Children’s Halls　じどうかいかん

The children’s halls or jidoukans (short for jidou kaikan 児童会館じどうかいかん) are free activity centers for children of all ages. There are children’s halls in every town in Tokyo…and I guess all over Japan? I’m trying to learn about what these facilities offer. I think people are welcome to visit any jidoukan, even if not a resident of that city. Mothers of infants can bring their babies there to play and meet other mothers. Elementary school kids can go there after school if both parents are working and no one can take care of them after school (for this parents need to pay small fees?). I’ve taken the kids the the one near our home during rainy days. We’ve been to a couple of others and the facilities seem almost the same, although some are much newer than others. The jidoukan typically has a gym space for lots of running or crawling around, a small computer room, a small library and another play area. There are many toys and books for kids of all ages. And there is also designated areas for having lunch, should you decide to bring a bento and eat there. Each hall also has different activity groups for specific age groups. It’s a bit difficult for me to read all of these because the flyers are only written in Japanese so I haven’t yet made it to any of these activity groups. But it is nice to come here when its too cold or rainy to go far, and at least the kids get out of the apartment and have more space to move about. It’s also better for Arisa since in most other places we go she is just strapped in the stroller or on me.

From what I’ve searched on the internet it seems the public facilities in Japan are pretty good. There are a lot of sports facilities, community centers, etc that are free for residents to use, or cost just a little bit. I don’t recall having these things available in NY. Or did I just not bother looking? But I recall searching for swimming pools to use and I could find anything unless you were a member. I found that all the cities in Tokyo have their own web pages about life in that area, and most have English versions as well. Here are the lists of the children’s halls from each of Tokyo’s cities’ websites.