Start from the day nursery (free account) or from your own building. Opening a nursery, or changing its numbers, means checking room by room how many children each floor area takes. This article does that for a synthetic nursery for 80 children, with the same tools your AI calls over MCP. Every number below comes from that run.
The floor area minimums
Japan’s national minimums are in article 32 of the standards for child welfare facilities (児童福祉施設の設備及び運営に関する基準), read from e-Gov:
- Infant room: at least 1.65 m² per baby or child under two (item 2)
- Crawling room: at least 3.3 m² for each of them (item 3)
- Nursery room or play room: at least 1.98 m² per child of two or over (item 6)
- Outdoor play area: at least 3.3 m² per child of two or over (item 6)
Given the rooms (zones), how many use each and the rule, check_space with areaPerPerson returns per room the area, the area needed, whether it has it and how many it holds.
1. How many each room takes
On the south side are the baby room and the one-year room (both counted as crawling rooms) and a nursery room for each age from two to five, with the yard beyond.
| Room | Class | Area | Needed | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby room (crawling room, 3.3 m² each) | 9 | 33.18 m² | 29.70 m² | 10 |
| One-year room (crawling room, 3.3 m² each) | 12 | 41.08 m² | 39.60 m² | 12 |
| Two-year room (1.98 m² each) | 12 | 30.02 m² | 23.76 m² | 15 |
| Three-year room (1.98 m² each) | 15 | 31.60 m² | 29.70 m² | 15 |
| Four-year room (1.98 m² each) | 16 | 33.18 m² | 31.68 m² | 16 |
| Five-year room (1.98 m² each) | 16 | 33.18 m² | 31.68 m² | 16 |
| Yard (outdoor play area, 3.3 m² each) | 59 aged two or over | 390.00 m² | 194.70 m² | 118 |
Every room has the area for its class, and the floor check (check_space) finds no issues.
2. Counted without the lockers
The national standard does not say exactly how the area is measured, and some authorities leave fixed fittings out. Hiroshima City’s table of nursery room areas (各保育室の必要面積), for example, counts the required area on the inner floor area less built-in and fixed fittings, naming cupboards, lockers, shelves for children’s things and hand basins (a cupboard hung with 140 cm clear below stays in). Given fittings, the kinds of parts to leave out (here lockers, kitchen counters and counters), the check also returns what they cover and how many the rest holds. Parts mounted 1.4 m or more above the floor do not count as covering it.
| Room | Class | Area without the lockers | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby room | 9 | 32.10 m² | 9 |
| One-year room | 12 | 39.60 m² | 12 |
| Two-year room | 12 | 29.10 m² | 14 |
| Three-year room | 15 | 30.60 m² | 15 |
| Four-year room | 16 | 32.10 m² | 16 |
| Five-year room | 16 | 32.10 m² | 16 |
Without the lockers, the baby room and the one-year room hold exactly their classes. The one-year room has 39.60 m², the 39.60 m² that 12 children need.
3. One more child in each class
We counted which rooms run short with one more child in each class:
- On the plain area, only the baby room (up to 10) and the two-year room (up to 15) still have enough. The one-year, three-, four- and five-year rooms run short.
- Without the lockers, only the two-year room has enough.
To make a room larger, move a partition and count again. check_space does not change the rooms, so it can be tried as often as needed.
4. How to use these numbers
- They compare floor areas with the national minimums. They are not a licence check: local ordinances and guidance may ask for more area or measure it another way.
- A zone’s area is the floor inside the outline, less its holes: draw each room’s zone to the inner faces of its walls.
- The other rooms article 32 asks for (kitchen, medical room, toilets) and the number of nursery teachers (article 33, paragraph 2) are not counted.
- The same
areaPerPersonserves any room with a rate per person (perPerson): an office, a classroom or a waiting room.