The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may result in a greater decrease in visual acuity (VA) among Japanese children. Our study aimed to examine Japanese children’s VA during the pandemic. VA data were collected using standard eye tests during school health check-ups conducted in 2019 and 2020 on 5893 children, in seven public elementary schools and four public junior high schools in Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka. VA changes were statistically analyzed. The relationship between the survey year and poor VA yielded a significant regression coefficient for the surveyed years in elementary and junior high school students. The 2019 VA value and VA change from 2019 to 2020 demonstrated a significant regression coefficient in elementary school students with VAs of “B (0.7–0.9)” and “C (0.3–0.6)”, and junior high school students with VAs of “B”, “C”, and “D (<0.3)”. An analysis of the relationship between the survey year and eye laterality of VA yielded a significant regression coefficient in the surveyed years for elementary (OR, 1.516; 95% CI, 1.265–1.818) and junior high school students (OR, 1.423; 95% CI, 1.136–1.782). Lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 pandemic might have affected VA and eye laterality in Japanese children.

It has been noted that Japanese children sleep the least in the world, and this has become a major social issue. This study examined the pathways linked to sleep habits (SH) among children and adolescents. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in March 2019 on children and their parents at all 63 public elementary and 29 public junior high schools in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. For the analysis, 22,385 pairs of children–parent responses (valid response rate: 68.8%) with no missing data were used. This survey collected data on SH, physical activity (PA), screen time (ST) for the child, and lifestyle and neighborhood social capital (NSC) for the parents. Moreover, the pathways linking ‘NSC’ → ‘parental lifestyle’ → ‘child’s PA/ST’ →‘child’s SH’ were examined through structural equation modeling. The results indicated that children’s SH were affected by their PA and ST and influenced by the lifestyle of their parents and the NSC that surrounds them. Thus, we concluded that it is necessary to provide direct interventions and take additional measures with regard to parent lifestyle and their NSC to solve persistent sleep problems in children.

Evaluating how participating in various experiences affects young people is important to promote further participation in community practices. We examined the effects of participation on junior-high school students’ self-efficacy and motivation towards community-improvement activities: of 114 students from a junior high school (Study 1) and 10 voluntarily participated in a park-design project (Study 2). The experience of participation even in small-scaled contributed to increasing the self-efficacy of the participants and especially enhancing their motivation with regard to community empowerment.

This chapter examines the characters and key concepts in Lindgren’s Alla vi barn i Bullerbyn and Pippi Långstrump as they apply to contemporary Japanese society. Firstly, the Bullerbyn possessed by the Bullerby children is explained in terms of the children’s play shown on a fourth-generation playground map created in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. I considered characteristic play behaviours such as playing in bases, walking through catwalks, and creating parks with children’s participation. The second perspective is a commentary on the adults who surround and support children. Based on the results of a questionnaire survey, I analyse the childhoods of people who chose a job supporting children as adults, such as playworkers and staff of children’s canteen and children’s houses. As children, they played outside, ate nuts, and doodled on the street, and they also had a lot of interaction with their neighbours. For the children to play independently, community outreach was essential. A community playworker, known as an outdoor play promoter in Setagaya, influences the attitudes of adults around children. He of course encourages children’s independence and supports them to try things they have never done before, like Pippi. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->