Are the voices of kids playing or chatting with each other so noisy as to constitute a disturbance to the local community? The question has come into the spotlight as a growing number of facilities for children, especially day-care centers, receive complaints from nearby residents that the kids are being too loud. While efforts are afoot to build more nurseries to support working parents, some municipalities are reportedly being forced to postpone or abandon plans to build such facilities in residential areas.

People who are bothered by the sounds of children need to develop a greater tolerance for them since kids are the future of Japan. At the same time, day-care centers need to build closer relations with their communities and local residents to win their support. They also should, of course, make efforts to ensure the children in their care are well behaved.

Trouble involving day-care centers for children is growing more serious these days. In early October, a 43-year-old man in Kokubunji, Tokyo, was arrested for allegedly threatening with a hatchet a father who came to a local day-care center to pick up his 6-year-old child. According to the police, the man was angry that children at the facility were being too noisy and had called the municipal office the day before the incident and threatened to attack the children.