First Errand
99% Invisible30 Aug 2022

First Errand

Back in March, Netflix picked up a long running Japanese TV program based on a children’s book from the 1970s. The show is called Old Enough, but the name of the original Japanese program translates to My First Errand. Because in each episode, a child runs an errand for the very first time. Episodes are only 10 to 20 minutes long, but in that short time a toddler treats the audience to a bite-sized hero's journey.

My First Errand is a gimmicky show with hokey music and a laugh track, but it’s also rooted in a truth about Japanese society: most children are remarkably independent from a very young age -- way more independent than children in the US. In Japanese cities, fifth-graders make 85 percent of their weekday trips without a parent. And this remarkable child mobility is made possible by everything from the neighbors next door to the width of the streets.

First Errand

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(784)

All Rings Considered

All Rings Considered

Before we turned our phones to silent or vibrate, there was a time when everyone had ringtones -- when the song your phone played really said something about you. These simple, 15 second melodies were...

28 Aug 201936min

Peace Lines

Peace Lines

There are many walls in Belfast which physically separate Protestant neighborhoods from Catholic ones. Some are fences that you can see through, while others are made of bricks and steel. Many have cl...

21 Aug 201935min

Model City

Model City

During the depths of the Depression in the late 1930s, 300 craftspeople came together for two years to build an enormous scale model of the City of San Francisco. This Works Progress Administration (W...

13 Aug 20191h 1min

On Beeing

On Beeing

Farmers have known for centuries that putting a hive of honeybees in an orchard results in more blossoms becoming cherries, almonds, apples and the like.  Yet it’s only in the last 30 years that polli...

6 Aug 201924min

He's Still Neutral

He's Still Neutral

When confronted with trash piling up on a median in front of their home in Oakland, Dan and Lu Stevenson decided to try something unusual: they would install a statue of the Buddha to watch over the p...

31 Juli 201932min

Invisible Women

Invisible Women

Men are often the default subjects of design, which can have a huge impact on big and critical aspects of everyday life. Caroline Criado Perez is the author of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World De...

23 Juli 201927min

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Twine

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Twine

Vivian Le is on a mission that requires equal parts science, philosophy, and daring, in search of something that’s been hotly contested for decades: the world's largest ball of twine. Goodness Graciou...

17 Juli 201941min

Built on Sand

Built on Sand

Sand is so tiny and ubiquitous that it's easy to take for granted. But in his book The World in a Grain, author Vince Beiser traces the history of sand, exploring how it fundamentally shaped the world...

9 Juli 201936min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-jossan-nina
svd-tech-brief
rss-borsens-finest
uppgang-och-fall
avanzapodden
rss-svart-marknad
borsmorgon
bathina-en-podcast
fill-or-kill
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
rss-dagen-med-di
24fragor
lastbilspodden
tabberaset
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
rss-den-nya-ekonomin