The initiative is intended to reduce the economic pressure on families with children by expanding the current rule on free preschool, which applies from the second child, to also include the firstborn.
Among developed countries, almost all are struggling with low birth rates, but the problem is particularly acute in Japan, which has had a negative population trend for a long time.
Japan is in a crisis with a decreasing number of children, a trend that is not about to turn. There is no time to lose, said Yuriko Koike when she announced the initiative earlier in the week.
She added that she also wants to introduce the possibility of a four-day week for publicly employed individuals in order to encourage more people to become parents.
After Monaco, Japan has the world's oldest population.
