Minato Ward Issues Unusual Notice of Designated Management Cancellation to Former Motoazabu Celebrity Nursery Amidst Abuse Cover-Up Suspicions

Since its opening, the “Former Motoazabu Nursery” in Tokyo’s Minato Ward has seen over 20 childcare workers leave each year, and has even been embroiled in allegations of covering up child abuse. The Minato Ward has decided to revoke the designated management of the social welfare corporation “Shunwakai,” which it had entrusted to operate the nursery. “FRIDAY Digital” obtained a document distributed to parents of children attending the nursery on June 14th, created by the Minato Ward. Between the Minato Ward and Shunwakai, a contract had been signed until the end of March ’29 as the designated period, but an unprecedented situation arose where it was revoked during this period.

FRIDAY Digital published an article on April 23rd questioning the nursery’s stance for not reporting to the Minato Ward despite concerns about the workplace environment, which led to a suicide attempt by a childcare worker and possible abuse of children. Following this, parents who were concerned about the nursery’s child care practices requested an “emergency parents’ meeting” held on May 23rd. In attendance were the nursery’s director and representatives from the Minato Ward and Shunwakai, the designated management. However, according to reports, Shunwakai and the nursery director did not provide satisfactory explanations to the parents.

In Minato Ward, there has been an ongoing investigation into the activities of Shunwakai behind the scenes. They have been observing factors such as Shunwakai’s attitude towards parents during the emergency parents’ meeting, which appears to have led to this unprecedented decision. They are reprinting the April 23rd article that triggered this decision.

The photo above depicts a party held at a hotel in Tokyo on March 4th, ’23, hosted by a medical corporation. On stage breaking a mirror is Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (66), with Kazuhisa Okamoto (60), chairman of the Medical Corporation Kyowa-kai Universal Medical Service (hereinafter referred to as the Tams Group), on the right. The Tams Group oversees approximately 70 facilities including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and nurseries. This event commemorated the group’s 30th anniversary and included a speech by Prime Minister Kishida, an alumnus of Kaisei High School, who was invited to attend.

Under the umbrella of the Tams Group, the social welfare corporation “Shunwakai” operates the “Former Motoazabu Nursery” in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, which celebrated its graduation ceremony on March 23rd. However, afterwards, parents of children attending the nursery revealed an unusual message regarding staff resignations sent in the name of the nursery’s director.

“Three vice principals and a total of twelve childcare workers, including vice principals, have announced their resignations. The message assured parents that efforts would be made to create a better working environment for childcare workers, asking for their understanding and reassurance. Furthermore, I heard that every year since the nursery opened in ’20, over 20 childcare workers have resigned. While each may have their reasons, it seems like too many.”

According to the “Designated Management Facility Evaluation Sheet” released by Minato Ward, the Former Motoazabu Nursery employs 80 staff members. The number of resignations was 25 in ’20 and ’21, and 20 in ’22. Adding the 12 childcare workers who resigned last year totals to 82 resignations over the past three years.

The Former Motoazabu Nursery accommodates children from infancy to age five, including classes for medically fragile and disabled children, making it the first nursery of its kind in Tokyo’s 23 wards. In order to meet the diverse needs of residents in Minato Ward, the ward sought to utilize the expertise and ideas of private-sector operators. In ’18, they publicly solicited a corporation to operate the nursery as a designated manager. From multiple candidates, they selected the social welfare corporation Shunwakai, a part of the Tams Group, as the designated manager for a term lasting approximately ten years until the end of March ’29. This was revealed by nursery officials in Minato Ward.

“Shunwakai is under the umbrella of a medical corporation group and Minato Ward, which wanted to establish classes for “medically fragile” and “disabled” children within nurseries. Considering the advantages of having facilities such as hospitals under its management, where doctors, nurses, and childcare workers can be smoothly transferred, they selected Shunwakai as the designated manager.

