Research Center for Child and Adolescent Poverty

Advancing Research and Policy on Child and Youth Poverty in Japan

The Research Center for Child and Adolescent Poverty is a research hub dedicated to the academic and systematic study of child and youth poverty in Japan. Based in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tokyo Metropolitan University, the Center brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines—including social welfare, education, sociology, and psychology—to conduct interdisciplinary research on issues related to child and adolescent poverty. In addition, through collaboration with other universities and research institutions both in Japan and abroad, as well as with international organizations, the Center aims to serve as a core institution for advancing research on child and youth poverty in Japan.

Another key objective of the Center is to inform local government policies through rigorous academic research. The Act on the Promotion of Policy on Child Poverty, enacted in 2013, requires both the central government and local governments to implement measures to address child poverty, and also emphasizes the need for empirical research on the actual living conditions of child poverty. In response, the Center seeks to translate research findings into practical knowledge by developing and disseminating training programs and educational materials, thereby making its expertise accessible to a wide range of local and national governments.