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May 17, 2025

Is the free school lunches national?

I just wrote a post about how my younger two children's school lunch will be free hereafter. However, I don't know if this is just my town or nationally. Does anyone know if they are doing this throughout Japan? The post about the free lunches for big families: https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/BigfamJapan/GQjEL-living_food_money_education_saitama

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BigfamJapan

BigfamJapan

Former nickname was "Saitama". Changed it to save confusion on place review posts! Irish, 20+ years in Japan! I also write on my personal website: insaitama.com

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  • genkidesu

    genkidesu

    on May 18

    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/29a84bcefaeaf2747cb96e2993110d526fa87c02 This article has a lot of good info! It's not nationwide (yet), but if you live in certain lucky areas (like all of Tokyo) there is a free lunch program. Across the country though it's only 30% or so of schools with free lunch programs at the moment. Here in Niigata it's a mixed bag with some city offices doing what yours in Saitama is doing and supporting larger families, some doing partial subsidies (e.g. Agano does a 1/3 subsidy), and so forth. However, it looks like from the 2026 fiscal year there is going to a be a nationwide rollout of free lunches starting with elementary schools and then rolling out to junior high schools!

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  • TonetoEdo

    TonetoEdo

    on May 23

    @genkidesu Do you have a source on that last point - the nation-wide plan? Nippon.com's article in multiple languages mentions the idea but doesn't say when. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02220/

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  • genkidesu

    genkidesu

    on May 23

    @TonetoEdo I may have read/misunderstood it wrong, but https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA1779M0X10C25A2000000/ mentions that Ishiba's goal is to have it implemented from 2026, and first at elementary schools, but I imagine there's probably quite a bit that goes into it, and it probably needs agreeance/budget support from opposition parties, too. So I might be jumping the gun a bit!

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