This page is general information from official sources. It is not financial, legal or medical advice. For your own case, ask the 018 Support call center or the child section of the ward office where you are registered.
If you have just moved to Tokyo with children, or you have had a baby here, money for families comes from three levels: Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and your ward (区, ku). Each level has its own application. This guide explains the 018 Support payment, the national child allowance, the children’s medical certificate, and what four wards (Chiyoda, Minato, Setagaya and Edogawa) add on top.
In short
- Apply for Tokyo’s 018 Support (¥5,000 a month per child, no income limit) online. It is separate from the child allowance (section 1).
- Apply for the national child allowance at your ward office within 15 days of the day after a birth or your move. Late months are not paid (section 2).
- Get your child a medical certificate (医療証, iryosho) from the ward. In the four wards in this guide, covered medical care is free at the counter up to age 18 (section 3).
- Minato City wants the medical certificate application within 15 days. Chiyoda, Setagaya and Edogawa allow 3 months (section 4).
- Next 018 Support deadline: apply by Sunday, November 1, 2026 to be paid from December 2026.
Checked with official pages on October 5, 2026.
Which payment, where do I apply?
Tokyo Metropolitan Government and your ward
One application does not start the others: 018 Support goes to Tokyo, and the child allowance, the medical certificate and any ward payment go to your ward. Do each one after a birth or a move into Tokyo.
| What | Who | Amount | Apply to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 018 Support | Age 0 to 18* | ¥5,000 a month | Tokyo (online) |
| Child allowance | Age 0 to 18* | ¥10,000–30,000 a month | Your ward** |
| Medical certificate | Age 0 to 18* | Covers your share of insured care | Your ward |
* Until March 31 after the 18th birthday. ** Public servants apply through their employer.
1. What is Tokyo’s 018 Support, and how do I apply?
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
018 Support (018サポート) pays ¥5,000 a month (up to ¥60,000 a year) for each child who lives in Tokyo, from birth until March 31 after the 18th birthday. There is no income limit. Tokyo’s FAQ says children of foreign nationality are covered in the same way as Japanese children if they meet the conditions.
Tokyo checks where the child lives on the 1st of each month. For example, a child born or moving in on June 1 is paid from June, but a child born or moving in on June 2 is paid from July.
1.1 When is it paid?
For the 2026 fiscal year (April 2026 to March 2027), Tokyo pays three times: August 2026 (April–July), December 2026 (August–November) and April 2027 (December–March). Each payment has an application deadline:
- Apply by Sunday, November 1, 2026 → payments start in December 2026.
- Apply by Monday, March 1, 2027 → payments start in April 2027.
If you already receive 018 Support, you do not need to apply again in principle. If you have a new baby, apply only for the new child. If you have not yet applied for the 2025 fiscal year, you still can: Tokyo pays the missed 2025 months back, and the final deadline for them is March 1, 2027.
1.2 How to apply
- Choose the My Number card route if you can. It works if the parent and the child both have a My Number card (マイナンバーカード), live in the same household in Tokyo, and one of them has registered a bank account for public payments (公金受取口座). You hold each card to your smartphone. You need the 4-digit PIN of both cards.
- Otherwise, choose “Other methods” (その他の方法での新規申請). You make an account on the 018 Support site and upload photos of your ID, your bank account details and a document that shows the family relationship. A residence card (在留カード) is on Tokyo’s list of accepted IDs. With ID other than a My Number card, you need two documents.
- No internet? Call the call center and ask for paper forms. Tokyo says you can request the application documents by phone.
Note
Just moved in or just had a baby? Tokyo says new move-ins and births are added to its system around the middle of the next month. Until then, the My Number card route may show an error. Use “Other methods” instead.
The 018 Support website has a language menu that includes English. The call center is 0120-056-018, 9:00 to 19:00, including weekends and holidays (closed December 29 to January 3). Tokyo does not say which languages the call center can use.
1.3 The extra ¥11,000 “Kosodate Oen Plus”
Tokyo also pays a one-time ¥11,000 per child aged 0 to 14 under Kosodate Oen Plus (子育て応援＋), for children living in Tokyo between February 2, 2026 and April 1, 2027. Children who turn 15 in that period are not covered. You do not apply for it: it is paid automatically to children registered for 018 Support. If you applied for 018 Support on or after March 16, 2026, it comes with your first 018 Support payment.
