Tokyo stays with kids: schools and childcare for 60–90 days

Before booking a Tokyo apartment for two or three months with children, write down the hours you need covered each weekday. A school place, an afternoon activity and occasional nursery care can all be useful, but they won't necessarily cover the same part of your working day.

Check education and childcare options alongside housing. Give each admissions team the child's date of birth, your exact stay dates, current school year, language needs and immigration or residence situation. Ask whether it can consider that specific arrangement before paying an application fee.

Don't use the apartment's length of stay as an eligibility rule

A 60-day booking doesn't by itself determine whether your family can register as residents, enrol in school or use municipal childcare. Explain each person's immigration status and actual circumstances to the relevant ward desk. School, nursery and after-school services have their own procedures.

Nor is “no resident certificate means no school” a safe blanket rule. MEXT's guidance on children without resident-register or family-register records stresses securing opportunities for school-age children living in an area. It expressly includes temporary stays for family reasons among situations requiring attention.

That guidance isn't a promise of a particular placement for every visitor. It is a reason to ask the education board about your child's circumstances rather than ruling public school out yourself. MEXT also explains the procedures for foreign children, including assessing language and learning needs when deciding placement.

Ask the ward's education section what is possible for your address and dates, what documents establish your situation, and whether it has a short-stay or temporary-attendance procedure. Keep its reply.

For families using the digital nomad route, the spouse and children guide covers immigration and insurance preparation separately from school admission.

Public-school questions to resolve early

Give the education board the proposed address before assuming any school in the ward is available. Ask how the school is assigned, what language support exists, when your child could start and whether a parent needs to accompany any support sessions.

For example, Minato's foreign-national enrolment guidance describes designated residential school areas and limited school-choice arrangements. Its guidance also asks families to consider the daily journey and prohibits bicycle commuting and car drop-offs for the described municipal-school arrangement.

That is a practical housing question: a room with parking doesn't solve a school journey if the school doesn't permit car drop-off. Verify the current rule with the school you would actually use, then test the walking and public-transport route from the building entrance.

Ask about lunches, supplies, parent communication and the end of the school day. If your child needs medical or learning support, discuss it directly before relying on a place. An admission conversation and a confirmed support arrangement are not interchangeable.

International schools: ask about the entire bill

Contact individual schools about short attendance; don't assume an annual fee can simply be divided by twelve. Ask whether they accept your dates, which grade applies, whether an interview or assessment is needed, and which charges remain payable for a short stay.

Tokyo International School's admissions page says placement follows its age cutoff, applications require supporting documents, and admissions depend on available support and resources. The application fee is non-refundable, so ask whether the school will consider your dates before paying.

The school's 2026–27 fee page provides a concrete warning against tuition-only budgeting: its listed one-time, non-refundable charges for new students are ¥30,000 application, ¥400,000 registration and ¥1,000,000 development, totalling ¥1,430,000 before school fees.

If all those charges applied to a hypothetical two-month attendance arrangement, spreading them across that stay would mean ¥1,430,000 ÷ 2 = ¥715,000 per month, before tuition and other costs. This is not an offer of two-month admission or a claim that every school charges this way. Get the school's actual written quote for your child and dates.

Ask what happens if arrival is delayed or a visa application is unsuccessful. Also check the current campus address and calendar; an old school guide can send your apartment search towards the wrong station.

Temporary nursery care may cover only part of the month

一時保育 means temporary childcare, but the name doesn't mean unrestricted drop-in care for all visitors. Read the municipality's eligibility, registration, interview, booking and monthly-use limits.

Shinjuku's temporary-care scheme, for example, is for children living in the ward, aged at least six months and able to join group care, with exclusions related to existing nursery enrolment. Ask how it assesses your family's residence circumstances and which documents it requires. Don't assume a furnished booking confirmation is sufficient.

A specific example is Yotsuya Children's Garden's temporary-care service. It publishes a maximum of seven days per month, with no more than four days requested at the lottery stage, and a daily fee of ¥3,400.

Seven days at that rate would be 7 × ¥3,400 = ¥23,800 if all seven were available and booked. It would still cover only seven days. For a hypothetical month needing twenty weekdays of care, thirteen days would remain to arrange. Eligibility and a low daily price therefore don't make this a full-time childcare plan.

Confirm food-allergy arrangements and application deadlines early. Tell the nursery what support your child needs; don't book first and leave an important care question until the first morning.

Private childcare and seasonal programmes

Ask a private nursery or preschool whether it accepts your child's age and exact dates, and whether the advertised hours include the care you need. Confirm languages used with children and parents, meals, illness rules, pickup authorisation and any settling-in period.

For holiday activities, Kids UP states that non-members can join seasonal events and short holiday programmes. Ask the branch about places and hours for the dates you need.

Read the particular programme's instructions. Its spring 2026 information sheet, for example, excluded seasonal-only participants from the free circular bus service and said programme hours varied by day. Check the transport and hours for the current programme before booking.

A bus advertised on a school's main page may therefore not serve the booking you are considering. Confirm pickup and return arrangements before choosing an apartment based on the bus route.

Sports, music and language lessons can add routine and friendships, but ask whether a parent must stay. A weekly class isn't automatically childcare, and an after-school programme doesn't supply the school day before it.

Compare the whole week

Put each confirmed option on a calendar, including travel, handover time, holidays and days the service is closed. Mark the gaps before comparing prices. For two children, check whether their start and finish times can actually be managed by the adults available.

Ask for a total covering registration, tuition or care, meals, transport, supplies, extended hours and cancellation charges. Distinguish refundable deposits from fees you won't get back. Keep the quote's dates with it.

Discuss school continuity with your child's current school: work to take, attendance expectations, records for the return and any support that should continue. Don't assume a short course abroad replaces all those arrangements.

Choose housing around the confirmed routine

Check permitted occupancy and sleeping arrangements for everyone on the booking. A floor-plan label isn't a count of suitable beds: ask for the layout, bed sizes and whether any living area must serve as a bedroom.

Look at the morning route with bags, a pushchair if relevant and bad weather in mind. A shorter adult commute may be less useful than an easier school pickup when one parent must make both trips each day.

Before paying, have written answers on the child's place, dates, hours, fees and transport, plus the apartment's family occupancy and cancellation terms. Keep a backup for unconfirmed care days.