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Japan’s Precious Children – By GEORGE BRAINE On a recent afternoon in Sapporo, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, I was walking past an elementary school. Lessons were over for the day, and little children were streaming out. Singly or in groups, talking and laughing, the children walked along the pavement on their way home, safe and happy. No parents had come to collect them, and no motorcycles, cars, school vans or buses were to be seen. Obviously, the concept of “langama pasala, hondama pasala” (the nearest school is the best school) was working in Japan. I recall a common sight in Sri Lanka. In most schools, even for older students, parents would be crowding the gate to pick up and escort their children home. Or, there would be school vans. In so called international schools, a long line of expensive cars would line up on the nearby road, to ...