I want to note that I was wondering if I was about to run into some cultural dissonance. One major cultural difference between Japan and the US is Japan does allow their kids a lot more freedom. It is very normal for a parent to let their kid go to school alone even as a first grader and have to navigate the Tokyo Subway system. Personally, I actually lean in favor of that view (or in another view, a return to more historical American norms where America also used to let kids go about the day with minimal supervision).
But a 4-hour bike trip as a 6 year old would have been a bit too much for me. So it's good to see it triggered a panic as I feel it should.
Edit: If I was in her shoes, which I can kinda relate (as in I remember as a 6 year old wanting to know things but can't but I was too young to be granted access or given serious answers), this is point I would get stuck. A lot thing I wanted to know had to wait until I was much older to be able to access things like city records or meeting someone who knows them as neighbors or something. Though the internet is a much bigger thing now, though she is probably not familiar with in either lives currently.
