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What to Prepare for Hoikuen – Parenting in Japan

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Motherhood in Japan
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What to prepare for Hoikuen (nursery / daycare) in Japan? Where to buy / find? and what is the best / convenient? This might help if you are a parent who tries to figure out what to prepare for your kids’ new beginning!

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Japanese Hoikuen – Daycare / Nursery

My husband and I decided to have our son start going to Hoikuen (nursery or daycare) at 0 year old.

For Hoikuen, they have their own rules for what to bring that must be different for each school. To prepare everything you need is overwhelming, honestly..

I researched a lot and chose what to buy. Hope this helps you find the items that you need. I added the items that we actually bought below including affiliate link at no cost at you.

Daily Necessaries For Japanese Hoikuen

A lot of Clothes for Hoikuen

You need a lot of clothes. I bought 7 sets of clothes (pants, underwear, and shirt) at a beginning.

My favorite shop,

  • Petit main
  • Uniqlo
  • Birthday (Shimamura Group)
  • Nishimatsuya

Towels for Lunch and Snack

For wiping mouth, you need to bring some towels. My son drank formula when he started going to Hoikuen, we need to prepare gauze towels too.

For snacks and lunch, I bought some towels with a loop both online and a store called Nishimatsuya.

Aprons for Snack Time and Lunch Time

At my son’s school requires 3 sets of aprons in a day, for morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. I decided to buy some kinds of aprons. For lunch, bigger size. For snacks, smaller size. I bought bigger size ones online, Smaller ones at Nishimatsuya.

Diapers & Wipes

Recently, many of Hoikuen (nurseries) have a prescription service. My son’s school also has it too, so we didn’t prepare diapers and wipes.

At home, we usually use wipes and diapers that we buy at Costco.

Yogoremono ire – bag for dirty clothes / towels

Usually anything is fine, some people use a reusable bag. I decided to buy set of 2. But I bought 2 more after a week, since it’s not easy to dry out.

School Bag for Hoikuen

Depending on the age of a kid, but parent(s) usually carry a bag if your kid doesn’t. I personally wanted to get a big bag that we can put anything!

I took time to decide if I should buy the one that is washable or waterproof.. I decided to buy one of each.. but I ended up to buy the one that is washable.

Weekly Necessities for Hoikuen in Japan

Bath Towel or Blanket For a Nap Time

For a nap time, we needed to prepare big-sized towels. I wanted something that is soft and comfortable for my son. It’s 6 layers and very soft.

Cot Cover – for nap

You should ask the school for the size. I bought 2 of cot covers Nishimatsuya Online.

Must Have Items to Prepare For Daycare in Japan

You need to have your name on EVERY SINGLE ITEMS that you use/bring to Hoikuen.

Name Stamp for Diapers, Shoes, etc.

I bought this Name Stamp with my son’s name on it. I used this on gauze towels.

It has an ink attached, so it’s very convenient to use.

Name Stickers

I didn’t have no idea, so I researched and bought 2 types;

Dinosaur : Tag Name Sticker

This sticker is very cute. I choose the one with dinosaur design. I put this sticker on tags on my son’s clothing.

Simple Name Sticker – Very Strong Stickiness

This sticker has various designs. And this sticker is amazing as you can put on socks, towels, tags, shoes, towels, etc.

It’s not easy to prepare for Hoikuen, however, it’s a new beginning for your precious kid. This post helps you! I will write more blog posts about parenting in Japan!

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