There's a TV show in Japan
that has run for over 30 years.
The premise: a parent sends
their two or three-year-old child
on an errand. Alone.
To the store. To buy tofu.
Across actual streets.
A camera crew follows secretly,
hidden, never helping,
as a tiny human in a backpack
completes a task most countries
wouldn't let a child attempt.
The kid cries. The kid forgets.
The kid gets distracted by a dog.
And then the kid comes home,
holding the tofu, glowing.
It's the most-watched thing
of its kind in the country.
Americans who discover it
cannot believe it's legal.
In Japan, we cannot believe
it's remarkable.