The “Children’s Smile Spot,” a location created to support parents navigating the city with newborns and young children, opened on Friday, July 7, 2023, in Ueno-okachimachi Station on the Toei Subway Oedo Line. The announcement was made by the Bureau of Transportation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG).
There are currently a number of services at Ueno-okachimachi station for people travelling outside with infants and young children. Inside the station, a nursing room was set up in February of this year. It started providing a stroller rental service in April, making it the country’s first subway station to do so. The Children’s Smile Spot will offer both of these services in addition to a recently installed vending machine where parents can buy childcare supplies like disposable diapers and liquid infant formula. To make it simpler to find, the region will also have a unique look.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation seeks to promote a community that supports and encourages childrearing through programmes like this one, which gives parents and other carers of small children peace of mind while they travel.
Children’s Smile Spot (pending trademark registration)
Opening day is Friday, July 7, 2023 (see below for operational hours).
Location: The concourse outside the ticket gates of the Toei Subway Oedo Line’s Ueno-okachimachi Station.
Provided Services
- Open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. is the nursing room.
- The room has barrier-free floors, a nursing sofa, a shelf, and a ventilation fan.
The door to the chamber can be locked from within.
- JRE Babycal is the company that installed and runs the stroller rental service.
- Easily accessible between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.
- The cost is $250 for the first hour and $100 for each additional 30 minutes, tax included. 1,500 for the first 12 hours; 100 for every 30 minutes after that 12 hours
- Strollers on hand: Combi SC51, developed for child care centres, for kids up to 4 years old (18 kg is the maximum weight)
Childcare product vending machines
- Installed and run by Kirin Beverage Co., Ltd.
- Service hours: from the first train to the last one, within the station’s operating hours.
- Products offered include baby wipes and disposable diapers (M and L sizes, in packs of 2).
beverages (water, green tea, brown tea, liquid infant formula, sports beverages, fruit and vegetable juice, etc.)
Source: traveldailymedia