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Only in Japan?

Old enough! (Japanese, since 1991)
Reality Show

For a long time, people in Japan have been in stitches periodically, seeing toddlers who are barely able to walk going off on a journey to perform their first chore. Children between two (yes, as early as two) to five are assigned by their parents, as planned by the documentary makers, to go out of their houses, out in the street to run a list of errands. 

It is thunderous to see these easily distractable cuties wobbling around with bags strapped over their shoulders, out in the streets, looking at buildings around them, reminding themselves how to get to their destinations. The camera crew who accompany them are not allowed to help them out. They act out as mere passers-by. Invariably, the children will end up completing their tasks. Besides seeing the kid's antics, viewers will also have a picturesque panoramic view of the landscape of different small towns in Japan.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, Home again, jiggety-jig.
The first thing that crosses a non-Japanese watching this show is that these things can only happen in Japan. Allowing a young child out in the street all alone to do stuff in the name of making them independent will only be done by the Japanese. Firstly, as I know, young kids do not learn academic things in the first years of their early education. Instead, they are taught skills. They learn about body hygiene, cleanliness, performing house chores, cleaning toilets, cutting vegetable etcetera.

Japan is a safe country. Children do not get kidnapped or harvested for body parts. The Japanese are world famous for their social courtesy, and their road manners are world envy. Their streets are well maintained, devoid of open manholes or potholes. There is ample space and clear demarcation for pedestrians to walk safely. Furthermore, their culture encourages independence. Elsewhere in the world, the police will zoom in, or their parents will be charged with child abandonment. 

(P.S. I had to go out to do shopping at the wet market when I was nine. I learnt the hard way, after an avalanche of earfuls, how to pick fresh fish at a bargain. I, however, never perfected the skill of getting a bargain. I found it too combative and was self-conscious to be mocked at my 'ridiculous' offers.)
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Location: Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan

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