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Jiji – Private companies in Japan are becoming increasingly involved in postpartum care to support mothers and children, hoping to help prevent postpartum depression and child abuse while seeking more contact with customers to promote their products and services.

A postpartum care facility in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, has a cafe lounge where people “can take children without worrying.”

“It was not easy for me to go to a cafe with my children, but I can use (the cafe lounge) with a peace of mind because there are people in similar situations,” said Hiroe Kokawa, 33, a corporate employee who has two children.

Nestle Japan helped open the cafe lounge, setting up a coffee machine that offers decaffeinated coffee, among other options, so that people who are pregnant or breastfeeding can also enjoy coffee.

“We hope that coffee will help create communities, and also that (the cafe lounge) will allow people to learn about decaffeinated coffee,” said Jiro Takaoka of the company’s beverage business department.

Miki House, which operates the Mikihouse children’s clothing brand, began providing beds and underclothes, textiles and sewing in July of last year to Pre & Postnatal Care Hotel Budounoki Miyako City Osaka Hommachi in the city of Osaka. The company also gives advice on topics including how to choose clothes for babies.

“(Through the initiative,) we can understand customer needs and use them for product development,” Miki House official Tatsuya Yamakado said.

In July, Mitsubishi Estate started a postpartum care service called Yuarito at Royal Park Hotel in central Tokyo. For the service, the company has dispatched midwives and nurses and created manuals based on relevant safety standards, in order to give a sense of security.

The service is “not a business that will easily spread, due to cost and other factors,” said Saki Uchida of Mitsubishi Estate’s new business creation division.

Still, Uchida emphasized the importance of the service, saying that it “can be used flexibly depending on postpartum needs” and “can lead to housing and office property businesses.”