I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.

Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.

edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.

  • @Lauchs
    link
    81 year ago

    Hadn’t thought about the trickiness the other way. Before I visit I will definitely spend some time googling how to poop in Japan.

    • @fireweed
      link
      81 year ago

      Most bathrooms in Japan have either western style toilets or a choice of both, especially in urban areas. But better to not be caught unawares.