The Former Motoazabu Nursery is located in a quiet residential area near foreign embassies, with a spacious layout spanning approximately 3,000 square meters over two floors. It is said that the land and building together cost nearly 5.5 billion yen. The area is home to affluent households, including actress A, who has appeared in NHK dramas and commercials, veteran actor B known for two generations, and musician C, who has sung the theme song for a drama. Their children have reportedly attended the nursery in the past.”

Despite its advantageous location and support from Minato Ward, why has the nursery experienced an abnormal situation with a large number of childcare workers resigning?

Chairman Okamoto, who graduated from Kaisei High School and Chiba University School of Medicine, originally worked as a radiologist. Nurses with experience working at Kyowa-kai hospitals reveal the following.

“When he was younger, Chairman Okamoto had a patient with dementia who was admitted to a psychiatric closed ward when he went to check on them after hearing about their admission. At that time, patients were often denied admission or medical attention simply because of dementia. This experience raised questions for him, and he developed a desire to create facilities and groups that could care for people throughout their entire lives, from birth to death.”

This vision motivated him to expand from hospitals to rehabilitation facilities and nurseries. In 1993, he opened a clinic in Shinozaki, Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. In 2006, he established a dementia-specialized hospital in Kawaguchi, Saitama. Since then, he has expanded his operations to approximately 70 facilities with about 6,000 employees. However, the constant pursuit of launching new businesses before stabilizing newly launched medical facilities has led to fatigue among staff on the ground.

“The chairman is particularly focused on numbers. He meticulously checks metrics such as hospital admissions, and if, for example, an 80-bed ward is only occupied by 50 patients, he demands rigorous explanations from the staff. Among us, there’s even a joke that patients look like dollar signs to him.” (Staff member who has worked at a Tams Group hospital)

Opened in ’19, the Former Motoazabu Nursery drew attention for establishing classes for medically fragile and disabled children, attracting visits from stakeholders nationwide. Chairman Okamoto initially visited with gifts for staff, but as he had numerous other facilities to oversee, his visits gradually became less frequent, leading to less oversight. This was disclosed by a former childcare worker at the nursery.

“There was an increase in childcare workers who couldn’t communicate well with the director. The director would sternly instruct us to immediately submit incident reports, but would try to cover up inconvenient truths when it didn’t suit them.

Among the childcare workers who struggled with communication, some were subjected to high-pressure recommendations to resign, which led to bullying behavior. One person became so tired of it that they attempted suicide, and there have been other attempted suicides among staff as well. Fortunately, none resulted in death, but it’s still a serious matter when you think about it.

From the outset, Minato Ward was aware of various issues and reportedly advised the corporation, based on confidential information, to change the director. However, it seems the corporation has been in a hostile relationship with the ward and ultimately did not replace the director.”

At the end of September last year, a significant injury occurred on the back of the left shoulder of a girl in the 3-year-old class, prompting her mother to ask the nursery the next morning, “What happened?” One of the childcare workers at the Former Motoazabu Nursery revealed:

“In response to the mother’s complaint, there was an inquiry among the nursery’s childcare workers. It was explained that when the girl in question didn’t heed warnings of not to do that, a childcare worker tried to pull her arm, but accidentally scratched her around the back of her left shoulder with their nails.”

However, the injury wasn’t just a minor scratch from the childcare worker’s hand; the area on the girl’s left shoulder turned purple and didn’t disappear even after several days. A childcare worker in Tokyo explains:

“At age 3, children are capable of understanding and communicating, so attempting to pull their arm is considered inappropriate child care. Depending on the severity of the harm caused to the child, it could be considered abuse.”

The handling by the nursery director following the incident that caused injury to the girl was also critically scrutinized. An insider at the nursery familiar with the situation revealed:

“According to the rules of nurseries in Minato Ward, any such incidents must be documented in the daily log, no matter how minor, and reported to the ward the following month. The director has always instructed us to report any accidents immediately. So, I promptly verbally reported to the director what happened based on interviews with both the childcare worker and the girl. However, it was not documented in the log.

