Little Hiroki is two years and nine months old and is on a trip to the supermarket. On his own.
He has a busy road to cross and his mother checks he knows what to do if he sees a car coming: he instantly waves a small yellow flag which will, hopefully, help a driver see him.
‘He’s definitely responsive,’ says the narrator of the reality show Old Enough with approval.
But will it be enough? Will the toddler safely negotiate the road? Will he come back with all the items he’s been asked to buy?
Indeed, will he come back at all?
Hiroki is one of the stars of a Japanese TV series that has provided Netflix with its latest, unlikeliest hit.
Old Enough has a simple but daunting premise. A very young child is sent on an errand, such as buying groceries or taking public transport, and secretly filmed every — sometimes hesitant, sometimes confident — step of the way.
The children, aged between two and five, are stealthily shadowed by a production team (their cameras disguised as bags and suitcases) who, the viewer assumes, will step in the moment anything goes awry.
Neighbours are primed not to rush to call the police if they spot the solo bambino and the children themselves have obviously been carefully prepped on what to do. In short, they are set up to succeed.
Old Enough, on Netflix, sees a very young child is sent on an errand and secretly filmed every — sometimes hesitant, sometimes confident — step of the way
The children are filmed undertaking errands such as buying groceries in a shop and taking public transport
Even so, as a father of three, I found the sight of Hiroki tottering along the pavement, separated from passing lorries on a dual carriageway by a concrete barrier so low even he could step over it, a little disconcerting.
For any parent schooled to believe that without constant vigilance, inevitable doom is only seconds away, it’s probably enough to induce palpitations.
While it was impossible not to be impressed by Hiroki’s performance in the supermarket — spoiler alert: he remembers to buy the fishcakes and flowers and goes back for the curry after realising he’s forgotten it — viewers of a nervous disposition may want to dispense with his journey home.
Old Enough is a heavily edited version of a hugely popular Japanese TV show, Hajimete no Otsukai (My First Errand) that has been running for the past 30 years and, astonishingly, is watched by a fifth of the Japanese TV audience.
Hiroki seems to take it all in his stride but other children need more than a helping hand — or just plain refuse to play reality TV ball.
One little girl gets lost, running back to her mother in tears before being persuaded to have another go.
The children are clearly chosen for their precociousness, but the challenges are often truly daunting.
In one episode, three-year-old Ritsuki has to take the bus home from his father’s hair salon, fetch dad’s jacket, then bring it back on another bus.
Despite being a shy child who cannot read the bus destinations, Kitsuki manages to work out for himself — by asking the driver — that his hopeless father got it wrong and that the first bus to arrive is not his.
Still, he doesn’t look like he’s particularly enjoying his first experience of solo public transport. ‘Were you scared,?’ asks his father. ‘Yes.’ ‘Were you lonely?’ ‘Yes.’
And, aged three, who wouldn’t have been? But then Japanese reality TV does have a reputation for sadistic, near-the-knuckle stunts.
In one infamous 1990s ‘torture show’ called Susunu! Denpa Shonen, contestants faced starvation and sexual assault.
For all its cheery music, canned laughter and endless, reassuring shots of hovering undercover cameramen (although the children clearly don’t recognise them as such), there is a slight vein of cruelty to Old
