[1] in the usual sense of the phrase, not the historical one recorded in some dictionaries
The three obvious answers are crime, perception of crime (even though crime is going down, perception of crime is going up) and perception of the subway (is it a transport method for everyone or just for poor people and low-lifes).
Going one level deeper, you arrive at the media, poorly-handled immigration and failure in law-enforcement as main sources.
The worst thing that happened to me was I got my finger bit by a rabbit at the zoo.
I'm not afraid of other adults kidnapping my child. But I am afraid of other adults running her over. The Scientologists have been successful in popularizing their doctrine of "children are adults in small bodies" and so people will blame my child and possibly me if someone speeds through and kills her.
Consumer motor vehicles nowadays can do 0-60 in 3 seconds. The guy behind this extreme-performance motor isn't Ken Block. It's a sleep-deprived mother checking her phone.
> [1] in the usual sense of the phrase, not the historical one recorded in some dictionaries
Wait, are you calling the correct usage here historical despite it still being frequently used in contemporary times, and advocating that the incorrect usage should be normalized?
Since 1972, Americans' trust in each other has fallen by half[1]. Pew Research has been showing how trust in all forms has been plummeting for a long time[2]. Of course trust in Government nose-dived in the 60's and 70's. In 1976, the movie Network! satirized "The News" as a force of corrupt capitalist enterprise meant to sensationalize rather than inform.
But none of this is new. In the 1890s, William Randolph Hearst waged a "media war" of propaganda at an unprecedented scale, intended to both dominate an industry, and turn popular opinion. He coined the phrase "if it bleeds, it leads" [3]. And well before then, newspapers have been used locally and nationally to push agendas, frighten, lie, exaggerate, and taunt the public into a submissive frenzy.
Today we have media juggernauts that wield a massive pulpit with brazenly political spin. They can lie, intimidate, insinuate, and generally bombard an already terrified public into believing just about anything. And the political fringe weaponizes it into not just political action, but also inspiring real violence and oppression at all levels of society. We allow it because it's good politics, it's good business, and, well, that whole freedom of speech thing.
But politics is a small part of the story. The media controls the narrative, and society is nothing but the accumulation of stories. Everything we consume is delivered to us through the media in one form or another, and all that accumulated payment funds the machine.
Society in America is big business. Most countries can't hold a candle to the control our media wields over our populace. Its tendrils seek out every eyeball and ear, pumping us full of fear and elation, followed by the next commercial break. Our culture is a media product. We wouldn't know what to do without it.
So, why do we fear our kids on the train, where other places don't? We're way better at packaging fear, and we're damn good consumers.
[1] https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/ [2] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/07/22/trust-and-di... [3] https://pepperdine-graphic.com/opinion-if-it-bleeds-it-leads...
> “Our job is to prepare them to enter society” by teaching them to collaborate, take initiative and treat everyone equally. He calls it hito-zukuri, the art of making people.
> The education ministry’s slogan is chi-toku-tai: a blend of chi (academic ability), toku (moral integrity), and tai (physical health). This means lots of sports and arts. It also means that teachers praise effort, rather than achievement. Studies suggest this is an excellent idea: it makes children more resilient, notes Jennifer Lansford of Duke University.
I actually think there is something to this. I struggled a lot in school with depression and behavioral problems - and drugs when I got a bit older - and it wasn't until I finally went off to college and gained some autonomy and was really challenged for the first time that I snapped out of it. With my kids I feel like I can already see that internal drive that I didn't develop until I was 18.
Not all perfect, of course. But in general I like what I see.
In US kids used to also do just that, about half a century ago now. And walk to school in many places until the 80s and 90s.
It has a decent medical system to preempt or treat psychiatric symptoms.
And it has federal level construction laws to allow housing to be built anywhere. So look up "cheapest housing in tokyo" where you can rent a tiny place for $100/month.
Japan has smartly designed and compassionate infrastructure. It's not just "culture"
Where do you think the "smartly" and "compassionate" part of the designs comes from, is approved, funded, and appreciated - if not "culture"?
The zoning is the key to the fact that there’s plenty of construction but they also have a declining population, so that helps.
Except for the justice system.
Yes, absolutely!
