Are you expecting, or expecting to be expecting, soon? The prospect of pregnancy can be exciting, but also overwhelming, particularly in an unfamiliar environment where language can be a barrier to finding answers to address the many uncertainties you may have.

What should you do if you think you're pregnant? How do you register a pregnancy? Is there any assistance available to help you prepare for childbirth? Can you choose where you want to have your baby? Is there any support available to help pay for childbirth? Do you have to register a newborn baby with immigration, and is there a time limit? The more you think about what lies ahead, the more questions spring up.

Minato Ward has published the Nagoya Minato-ku Child-rearing Chart to give an overview of the procedures involved in pregnancy and child-rearing. Available to download from the Minato Ward website in English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese, Nepali, Urdu and Thai, the chart is divided into two parts. The first covers procedures from the beginning of a pregnancy to just after birth, and the second looks at child-rearing up until a child enters nursery school or kindergarten.

Even if you're not a resident of Minato Ward, the chart is a useful guide that will help you understand what to expect procedure-wise during pregnancy and when raising a young child.

• Chart 1
• Chart 2

*Japanese page; scroll to bottom for multilingual versions.