How Japanese Cities Enable Toddlers To Roam Independently

A TV show featuring young Japanese children going on errands on their own highlights the differences between Japanese and American urban design that enable even toddlers to safely navigate big cities.

2 minute read

April 13, 2022, 9:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Toddler walking on street

theshots.co / Toddler walking

Henry Grabar comments on the urban design differences that enable Hajimete no otsukai, a long-running Japanese television show that follows toddlers in big cities going on errands alone (followed by a camera crew, of course). “In the first of the 20 episodes made available to Netflix subscribers, a 2-year-old travels to the town convenience store to buy groceries for Mom. In the fourth, 3-year-old Yuka crosses a five-lane road in Akashi, a city the size of Cincinnati, to get to the fish market.”

“But the Japanese are not so different from us,” Grabar writes. “They’ve just made policy choices that make it possible for kids to run their first errand a decade before their American counterparts get to do the same.”

Typically, Japanese children don’t actually run errands for Mom and Dad in the city at 2 or 3 years old, [Hironori Kato, professor of transportation planning at the University of Tokyo] notes, as they do in the show. But the comic, TV-friendly premise exaggerates a truth about Japanese society: Children in Japan have an unusual degree of independence from an early age.

Grabar attributes this independence to several factors: “Drivers in Japan are taught to yield to pedestrians. Speed limits are low. Neighborhoods have small blocks with lots of intersections.” Additionally, “Many small streets do not have raised sidewalks but depend on pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers to share the road. Curbside parking is rare, which creates better visibility for drivers and pedestrians and helps give the smaller streets of big Japanese cities their distinctive feel.”

Rebecca Clements, a research fellow at the University of Sydney, says “the show is evidence of how Japan gives children a ‘right to the city.’” E. Owen Waygood, a professor at Montréal Polytechnique, says the culture of independence doesn’t only liberate children: “Japanese kids ages 10 and 11, Waygood found, make just 15 percent of weekday trips with a parent, compared with 65 percent of trips for American kids. A city that frees children also frees their parents.”

Monday, April 11, 2022 in Slate

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight