Multilingual Interpretation Service Introduced in All Childcare Centers, Kindergartens, Elementary and Junior High Schools in Osaka City

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Smart-Box Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Representative Director: Yoichi Miura) announces that its multilingual communication support service, "DokoDoko Tsuyaku," has been introduced in Osaka City's elementary and junior high schools, and that both "DokoDoko Tsuyaku" and "DokoDoko Phone Tsuyaku" have been introduced in childcare centers and kindergartens across the city.

With this introduction, a unified multilingual interpretation service system is now established across all childcare centers, kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools under Osaka City's jurisdiction. This enables faster and more accurate support for multilingual communication that occurs daily in educational and childcare settings—such as enrollment procedures, parent-teacher meetings, and emergency notifications—throughout the city.

Background: Growing Need for Multilingual Support in Educational and Childcare Settings

Osaka City has seen a growing number of foreign residents, making support for families with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds an increasingly important issue in educational and childcare settings. Accurate communication is required daily in situations such as informing parents, conducting interviews, and emergency notifications.

In response, Osaka City has been advancing efforts to establish a multilingual support system in education and childcare administration. This time, Smart-Box’s services—known for their proven track record in municipalities and educational institutions—have been introduced as a cross-cutting solution usable across childcare centers, kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools.

Key Challenges in the Field

In educational and childcare settings, multilingual support is a daily challenge in various situations, including explanations and consultations for children and their parents, as well as emergency communications. Challenges such as securing interpreters for increasingly diverse languages and growing workloads for staff have become apparent.

Particularly in situations requiring both “accuracy” and “speed,” individual, ad-hoc responses at each site have reached their limits, necessitating a robust interpretation system that can also handle sudden needs.

Difficulty in Multilingual Support — Difficulty in securing personnel capable of supporting diverse languages such as Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino

Communication breakdowns with foreign residents and their children — Language barriers arise in all situations, including enrollment procedures, parent-teacher meetings, and emergency notifications

Increased workload for staff in educational and childcare settings — Arranging interpreters and handling multilingual support adds to core duties, leading to staff burnout

Overview of the Introduction: Coverage Across Childcare Centers, Kindergartens, Elementary and Junior High Schools in Osaka City

Facilities Covered

Implementing Departments

Services Introduced

Childcare centers and kindergartens under Osaka City’s jurisdiction

Osaka City Children and Youth Bureau, Childcare and Education Policy Department, Childcare Planning Division, Planning Coordination Group

DokoDoko Tsuyaku / DokoDoko Phone Tsuyaku

Osaka City public elementary schools

Osaka City public junior high schools and others

Osaka City Board of Education, Instruction Department, Educational Activity Support Division, Human Rights and International Understanding Group

DokoDoko Tsuyaku

By covering major educational and childcare settings—from kindergartens and childcare centers to elementary and junior high schools—across the entire city, Osaka City is standardizing multilingual support not at the individual site level, but as a city-wide administrative system.

Services Introduced

DokoDoko Tsuyaku (Video Call Interpretation)

A video call interpretation service using devices owned by staff or childcare facilities. Users can see the interpreter on screen, enabling secure communication with facial expressions and gestures.

Main Use Cases: Enrollment procedures, parent-teacher meetings, individual consultations

Features: Face-to-face interpretation style that supports non-verbal communication

DokoDoko Phone Tsuyaku (Phone Interpretation)

A phone interpretation service that connects users instantly to an interpreter by dialing a designated number from an existing phone. No special equipment is required, allowing immediate use.

Main Use Cases: Emergency notifications, sudden inquiries from parents

Features: No equipment needed and instant connection, ideal for situations requiring rapid response

Expected Benefits After Introduction

Challenges (Before)

After Introduction (After)

Time and cost required to arrange interpreters

Immediate multilingual support possible via staff devices or facility phones

Limited range of supported languages

Interpreters supporting multiple languages are on standby at all times

Reliance on individual staff members at each site

Establishment of an organizational, standardized multilingual support system

Insufficient information delivery to foreign residents and parents

Accurate information delivery and mutual understanding achieved

Smart-Box’s Business Strengths

Smart-Box has provided multilingual communication support across various sectors, including municipalities, educational institutions, medical facilities, and tourist sites. For this introduction, the company has prepared user-friendly service design, flexible interpretation methods tailored to different situations, and a stable service delivery system capable of supporting multiple facilities.

Key strengths include:

High-quality interpretation based on field understanding — Providing high-quality interpretation that considers specialized terminology and context in educational and childcare settings

Dual-service model — Combining video call and phone interpretation to cover everything from face-to-face meetings to emergency responses (for childcare centers and kindergartens only)

Stable service delivery for large municipalities — Operational system capable of providing continuous, stable service to municipalities managing numerous facilities

A Model for Municipalities Nationwide

With the increasing number of foreign residents, multilingual support has become a common challenge for municipalities across Japan. In educational and childcare settings, creating an environment where children and parents can confidently access public services is increasingly important.

Osaka City’s introduction covers major educational and childcare settings—childcare centers, kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools—citywide in a cross-cutting manner, advancing multilingual support as an organized initiative. As a large-scale implementation in a designated city, it serves as a model case for other municipalities.

Future Outlook

Building on this citywide introduction in Osaka City, Smart-Box will further strengthen its multilingual communication support for municipalities and boards of education nationwide. Going forward, the company will also leverage technologies such as the "Dokotu AI" series to contribute to municipal digital transformation (DX), administrative efficiency in education, and creating an environment where all children can safely access education and childcare.

Company Overview

Item

Details

Company Name

Smart-Box Co., Ltd.

Headquarters

Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture

Representative

Representative Director Yoichi Miura

Founded

March 2009

Business Activities

Provision of multilingual communication support services

Main Services

DokoDoko Tsuyaku / DokoDoko Phone Tsuyaku / Dokotu AI Series

URL

https://smart-box.jp/

Inquiries Regarding This Announcement

Smart-Box Co., Ltd. Public Relations

TEL: 045-228-9280

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Hours: 10:00–18:00 (Weekdays)