On parade

Looks like Juvenile Arrest and Monitoring Facility.

Looks like a children's prison.

It kind of bugs me that every kid in every elementary school throughout the country look the same and are forced to march. Can there be such a thing as a unique experience?

Looks like a big bird cage,all the birds follwing each other with red hats incase they get lost....

Strange behaviour for a "peace " loving nation.

Did the photographer get permission to photograph these children? Seems a little creepy

Could have been a picture from North Korea

Most public schools in Tokyo look like this. A friend, who was a city official, told me that they only spend money on things that can bring money in, so public facilities always look like jails of some kind.

Agree that schools are all stamped from the same mold.

City-halls and other facilities like muncipial sports centres, etc can get quiet fancy and pleasant.

I agree with "thepro" that the photo is a bit odd. It would have been better to get permission and take the photo inside the fence so the mesh to keep basketballs or whatever inside the grounds don't look like a wall to keep the children in. I'm guessing that most of the comments here are from people from north America who are horrified by the idea of school uniforms. I don't see any harm in school kids marching. Frankly it would give them some sense of respect for their elders and for the concept of order. Kids where I live seem to have no respect for older people, no respect for the law of the country and perversely they seem to be angry with older people as a result.

I just find it strange that there is no grass in schools here. anywhere. But then again there is not grass in parks in Tokyo either...

thepro.

NO grass at school-grounds is easy explained as there are water storage tanks underneath that catch rain-water, etc.

Agreed most "Pocket-Parks" don't have grass either, but there are many bigger parks that have some great grass-fields.

Not sure what parks you visited, but Harajuku/Yoyogi, Shinjuku gyoen, Inokashira-koen, Koganei-koen( to name a few of the big ones) are very different.

The grounds seem to be on top of an elevated concrete platform.

I see nothing wrong with kids wearing uniforms, marching and being taught some discipline. Perhaps they are practicing for the annual sports meet.

it seems like those kids are on the grounds to practice for the annual undoukai (sports day). i agree with some of you that the japanese school system tends to be very uptight and strict. they should let the students have more freedom so that their everyday lives are less stressful.

alladin - Looks like a children's prison.

Have you been in a public junior high? Your description is not too far wrong.

I quite like the effect of the net. Amusing comments, everyone.

I'd rather have metal detectors at my school!

I agree with kisekicaroline. They are practicing for sports day. In fact the school just outside my north windows had their sports day today. Weirdly, the teachers here (way out on the Boso) are also wearing the same blue tee shirts. Must be the 2010 sports day staff uniform.

@the_harper A bit off topic but the difference in youth behavior problems might be because most North Americans never pick up their baby when it cries so the baby never develops lasting, trusting bonds with adults.

Anyone who thinks that the photo is "creepy" is a bit too obsessed with pedophilia. There are no recognizable faces and it is being used as editorial content.

These kids are just practicing for the biggest sport event of the year, thats it. And since this is in good old Japan-fashion its not an individual's event but a group-oriented one of course you need sports uniforms and different marks, red/white caps to clearly differenceate between them.

proxy, a lot of people are sensitive on privacy issues and it could well be that the photographer didn't have permission! How creepy is that? I mean, the shot very much says 'telephoto lens', doesn't it?

As for people not picking up their mothers, that just sounds like bunk. And have you met any Japanese people? There are plenty who are coddled and immature, the other end of the scale and a possible result of being too close to one's parents.

@saborichan It doesn't matter if it was shot with a spy satellite, there is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with this image.

Taking a picture of a child is not "creepy." Anyone who would have a privacy issue over this image had better buy a cabin in the mountains.

@saborichan And here is a link with information about brain damage caused by letting a baby cry it out.

http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/crying-it-out-causes-brain-damage.html

It's all about control.

It's the fact that the picture is possibly taken from outside school grounds that makes it an issue. I've been in enough schools to know some of their layouts. I'm not impugning the rights of photographers here. I'm just echoing comments that the persective is creepy. Look at the picture again. See those trees and power lines? They imply a road going beneath that school. Which in turn suggests the picture was taken from well outside the grounds. Maybe that's not true, maybe it's a perfectly legitimate picture. But it has the appearance of a creepy surreptitious photo.

True the photographer should have appraoched those in change of the school for a shot of the students. It could have been a "no" or "yes" though personally the ONLY photos taken in schools were a Classroom group & even then when the shutter was bout to be pressed I tended to turn my head.

As for school uniforms I am sure a lot of parents wished the same here in Canada, but then some are different.

In my days of elementay to High School there was NO GRASS. I often pass an elemetary school close to my home & both a elementary to high school often on the way home to get to the post-office. No grass there either for we have had quite a shortage of water for so many years & most of us must boil our water for home use.

saborichan You are making two assumptions; 1) the photographer was male 2) all men are pedophiles. Assumption 1 may be correct, assumption 2 os patently false. In Japan fathers tend to bath (naked) with their daughters until the onset of puberty and nobody thinks it is "creepy" because it is correctly assumed that at least 99.9 of men are not pedophiles.