Is it socially acceptable...?

Hi! My name is Zac, and I moved to Japan 4 days ago for college. In America I worked with kids, and here I'm studying education to be a kindergarten teacher. The last few mornings, I've been going for walks in the park, and they've been kids, they all come up and say ohayō or they smile. So I was wondering if it'd be socially acceptable to pass out gar-gari kun popsicles or something. I know in America that would never fly, but I seem to be doing pretty well in the community. I've left a lot of stereotypical american thats at the door, so I'm not worried about those. I just want to do something nice so the people of the community see me as more approachable, not the media-gaijin. Do you think that'd be okay to do?

please don't do this.

Gari-Gari-kun in winter? It's too cold......

You better not to give any food to kids, they normally don't accept. If you do, you can be a stranger and reported to the police. Send them back a big smile with Ohayo and konichiwa.

Giving out food like that would pretty much be the same as giving out food here in America, a big no no.

Just be polite and nice to the people in your community, that helps break enough barriers.

I agree with what everyone else said - stop acting like you're in a zoo or something. Children get candy from their parents, not from some stranger in the park.

If you're young and hoping to be a kindergarten teacher, show them how to play with natural material in the park instead of giving them food, for goodness sake. Use leaves and things.

My college professor once said, why do we learn math? Because there is more than one way to get the answer.

Having said that, you have good attention but there is another way to go about it. May be when you are out shopping and you see kids buying candy or snack you can tell the store clerk you'll pay for their candy or snack.

See, you can apply math to real world problem.

May be when you are out shopping and you see kids buying candy or snack you can tell the store clerk you'll pay for their candy or snack.

No! Please don't do that! Like the other poster said, kids are supposed to have candy and do their shopping under the supervision of their parents! They're not your younger colleagues from work!

I am very amused by all the strong reactions. Japan is really stuck-up for some matters (and, yes, America too).

Haha japan and America are stuck up because of this? Well then add nz to the stuck up list because you can't do this here either. Yes for social reasons but also for health reasons. I would be very upset if I saw a young man approaching my child, let alone giving them sweets.

It has nothing to do with being stuck up; it is all about protecting your child from possible predators.

I teach my kid not to accept ANYTHING from stranger..

let alone giving them sweets

Or buying them too. We should be teaching our children how to use money properly, at least until they learn!

Allergies are a potential issue- you have no way of knowing if a child has a potential life-threatening allergy to dairy or eggs for example. Many parents also try to avoid giving too much sugar to their children for obvious reasons.

As the parent of a preschool age child myself I totally agree with most of the posters above- do not give snacks to children without checking with their parents first.

Popsicles would be a particularly terrible choice in any case- A, it's winter as others have mentioned, and B, small children tend to make a terrible mess eating things like popsicles, even at this time of the year it would mean massively sticky hands and faces and possibly a change of clothes needed :-/

If you want to work with children, preschools and kindergartens in Japan often have or want to have English classes once or twice a week (just things like singing, alphabet,counting, playing in English) and would probably be very happy to have a volunteer (or, if you get work permission, you could probably do it as a part time job). Your school should be able to help you with finding interested schools or work. With the kids in the neighborhood, just continue to smile and be friendly and let them approach if they want. Sadly, being a guy, you'll find many parents suspicious if you approach their kids especially if you start trying to buy them things.