1.4 Is it taxed?
Tokyo says 018 Support is not taxed if it is the child’s only income in the year. It may be taxed if the child has other income or lives outside Japan.
2. How does the national child allowance work?
Official rule (Japan)
The child allowance (児童手当, jido teate) is paid to the person raising a child up to March 31 after the 18th birthday. According to the Children and Families Agency, it is ¥15,000 a month under age 3, ¥10,000 a month from age 3 to high-school age, and ¥30,000 a month for a third or later child. It is paid in February, April, June, August, October and December, two months at a time. In principle, the child must live in Japan.
Apply at the ward where you live within 15 days of the day after the birth or your move, or you lose the months you were late. Payment normally starts from the month after you apply. If the birth or move was near the end of a month and you apply in the next month but within the 15 days, it starts from the month you applied. If the mother gives birth away from home, you still apply to the ward where you are registered.
3. How do children’s medical costs work in Tokyo?
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Tokyo has three medical subsidies for children, named after the card: Maru-nyu (マル乳) before primary school, Maru-ko (マル子) for primary and junior high school, and Maru-ao (マル青) for high-school age. You apply to your ward for a medical certificate (医療証, iryosho). Your child must be in a Japanese health insurance plan. Children on public assistance or placed in care facilities are not covered.
Under Tokyo’s basic rule, a primary or secondary school child pays up to ¥200 per clinic visit, and medicine from a pharmacy is free. But Tokyo says some wards and cities charge nothing at the counter. The four wards in this guide charge nothing for insured care up to March 31 after the 18th birthday. Costs outside insurance, such as checkups, vaccinations and extra charges for a private room, are not covered.
- Show two things at the clinic or pharmacy. Show your child’s My Number health insurance card (マイナ保険証) or eligibility certificate (資格確認書), and the medical certificate.
- Outside Tokyo, pay first. The certificate cannot be used at clinics outside Tokyo, or at clinics that do not accept it. Pay your share, keep the receipt, and claim the money back from your ward.
- Use the new certificate from October 1. Certificates are renewed every October 1, and wards mail the new one in September. The 2026 certificate is pale green and valid from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. For children aged 6, 15 and 18, it ends on March 31, 2027, when they move to the next card.
Important
If your child is in a National Health Insurance plan (国民健康保険) from outside Tokyo, including some trade National Health Insurance associations, Tokyo says the certificate cannot be used even at clinics in Tokyo. You pay first and claim the money back from your ward.
4. How do Chiyoda, Minato, Setagaya and Edogawa compare?
Depends on your ward
The difference between the four wards is the deadline for the medical certificate and the ward’s own payment. Setagaya and Edogawa say that if you apply within the deadline, the subsidy starts from the day of the birth or the move.
4.1 Chiyoda City: ¥15,000 a month for junior high and high-school age
Chiyoda City
Chiyoda City covers insured care up to March 31 after the 18th birthday for children registered in the ward. Apply within 3 months from the day after a birth or move, at the Child-Rearing Promotion Section, Allowance and Medical Unit (子育て推進課手当・医療係), at a branch office, or by post. Since April 1, 2025, the ward also pays back hospital meal costs if you apply.
Chiyoda’s own Junior and Senior High School Generation Support Allowance (中高生世代応援手当) is ¥15,000 a month per child, from April 1 after the 12th birthday to March 31 after the 18th birthday. It is paid on the 25th of February, June and October. The person who receives the child allowance applies, at the ward office, a branch office or the ward’s online portal. Payment normally starts from the month after you apply. If you move in and apply within 15 days of the day after the planned move-out date you gave at your old address, payment starts from the month after that date. The ward says this allowance counts as miscellaneous income and is taxable.
Chiyoda City Office, 2F, 1-2-1 Kudanminami, Chiyoda-ku. Google Maps. Phone 03-5211-4230.
4.2 Minato City: birth costs up to ¥310,000
Minato City
Minato City covers insured care up to March 31 after the 18th birthday, and also hospital meal costs, which you pay first and claim back. The parent and the child must both be registered in Minato and be in Japanese public health insurance. Minato asks you to apply within 15 days of the birth or move. You can post the form to the Child Benefits Unit, take it to the Health and Welfare Unit of your Branch Office (総合支所区民課保健福祉係), or apply online through Mynaportal with a My Number card.
