Why are little kids in Japan so independent? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#121

Post by abandonliberty » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:43 PM UTC

saosebastiao wrote: post #28

I would love to be able to do this with my 3yo son...but there are two things stopping me: Cars and helicopter parent culture. Cars, and the entitled culture we have fostered around them, make streets hostile to pedestrians and likely fatal to small children, even if children followed the laws and common sense. I experience it practically daily. Every time I cross the street at a marked intersection, cars will stop f…

In my experience an extremely small proportion of people are aware of unmarked intersections. Even if it's law, we don't teach it to people.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#122

Post by abandonliberty » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:48 PM UTC

uniclaude wrote: post #93

joseph wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this before and I have to wonder, do stop signs also seem insane to you? Because right on red is no different. You stop, look both ways, and go if it's safe to do so.

This is not how American drivers deal with it. When they don't see an immediate risk of hitting someone, most don't bother stopping at red lights when they want to turn right on red, which is not the case with stops.

A red light means the same thing as a stop sign in this case. I would expect people to treat them equally.

I'm sure in both cases the traffic ticket would be the same - failure to stop.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#123

Post by Symbiote » Sun, Oct 04, 2015, 8:42 AM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #103

Nadya wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree entirely, I also have an issue with "yield on green". Green means "go" at 99% of the lights I run into. Then there's that one left turn I make that's "yield on green" and I'm not supposed to turn. I'm not surprised at all that the intersection has the most accidents annually. I don't think many people are used to yield-on-green lights... so many T-bones its amazing they haven't changed the traffic flow.

They have that here in The Netherlands for bikes: both the cyclist and the driver get green, but the driver must yield to the cyclist (yield to the right). Countless times I've been almost hit and then screamed at by clueless drivers.

Same in Denmark, but I've not yet seen a near miss.

In the UK, when the pedestrian has a green man all road traffic has a red light, without exception. (Same for cycle paths crossing roads, but they're rare.)

I'd guess foreign drivers would get this wrong in NL, DK etc. Turning right and thinking "the pedestrian has seen me, I have a green light, they will wait" when the pedestrian is thinking "they've seen me, I have green, I can cross".

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#124

Post by eru » Sun, Oct 04, 2015, 11:20 AM UTC

interpol_p wrote: post #97

> A popular television show called Hajimete no Otsukai, or My First Errand, features children as young as two or three being sent out to do a task for their family. I want to try this with my 3 year old. Find a very large park which has a canteen or shop at one end and send him off to buy something. I'd still like him to be visible, but it seems like it would be really fun and empowering.

Keep us posted on your endeavour!

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#125

Post by 6t6t6 » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 1:13 AM UTC

Camillo wrote: post #72

saosebastiao wrote: post #28

I would love to be able to do this with my 3yo son...but there are two things stopping me: Cars and helicopter parent culture. Cars, and the entitled culture we have fostered around them, make streets hostile to pedestrians and likely fatal to small children, even if children followed the laws and common sense. I experience it practically daily. Every time I cross the street at a marked intersection, cars will stop f…

As a foreigner, "right on red" seems insane to me.

Right on red is OK. What is crazy is the lack of roundabouts.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#126

Post by 6t6t6 » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 1:23 AM UTC

lovemenot wrote: post #76

bsder wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Japan, every apartment building of size has maintenance people who stay several years and know all the children in the neighborhood, and recognize strangers. Every supermarket has parking attendants. Every construction site has "guards" to make sure people cross the area safely. Every train station has staff around. It is difficult to have this when a man interacting with a small child is at risk of being accuse…

I fully agree agree. The most shameful moment I experienced in England, when I lived there with my small children whom we'd previously raised in Japan, was when I was asked by a concerned parent whether I had a permit to be in a place where children were present. Apparently all of those other parents had already applied to the government and been vetted to be in a play room attached to a public library. That was when…

I am a Spaniard who lived in UK and I feel that this is the most sick aspect of British society. For them, every single man is a monster that will molest children if he has the opportunity.

Things like sitting on a bench to read next to the children's playground, or crossing a park next to them, can put you in trouble.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#127

Post by scott_karana » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 9:43 PM UTC

Camillo wrote: post #119

slavik81 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no need for guesswork. The person with the red light yields to everyone.

He has to notice them first. With a normal red light, the car doesn't move, period.

> He has to notice them first.

...which is exactly the same as a stop sign, too.

If your hypothetical stationary driver cannot see oncoming traffic either at a stop sign or stop light, your driver can't drive correctly.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#128

Post by kuschku » Sat, Oct 10, 2015, 11:38 PM UTC

dba7dba wrote: post #98

jzwinck wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you put too much blame on car culture you should know a few things about Japan. First, cars are cheap, and lots of people drive. However, lots of the same people also have a bicycle which they use for short trips including grocery shopping. People also walk. This means drivers have more empathy for people not in cars. Second, the speed limits are low. Some decent looking roads are 50 kph whereas in America the…

South Korea (especially Seoul) is a similar case. A high percentage of people you see in the Seoul subways actually own cars. Lots of office workers leave their sedans/suvs in the garages of their highrise apartment complexes on regular workdays. They usually walk/bus/subway to/from work. This is because of the crush of traffic at rush hour. You just end up stressed out if you try to drive around in Seoul at rush hou…

Similar situation in many German cities. Or, if you work in one suburb and live in another, you drive to work, but then whenever you go shopping or anything you walk/take bus/metro/etc.