Risuyama Nursery Farm

An outdoor-first nursery on a satoyama hillside in Nagoya, built around a warm wooden house for the days when the weather turns or a child simply needs a quiet moment. Mothers who work and mothers who do not are equally welcome. It was opened on the conviction that a place inside Nagoya could still be surrounded by beautiful trees and soil to dig in — and that children look different there. The nursery uses a 2,500 m² farm in Kamishidami, Moriyama-ku, as its garden. It is an unlicensed (ninkagai) facility, opened in April 2020, certified by the city since 2023, and covered by Japan's free-childcare program. What matters here is that children play, eat and sleep under their own steam; that they have friends to laugh with from the belly; and that they can feel when nature is good. Field work, digging in the earth mound and walks in the forest anchor every day — and the children go outside in the rain too. Four staff are on site as standard: a licensed childcare worker, a certified community childcare supporter, an outdoor-activity instructor and a kindergarten teacher. Part-time staff include further childcare workers, an artist, a stage actress, a craft teacher and a bodywork therapist. Operated by the NPO Ecodomo.