WEBVTT 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 line:98% The elimination of childcare waiting lists has long been repeated as a slogan. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.000 line:98% Indeed． 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.000 line:98% Will it be different this time? 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:41.000 line:98% Yes. In many cases， 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.000 line:98% new policy initiatives are blocked by the barriers of jurisdiction within the bureaucracy. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.000 line:98% The issue has hitherto been addressed separately by the Ministry of Health， 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 line:98% Labour and Welfare，which is responsible for overall childrearing policies， 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:58.000 line:98% the Ministry of Education，Culture，Sports 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.000 line:98% which supervises kindergartens， and municipalities. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.000 line:98% This is why I resolved to create a task force team dedicated to eliminating childcare waiting lists. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.000 line:98% I therefore asked Ms. Tomiko Okazaki 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.000 line:98% Minister of State for Social Affairs and Gender Equality 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:17.000 line:98% and Ms. Yoko Komiyama， Vice Minister of Health，Labour and Welfare， 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:21.000 line:98% to organize the team and tackle this as priority assignment. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.000 line:98% Normally，this kind of planning would take much longer 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.000 line:98% sometimes two or three years， as it requires inter-ministerial coordination. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000 line:98% Thanks to the task force team， I could at least shorten it to few months. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:23.000 line:98% This policy produces three major effects at once. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:29.000 line:98% First，parents hitherto unable to access 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:37.000 line:98% childcare facilities can have their children looked after. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:44.000 line:98% Second，women will be able to continue working while raising children 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:51.000 line:98% which would offset the demographic decrease of the workforce. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:57.000 line:98% Third，this would curb the trend of declining birthrates， 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:04.000 line:98% as women who hesitated to have more than one child would be encouraged 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.000 line:98% to have two or three children if they were able to continue working. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:28.000 line:98% One day，together with Minister Okazaki， I was summoned to the Prime Minister's Office 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:37.000 line:98% where the Prime Minister instructed me to implement measures to eliminate childcare waiting lists. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:43.000 line:98% My initial feeling was，that is impossible. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:02.000 line:98% The Prime Minister said，”It is a fine idea to build a complete system from 2013， 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:10.000 line:98% but what about children waiting right now? They cannot wait so long.” 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:17.000 line:98% It is hard to argue against this obvious statement. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.000 line:98% Although we need to ensure safety 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.000 line:98% regulations that do not fit the reality should be removed as much as possible. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 line:98% For example，we may remodel unused 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.000 line:98% school classrooms and shops to have childcare facilities in convenient places. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.000 line:98% We may also treat non-authorized 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.000 line:98% childcare facilities like authorized ones if they meet certain conditions. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:00.000 line:98% These kinds of positive deregulation should be advanced side by side. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.000 line:98% There is a prevailing assumption that it must be done uniformly across the nation 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.000 line:98% which tends to slow the process， 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.000 line:98% since whenever a uniform action is called for there are always some who hesitate. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:24.000 line:98% Therefore，we decided to solicit municipalities willing to take on the challenge， 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 line:98% and support them financially. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:32.000 line:98% As such，we will start from the municipalities that raised hands. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:51.000 line:98% In Tokyo，I have seen childcare facilities inside office buildings created for the employees. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.000 line:98% This is very helpful for working parents， 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:04.000 line:98% but they also say that it would be best if their children are taken care of near to where they live， 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:11.000 line:98% since it is a pain to bring their children along all the way to the center of Tokyo. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:17.000 line:98% They say it is impossible to have their children get on fully-packed trains. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:26.000 line:98% I believe that large cities must be more friendly to childrearing. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:43.000 line:98% Politicians in the team were very outspoken， going beyond their ministries' usual boundaries. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:52.000 line:98% They never backed down，insisting that there should be some way to make the impossible possible. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.000 line:98% That was an enormous pressure， 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:07.000 line:98% and the ministries must have had a difficult time responding to all their requests. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:13.000 line:98% That said，there was a strong shared feeling across 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:23.000 line:98% the ministries to advance a process to truly eliminate childcare waiting lists. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:33.000 line:98% So we decided to think over the issue again， and gradually the solution took shape. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:40.000 line:98% That was a fun experience. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:53.000 line:98% On the day that we submitted the paper to the Prime Minister， 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:57.000 line:98% we also informed the municipalities that we have compiled such a plan. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:02.000 line:98% I am looking forward to having various discussions with interested municipalities. 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.000 line:98% this in the budget formulation process going forward， 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000 line:98% and start the project as expected of the Cabinet，“true-to-its-word”.