In Japan, small children take the subway and run errands alone (2015)
&gt; Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone.<p>I grew up in a relatively high crime area but still walked to school and sometimes took public transport. The only thing that made it somewhat unsafe was the bullying by other school kids. Of course there is an overlap there as yesterday&#x27;s bullies are tomorrow&#x27;s criminals, but still it wasn&#x27;t enough to have parents escort me. Sometimes strangers intervened to save me from a few attacks by groups of older kids. So maybe there is an element there as well of people not minding asking kids what&#x27;s happening, why are they pushing this one kid to the ground.<p>Now living in US in a much safer area I would think very well before sending my kids to school by themselves at the age when I was going to school by myself. The reason is neighbors who could report me to the police for &quot;child endangerment or neglect&quot;. It happened to a co-worker. One of the neighbors reported them to the police while kids were playing out in the front by themselves. It issue was resolved but not without embarrassing calls to work and home visits.