Even though surrounding childcare workers noticed and asked, ‘Shouldn’t this be written down?’ The director replied, ‘There’s no accident report from the 3-year-old’s teacher, so it’s fine,’ and chose not to write it down. The director usually promptly reports to the Child and Family Support Center if there’s inappropriate behavior towards a child from a parent, but if a childcare worker under them causes harm to a child, the response suddenly becomes sluggish. It’s unavoidable to point out that this could be seen as an attempt to cover up the incident.”

Since such an incident occurred at the end of September last year, according to regulations, the incident should have been reported to Minato Ward by October. However, the nursery was reluctant to report this incident. Consequently, Minato Ward, which obtained information through another channel, visited the former Motoazabu Nursery about a month after the girl was injured to confirm the facts. Another former nursery worker familiar with the situation reveals:

“Several officials from Minato Ward came and asked, “Is there anything you’re hiding?” Eventually, the discussion turned to the incident where a 3-year-old was harmed, which should have been reported but was concealed by the nursery director. The ward officials acknowledged the director’s admission of not reporting the incident. They advised the director, saying, “Because it’s a ward nursery, don’t handle it alone. If you’re unsure about making a decision, please consult with us.” They also cautioned that hiding things will only make matters worse. That’s the last thing we want.”

In the end, Motoazabu Nursery reported the entire series of events to Minato Ward on November 30th.

Why did Motoazabu Nursery attempt to conceal the incident to the extent that it raised suspicions of a cover-up by the ward? How did they perceive the childcare environment, where childcare workers were leaving in large numbers every year, and incidents of attempted suicide were occurring? Why has the Spring Harmony Association, which operates Motoazabu Nursery, been unable to take steps towards improving guidance for the director or replacing them?

Motoazabu Nursery consistently responded to repeated contacts from FRIDAY Digital with statements like “We will have the relevant person call you” and “Since this is not the headquarters, we cannot answer.” Despite these assurances, no one from the nursery contacted FRIDAY, nor did they even attempt to receive the prepared list of questions.

Furthermore, the Childcare Business Department of the Tamms Group of Haruwakai, which operates the nursery, did not provide a clear response, stating, “We are in discussions with Minato Ward, and it is difficult to provide a response by the deadline, including whether we will respond or not.”

How Minato Ward, which selected Haruwakai as the designated administrator, perceives this situation remains to be seen?

“In fiscal year 2020, we have taken seriously the significant number of resignations occurring. In response to the resignation situation by the end of that fiscal year, we have been conducting discussions to secure personnel for the designated administrator and improve operations. Since April 2022, ward officials have been providing guidance and advice, and from August of the same year, we have dispatched childcare specialist advisors with expertise in children’s rights and other specialized knowledge. In April of last year, we established the ‘Minato Ward Committee for Improving the Quality of Childcare’ consisting of three experts and ward officials to promote efforts to enhance the quality of childcare facilities within the ward.”

Minato Ward aims to improve the childcare environment by not only involving ward officials but also inviting external experts. However, regarding the possibility of intervening in personnel matters such as changing the nursery director, they have indicated a stance of leaving the decision to Motoazabu Nursery, stating, “The management and operation of the facility are primarily carried out by the designated administrator, and the decision regarding the replacement of the nursery director will be made by the designated administrator.”

However, according to the publicly disclosed “Fiscal Year Agreement on the Management and Operation of Minato Ward’s Motoazabu Nursery” (FY 2022), it states that a management fee of ¥382,735,730 will be paid for the year starting April 1, 2022. This entire sum comes from taxes collected from residents of the ward. As it stands, it would be inevitable to incur the anger of the ward residents. With Motoazabu Nursery and its operator, Shunwakai, not sincerely addressing the issues that have arisen, unless Minato Ward intervenes in some way for improvement, the tragic cycle of mass resignations among childcare workers and the cover-up of child abuse incidents among the children will likely continue.

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