An understanding of birth care as provided in other societies can promote self-criticism regarding our own professional practices. This article is a report on a traineeship held at a Japanese birth center, an institution offering pre-natal care, health education groups, yoga, water-exercise, birth and postpartum care, newborn care, home visits, and postpartum and newborn nursing consultations. The care principles guiding birth care at that institution are in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization. They provide support for recommending the adoption of the methods that the birth center in question employs, subject to adapting them to specific socio-cultural contexts.
birth; birth center; care; Japan