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Early childhood is an extremely important phase in terms of laying the foundation for character formation. In recent years the Japanese have had increasing expectations of kindergarten education as a means of coping with dramatic changes in children's environment, including urbanization and the trends toward the nuclear family and fewer children per family.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture has formulated three promotion plans. The third of these, which was formulated in March 1991, is targeted toward three-year-olds as well as four- and five-year-olds. The aim is to ensure, through the development of kindergartens and other measures, that kindergarten is available to all children who wish to attend. As a result of these efforts, the number of kindergartens has reached 14,901 (as of May 1994), while the number of children attending has reached 1,852,189. Approximately 63% of five-year olds, approximately 57% of four-year-olds, and approximately 27% of three-year-olds now attend kindergarten.
There are regional imbalances in the availability of kindergarten education, however. For example, kindergartens have not yet been established in approximately 940 municipalities (about 30% of all municipalities). Continued efforts are needed to promote kindergarten education by increasing the number of kindergartens and improving instructional systems.
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