Active travel to school, such as walking and cycling, has been identified as an important source of physical activity in children. Many developed countries, including some cities, are now promoting walking to school as a way to increase physical activity, aiming to solve the childhood obesity problem
In most of the urban areas throughout Japan, children in elementary and junior high school who attend public schools walk to school every day from their home, instead of parents driving them or using buses or other transport. Although there is no national policy to promote walking to school in Japan but it’s a common practice for each board of education if the school is located within a certain distance of the student’s home
It is likely that this walk-to-school practice has shown some positive outcomes for children in terms of level of physical activity over a long period of time, as Japan has one of the lowest prevalence of childhood obesity in the world .Such an experience could be useful for many governments worldwide to promote physical activity as a way to tackle childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity is a serious public health issue worldwide, and its prevalence has increased at an alarming rate the number of overweight children younger than 5 years is estimated to be more than 43 million worldwide. From the trend showed that the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing in almost all developed countries.