国际英语新闻:Feature: Why are young kids in Japan so independent? Ancient proverb may have the answer

TOKYO, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- There's an ancient proverb in Japan that continues to resonate in society today, and the well known aphorism which is the foundation of the cultural phenomenon here which sees children encouraged to be as independent as possible from a very young age says: "Kawaii ko ni wa tabi o saseyo" or, "Send the beloved child on a journey," in English.

The proverb is understood by all parents here who encourage their children, from ages of around 6-years old and up, to run errands in the neighborhood, but more visibly, commute by themselves to their elementary schools; a mission which sees tens of thousands of kids daily navigating busy streets and rush our trains and transits, to get to school on time, and doing the same to return home.

A short documentary that has recently gone viral on social media sites since it was shared by Australian TV channel SBS 2, features a typical Japanese elementary school student, Noe Ando, departing from her home after breakfast, wearing her pristine navy blue uniform and wide-brimmed white hat fastened under her chin, and carrying two bags of books that look to weigh as much as she does, on her way to school.

"I walk by myself to the station, then I take the Yamanote line to Shinjuku," the bespectacled little girl said. "From Shinjuku I change to the Chou Line, and I go to Kokubunji on the Chou line," said Ando.

For those that know Tokyo, the Yamanote line is one of the most dreaded lines to take during rush hour, as the loop line serves most of the major business hubs around Tokyo and serves around 3.5 million of the city's commuters daily with the experience often described by westerners as being like sardines packed in a tin.

In fact, the train can become so overcrowded that station staff, wearing white gloves, are stationed along the busiest platforms with their sole purpose to literally push passengers onto the train to the point where faces, bags and hands are squashed against the doors in the most contorted of ways.

But none of this seems to phase little Ando who also has the harrowing task of transferring to her connecting line at Shinjuku station, which alone serves 3.64 million people per day and is registered with the Guinness World Records as being the world's busiest transport hub.

Ando, whose 39-year old mother states that, "If she gets lost or catches the wrong train she has to figure it out on her own," otherwise she "won't be able to get home," however seems to effortlessly navigate the station, which has more than 50 platforms and 200 exits, along with a legion of other elementary school children here on a daily basis.

Not only this, a number of different trains run along the Chou Line at different speeds and stopping at different stations, so little Ando also has to be savvy when it comes to reading the train timetable and making sure she catches the right train.

"By western standards allowing such young children to commute to school by themselves would be almost unthinkable, as car pools and school buses are the norm to ensure that the children arrive at school and back home safely," sociologist Keiko Gono told Xinhua.

"But in Japan we encourage our children to be independent from a very early age, and traveling to school alone is something of a right of passage for kids and a sign they can be self-sufficient. The proverb: 'Kawaii ko ni wa tabi o saseyo,' imparts the importance Japanese parents place on their kids being independent, but also their responsibility as parents to give their kids the initial 'push' out the door to encourage this.

Such is the inherently understood importance of teaching children to be independent and self-sufficient at an early age that one of the nation's most popular and longest-running TV shows called "Hajimete no otsukai" meaning "My first errand" in English, pulls in some of the highest viewing figures of all TV series here.

The children, some as young as four, are given their first errands to run in their local neighborhoods, which often involve crossing busy streets, going into supermarkets and getting specific ingredients for that evening's family meal, paying the right money and getting the right change, and carrying the weighty shopping bags back home, with every step being filmed by secret cameras.

Tears are often flowing when the children leave home for the first time, and while some of the goods bought by the children aren't always exactly what mom wrote on the shopping list, or get lost on the way home as bags split and fruit and vegetables roll away down hills, all of which makes for very comedic viewing, the child's return home to be greeted and congratulated by a beaming, proud mother, is always the highlight and most heartwarming part of the show.

"On the one hand 'Hajimete no otsukai' is just popular entertainment as a 4 or 5 year old picking up ingredients from different stores to make a curry and rice dish can be hilarious, as the microphones pick up the kids' dialogue throughout the whole mission. But on the other, it's reinforcing an age old cultural facet here that as soon as kids are old enough to pitch in and help their families, they are expected to do so," Gono explained.

She went on to say that young kids being self-reliant was also a benefit to society, as economically Japan is not set up to cater to one parent being responsible for taking and bringing home their child or children from school every day, so the children are learning from an early age that being independent is for the greater social good.

In addition, elementary schools continue to foster such a belief from an early age, encouraging children to keep shared spaces clean as other children also have to use them, to, on occasion, take a role in preparing the school lunches, which all the children will eat; which teaches kids the importance of teamwork and group reward, as well as washing all the dishes afterwards, which goes back to the importance of maintaining clean shared spaces.

"Group reliance is what accounts for such a high degree of independence in Japan," proffered Dwayne Dixon, a cultural anthropologist who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Japanese youth.

"Japanese kids learn early on that, ideally, any member of the community can be called on to serve or help others," he said in a recent editorial on the matter.

Children helping out with the cooking and cleaning in schools effectively, "distributes labor across various shoulders and rotates expectations, while also teaching everyone what it takes to clean a toilet, for instance," Dixon added.

But such expectations are not heralded by all as being in the best interests of such young children.

"Kids should be allowed to be kids, and part of being a child is not having to worry about being fed, or making your own way to school. We have school buses and catering staff to cook for the kids in schools because the children's only priority at this age should be on learning and having fun in the classroom, not scrubbing dishes and cleaning toilets," said Julie Primrose, a mother of two from New Zealand living in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

"I'm pretty sure those parents who allow their children to go to school alone here would think differently if they lived overseas where things are unfamiliar, including the culture and the language," Primrose, who has lived in Tokyo for three years, told Xinhua.

"Likewise, as a foreigner here it's unthinkable to allow my 6 and 9 year old boys to travel to school alone, as if an accident were to happen on a busy road or if they were to get lost and catch the wrong train and end up somewhere unknown, it would be a disaster," she said.

But while cultural differences will always remain between Japan and the West, one thing is for certain, little Ando's daily commute and ability to survive the notorious Yamanote Line and labyrinth-like Shinjuku station is a testament to her tenacity and perhaps in a country where the crime rate is extraordinarily low and group culture is so deeply ingrained, were she ever to get lost or have trouble, she'd never truly be alone.