's social welfare budget. The values of these four mutually related factors are in direct proportion; e. g., an increase in the population of children aged four and under results in a proportional rise in the fixed number of children accepted by a day care center.Aomori Prefecture shows the highest correlation coefficient between fixed number and the other three factors. That prefecture's correlation coefficient ranges from 0.76 to 0.92 while that of Fukushima, the lowest ranking prefecture, ranges from 0.40 to 0.62 (Figs. 3, 4, 5).The presence of a kindergarten has a negative impact on day care center enrollment. Once a kindergarten is established in a small town or village, it is likely that day care center enrollment will decline somewhat. So far, in all prefectures, kindergartens have been concentrated in cities, with more than 70% of the available children enrolled in such a facility.Among the six prefectures, the number of children in day care centers exceeds that of kindergartens in Aomori, Iwate, and Akita but the opposite is true in Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima.Recently there has been a remarkable proliferation of unauthorized “baby homes” (nonregulated nurseries that accept infants and small children without hours or restrictions) and nurseries controled by enterprises in the central cities of the district, especially in Fukushima Prefecture (Fig. 10).The ratio of the combined number of children placed in day care centers, kindergartens, and unauthorized baby homes to the total population of children aged six and under is one to three. Since this ratio differs little from prefecture to prefecture (Fig. 2), the total capacity of the institution in each prefecture is approximately the same.