RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Noriko Nakamura, owner and president of Poppins Corp., will be running a temporary day care center out of two suites as the Sheraton Waikiki. If all goes well the company may expand its services throughout the state.
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Japanese child care business sets up at the Sheraton Waikiki
A Japanese child care company is testing the Hawaiian waters with its first operation outside Japan, at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel.
Poppins Corp., founded in 1987, is transforming two suites at the Sheraton into a child care center, set to open June 1 for a four-month trial period.
The center, which also will teach Hawaiian arts and crafts outdoors, has a capacity of 30 children. The company has hired six workers and 20 part-time staff locally who will teach in both English and Japanese.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Poppins Corp. president Noriko Nakamura at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel. Nakamura's children's day care will be housed in two suites at the hotel.
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The company expects the arrangement to become permanent after the trial period, since demand for child care among Japanese visitors is high, said Noriko Nakamura, Poppins owner and president.
"A lot of our customers often come to Hawaii, and they asked us why don't we open a kids room in Hawaii?" she said. "There's no place to take care of their children in Japanese."
The service is open to Sheraton guests, but the company expects to rapidly expand its presence throughout the islands.
Poppins hopes to open its next child care operation on the Big Island, and said it has talked with the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, as well as other Waikiki hotels.
Eventually, the company hopes to open four to five day care facilities here, while also providing baby-sitting services in hotel guest rooms.
It also is searching for a site to cater to kamaaina in Waikiki, Nakamura said.
"I'd like to support the working mothers in Hawaii -- that is my next goal," she said.
The Poppins "kids' room" will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and costs $30 an hour for newborns to 3-year-olds and $26 per hour for 4- to 12-year-olds.
The company, which has more than 500 workers is promoting its latest venture to big corporations that have Hawaii incentive tours for employees. It has marketing contracts with travel agents including Jalpak International Hawaii, JTB Corp. and Kintetsu International Hawaii.
Some of its clients in Japan include Citigroup, Toyota Group, Ikea Japan, Shiseido, Sanyo Electric, and Merrill Lynch.
Startup costs for the local operation so far has totaled $100,000, though the company expects sales of $260,000 during the four-month trial period.
Poppins, which has offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Ashiya and Honolulu, operates 53 day care and preschool facilities in Japan's airports, workplaces, hospitals, universities and hotels and also provides baby-sitting services at conventions.
In addition, the company provides elderly care and nanny services and offers training at Poppins Nanny School in Japan and overseas programs at Stanford and Harvard Universities.
CORRECTION Tuesday, May 13, 2008
This story originally omitted JTB Corp. when mentioning travel agencies with which Poppins Corp. has marketing contracts.
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