Japan Local Govts Ready to Offer Childcare Support for Citizen Judges

Tokyo, Dec. 4 (Jiji Press)--All 60 municipalities that have
district and branch courts in Japan have decided to allow the temporary use
of public nurseries by lay judges from outside their districts, under
Japan's lay judge system set to start in May, Jiji Press learned Thursday.

The local governments also plan to have the public nurseries open
an hour longer than usual for the children of such citizen judges, according
to a survey by the Supreme Court.
The top court has been urging the municipal governments via the
Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to allow for the temporary use of
nurseries by people who have been picked as lay judges so that those with
small children can participate, although such parents can ask to be
exempted.
The court plans to establish a system for providing information
about vacant nurseries to lay judges with small children, informed sources
said.