[Nyororin]

It all really depends on the age of the child. For small, pre-school age children (0 to 3) There are two options; State run nurseries (保育園） or licensed private nurseries　（保育所). The state run nursery price is set based upon your income, while the private ones have a flat rate. Which is cheaper really depends upon how much money you are making.

For older children, school comes into the picture, and there are programs for after school care, etc.

I want to stress, though, that Japan has pretty strong feelings about mothers working when their children are small. If it is at all possible financially, most mothers stay at home until their child is school aged. So there aren`t that many places available for childcare. Also, simply having someone babysit is unheard of.