25 Years Since Launch in Japan: The Role of the "Bookstart Project" as Seen from Responses from 988 Municipalities Nationwide

NPO Bookstart, which promotes the municipal "Bookstart project" nationwide, conducted the "Bookstart Project Survey 2025" targeting implementing municipalities across the country. Responses from 988 municipalities nationwide (a recovery rate of 87.6%) revealed that the project functions not only for "reading promotion" but also for "maternal and child health" and "a system for the community to support child-rearing." Key Survey Findings: 1) The project's role and significance extend beyond reading promotion to "maternal and child health" and "a system for community-based childcare support." Regarding the significance of the project, in addition to responses from the conventional perspective of reading promotion, such as "It becomes the first step for children to become familiar with books" and "It provides an opportunity to use libraries," many responses from the following perspectives were also received: • Forming parent-child attachment • Reducing parental anxiety about child-rearing • Connecting parents, children, staff, and volunteers • Improving intergenerational exchange and community inclusiveness These responses indicate that the Bookstart project functions both from the perspective of "maternal and child health" and as a system for the entire community to support child-rearing, and its significance is understood in multiple dimensions. ・It provides an opportunity for children to encounter picture books. Also, through volunteer read-alouds, parents can learn how their children react to picture books and how to read them. ・It helps parents realize that many helping hands are extended around them, reducing their anxiety about child-rearing and fostering self-esteem. ・It not only deepens parent-child communication through picture books but also serves as the only opportunity to convey the message that the entire town supports child-rearing to all babies and parents, by being implemented in cooperation between administration and volunteers. ・Through shared experiences with picture books, it can convey that children in the city are accepted without discrimination. ・I feel that working together with volunteers and staff is rewarding and educational for both parties. 2) Changes in picture book selection — Increase in municipalities adopting a "selection system." Smaller municipalities tended to hand out more picture books. Also, in the survey before last (2013), approximately 60% of municipalities handed out "the same picture book to all eligible recipients," but the number of municipalities introducing a "selection system," where recipients can choose from multiple titles, has increased, with both methods being almost equally prevalent in this survey. When selecting picture books to hand out to recipients, many municipalities considered: • Easily eliciting reactions from babies • Easy for parents unfamiliar with picture books to relate to Furthermore, the number of municipalities considering the following points has increased compared to before: • Durable and safe binding • Not handed out in the past few years • Does not evoke stereotypical family images 3) Over 7,000 citizens nationwide are involved in the project. Challenges for continuation also revealed. It was found that 56.2% of municipalities implement the project in cooperation with citizen volunteers, and over 7,000 citizens nationwide are involved in Bookstart. This indicates that the Bookstart project is widely rooted in local communities as an initiative where administration and citizens collaborate. On the other hand, some municipalities raised challenges such as: • Aging volunteers • Securing new participants Also, against the backdrop of an increase in births to foreign parents and the financial situation of municipalities, many municipalities cited: • Support for families whose mother tongue is not Japanese • Securing project budgets as challenges, indicating that the project has entered a phase where it needs to consider how to continue the initiative sustainably, building upon past efforts. Expert Comment (excerpt) Kiyomi Akita (Professor, Gakushuin University Faculty of Letters; Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo; Chairperson, Children and Families Agency, Council for Children and Families; Board Member, NPO Bookstart) "If it were merely about distributing items, it could be implemented without collaboration. However, the picture books handed out at Bookstart carry the sentiment of 'wishing happiness' from the people involved in the activity to the parents and children. That is precisely why connections between parents, children, and the community are born. Those picture books have a completely different meaning than picture books parents purchase themselves. The survey also revealed that local governments, despite severe financial conditions, are undertaking the project with ingenuity, utilizing grants and subsidies. Furthermore, in recent years, the term 'inclusion of diversity' has been widely used, and the goal of delivering picture book moments to all families, including those with disabilities and those whose mother tongue is not Japanese, is something that will be further..."