This research was conducted as part of the study of specific measures to realise “Yokohama – where we foster the next generation together, an ideal city for raising children,” which is positioned as a basic strategy in the “The Yokohama City Strategic Plan: 2022 to 2025”. The research aimed to clarify what parents living in Yokohama value in their daily lives and how they sense-make their environment by focusing not only on what issues they face, but also why these issues arise in the first place.

Data collection was performed through: 1. ‘expert interviews’ which explored the social background of child-rearing and the current state of self-help and mutual-help; and 2. ‘auto-ethnography’, in which parents themselves observed and described their everyday environment and behaviours. For the latter, we utilised the SNS application LINE and asked participants of the research to upload texts and images based on their emotions. This approach allowed us to capture data points that are difficult to obtain through traditional participant observation or interviews. In addition, many participants remarked that simply knowing that ‘someone on the other end is listening’ gave them a sense of relief. We believe we were able to practise what we preach, so to speak, in that we engaged (albeit unintentionally at first) in ‘small acts of care’, one of the key concepts/practices that came out of our research.

As a result, we were able to identify the struggles and conflicts faced by parents living in Yokohama City, and an alternative vision for policies supporting children and child-rearing to address them. In particular, we were able to reframe the conversation from a more conventional, welfare-oriented way of looking at childcare to a more holistic point of view that emphasizes the obvious fact that childrearing always takes place in a community and that both children and adults benefit tremendously when child-rearing or parenting is not just a family matter, but something that the whole community can take part in through “small acts of care”. We believe that this shift in perspective will provide an important guideline for future child-rearing policy-making in Yokohama City, leading to an enriching community that is welcoming and fulfilling not only for child-rearing families but all residents regardless of their backgrounds.

At the same time, as suggested by Design Council’s ‘systemic design approach’ referenced in this study, policy design should not be viewed as a discrete and limited process of formulating and implementing a single policy or measure. Rather, it is essential to approach it as an open and evolving process that continually leads to the next policy or measure, adapting to dynamic circumstances in which various elements interact and change constantly.

Thanks to the perseverance and passion of the city officials with whom we had the honour of working, Yokohama City plans to develop a model policy based on the insights gained from the research, taking a place-based approach. We look forward to being part of this policy-making process, and hope that this initiative will become a benchmark for participatory policy design in Japan.