Daycare/Kindergarten is already free across the country for all children starting at 3 years old.

My information might be biased towards the greater Kanto area (Tokyo/Yokohama), but I’m not aware of anybody paying less then 20000 Yen (a little over $100 USD I guess) per month per child for a place in a public daycare (can be more than double, depending on the area/daycare, and much more for private ones).

It’s much more complicated, though. You can receive various support money from the state/prefecture/city, but it’s usually less than what you have to pay. And you’re not guaranteed a place, and the waiting list cam be long (especially in highly populated areas in Tokyo).

Just very quickly: the books are so much better than the show! I had to stop watching the show somewhere I think in season 2 - everything started digressing/simplifying too much from the books (the characters became flat and uninteresting etc.) So yeah, I found the books much more enjoyable.