Lead
"Which office do I go to first?" is usually the first question parents face when they begin looking into developmental support in Japan. The ryōiku techo (a welfare booklet for intellectual disability), the Special Child Rearing Allowance, Self-Reliance Support Medical Care, the Disability Child Welfare Allowance — these programs are numerous, each grounded in a different law, each administered through a different window.
There is no need to understand everything at once. Knowing what is available at the current stage is enough to see what the next choice might be. The following is a map of Japan's systems as they currently stand.