Minato’s Childbirth Cost Subsidy (出産費用の助成) pays the part of the birth costs above the national lump-sum birth allowance, up to a limit: up to ¥310,000 for one baby. You must have lived in Minato since before the birth and for at least one year in a row on the day you apply, and the mother must be in Japanese public health insurance. Apply within one year of the birth. Minato asks parents who are both foreign nationals, or who plan to give birth abroad, to talk to the ward before the birth.
Minato offers a free three-way interpreter call service for its own procedures, in English and other languages, on weekdays from 8:30 to 17:15 (phone 03-6436-3764 if you are not using a smartphone or computer). Child Benefits Unit (子ども給付係): 03-3578-2433.
4.3 Setagaya City: ¥10,000 in vouchers after the Neuvola interview
Setagaya City
Setagaya City covers insured care and hospital meal costs up to March 31 after the 18th birthday. Apply at the Children and Families Section (子ども家庭課) or the Children and Families Support Section of a branch office, by post, or online through Mynaportal. If you apply within 3 months of a birth or move, coverage starts from that day. If you just moved in, the ward says to wait at least 2 days after your move-in registration before applying online.
The Setagaya Child-Rearing Vouchers (せたがや子育て利用券) are worth ¥10,000 per child (fourteen ¥500 and thirty ¥100 tickets). You get them at a Neuvola interview (ネウボラ面接) during pregnancy or after the birth. Book the interview with the Kenko-zukuri Section (健康づくり課) first and bring your Maternal and Child Health Handbook. Families who move to Setagaya after the birth are also eligible, up to the child’s 2nd birthday. The vouchers are only for services approved by the ward, such as postnatal care, babysitting and temporary childcare. You cannot use them for diapers, milk or other goods.
Medical certificate: 03-5432-2309. Vouchers: Health Promotion Division (健康推進課), Setagaya Public Health Center, 03-5432-2446.
4.4 Edogawa City: ¥13,000 a month for babies
Edogawa City
Edogawa City covers insured care up to March 31 after the 18th birthday, with no income limit. Apply within 3 months of a birth or move. At the Child and Family Section (児童家庭課) or the Health Insurance and Pension Unit of a branch office, you get the certificate the same day. By post or online, it takes about a week. Hospital meal costs are covered, but you pay first and claim them back.
Edogawa’s own Infant Care Allowance (乳児養育手当) is ¥13,000 a month for a baby under 1, for up to 12 payments, paid on the 10th of each month. Both the baby and the parent must live in Edogawa. Apply by the day before the baby’s 1st birthday, online through Mynaportal, at the ward office or a branch office, or by post. The allowance counts from the month of birth, or the month you file your move-in, and the ward asks you to apply soon after. The ward publishes an English sample of the filled-in form and an English list of ID documents. The ward says this allowance counts as miscellaneous income for tax.
Infant Care Allowance: 03-5662-0082. Medical certificate: Edogawa City Office main number 03-3652-1151.
Common questions
We are foreign nationals. Can our children get 018 Support?
Yes, if they meet the conditions. Tokyo’s FAQ says foreign nationals are covered the same as Japanese nationals.
We are on public assistance. Can we still apply for 018 Support?
Yes. Tokyo says families on public assistance can apply.
Can I apply for 018 Support at any time of day?
Tokyo says online applications can be made on any day and at any time, except during system maintenance.
We see a doctor at the hospital in the evening. Is everything covered?
Only the insured part. Minato City says hospitals may add charges outside insurance, for example a fee for visiting a large hospital without a referral letter. These are not covered by the subsidy.
Next steps
- Start with your ward’s child allowance and medical certificate pages (links below), and apply within the deadline.
- For 018 Support, open the official site and choose the My Number card route or “Other methods”.
Sources (checked October 2026)
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government: 018 Support
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government: 018 Support FAQ
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government: Kosodate Oen Plus
- Children and Families Agency: child allowance
- Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare: Maru-ko medical subsidy
- Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare: Maru-ao medical subsidy
- Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare: medical certificate renewal on October 1
- Chiyoda City: children’s medical subsidy
- Chiyoda City: Junior and Senior High School Generation Support Allowance
- Minato City: children’s medical subsidy
- Minato City: childbirth cost subsidy
- Minato City: Multilingual Interpreter Call Service
- Setagaya City: children’s medical subsidy
- Setagaya City: Child-Rearing Vouchers
- Edogawa City: children’s medical subsidy
- Edogawa City: Infant Care Allowance