> to preempt or treat psychiatric symptoms.
Uh, no. They just medicate people to death or keep them off the streets if they can’t.
I suppose this may be better than the US, but that’s a pretty low standard.
Yeah, to become _safer_. Todays big cities are considerably safer than they were when you or I were allowed to roam free.
I grew up in New Orleans and I was shot at more than once. I was mugged as a kid. I had my bike stolen more than once. New Orleans was (and still is, for the most part) full of homeless people, including aggressive gutter punks.
You're letting your nostalgia cloud your view of how dangerous America used to be, especially in comparison to now.
The craziness and restrictiveness of their expectations of others is directly proportional to their overall high standard of living. If they are complaining about kids on subways, its because everything else in their lives is already awesome.
I think it's on Netflix in most countries.
In it kids, usually 3-6 years old, are sent alone on errands like buying groceries or picking up stuff. They're followed by camera crew with hidden cameras who only interfere if the kids are _actually_ in danger (never happened in the episodes I saw).
The parents are a bit worried usually, but not scared to death like an American parent would be if they had to send a 5yo to the closest store - which most likely is not accessible without a car anyway...
There’s attendants at every station, so if they get off at the wrong place they can always find someone to help.
The child (most of them anyhow) will have a transport card with them registered to the parents address/phone number, so even if they lose their mind staff will be able to contact the parents.
Why don’t small kids in other western countries ride the subway alone?
We lived on a mountain, the first time I walked to the top I was 6. My fellow hikers were 6 and 7.
To describe it as a different time is massive understatement. My own kids were teenagers before they walked to the corner store without an adult.
There is a perception that suburb living is more dangerous now. But I think perhaps the real issue us that as parents we were much more involved with the kids, which in turn made them less self-reliant. I would not gave dreamed of letting my young kids loose on the bus system, and I suspect they didn't have the upbringing to handle it.
My parents trusted us enough to "figure out our way home". And we did. (Notably well before phones obviously.) I'm not sure I was confident enough that my own kids would do likewise .
Now its an expectation that parents are monitoring their kids 24/7 and driving them around to a range of activities all day.
> Im not sure I was confident enough that my own kids would do likewise.
> But I think perhaps the real issue us that as parents we were much more involved with the kids, which in turn made them less self-reliant.
Sorry for taking your quotes a bit out of order. But I'm trying to put together an idea of how to raise my own kids, which are still under 5. I am absolutely trying to be a part of their life, but at the same time try and encourage self reliance in certain ways. Despite having a car to drive them everywhere, I try and make a lot of trips on public transit/walking/biking. I point out how to know what bus we're on. I point out how the train platforms work. I try and show them how to interact with the world. Do you think if you would have done things differently it would have led to the same outcome?
Not critiquing your own parenting style or whatever. Just trying to see if this is just something I should end up expecting or if it's something I might be able to do something differently.
Personally I'd love it if they managed to get to the library and home on their own at 13 by public transit. And to a certain extent I don't think that's a big expectation; it's a single bus transfer from a stop right outside our front door.
There was recently a story in the US about how a parent was arrested for letting their 11-year-old son walk down the street to a store by themselves.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-moms-arrest-puts-free-rang...
Let's hear it for strong public prosecutors
Let me guess, you're a conservative who thinks being "tough on crime" is the answer to crime, and being tougher will make us safer.
My dude, Japan isn't particularly tough on crime. It's certainly softer on crime than the US in most ways. In other ways it's tougher on crime that Americans (and especially conservatives) wouldn't accept. For example, they've taken a hard stance on financial crimes, to combat the yakuza. If you're associated with the yakuza they'll cut you off from the finance system. This includes entire businesses. You don't even have to be convicted. A lot of the murder rate in the US is driven by drugs, and that drug money is flowing to legitimate businesses and political contributions.
The reason for the lack of crime in Japan is obviously up for debate, but it's obviously partially social, and also heavily financial. There's less extreme poverty, there's (very cheap) universal healthcare, healthcare for children is free till they're 18, child care is subsidized (and now free for all in Tokyo), transportation is extremely cheap, rent is affordable, food is relative inexpensive, etc.
Poverty levels are way more associated with crime levels than toughness on crime.
