Now, I don't have personal pictures of Japanese children’s uniforms, so I'll upload some recent pictures. What I'll like to encourage you to do if time allows is to pull up Google Maps and find some of these places I've uploaded as you read through. Extra points if you can find the places I got lost in! Without further ado...
In Japan, kids are allowed to be on their own. Kids are often seen in the mornings and afternoons walking on their own to and from school. Even on trains, they're often seen without adults accompanying them. I personally have a Japanese friend who, when she was younger, lived 2 hours away from her elementary and middle school. As a kid, she would travel 2 hours alone on the train every day to and from school!
By contrast, in America, kids are almost always accompanied by their parents. In Japan, kids are mostly allowed to roam the cities and streets by themselves, but in America, we don't allow that because it's unsafe. In Japan, they encourage this to build independence and knowledge of the environments around you. As an American, it's so strange. We feel unsafe and worried for our kids to be left alone but we have to remember that Japan is a high-trust society.
