Hello everyone! I got back from Japan just over a week ago and well it’s taken a bit of time to write up this report because traveling with a two-year-old is exhausting. It’s been awhile since we took a big trip with her and let me tell you, traveling with a fully mobile two-year-old is wayyy harder than with a partially mobile one-year-old. I know there are a lot of reports on here already so mine below is probably going to focus more on the toddler/child aspect; I hope this might be helpful to other parents preparing for their trip!
I also want to thank this sub for their feedback on my original itinerary. I ended up reworking my itinerary from what I planned (I had us originally ending in Okayama as well as staying a night in Nara on the way to Kyoto) and I think things went a lot smoother because of the changes!
**Osaka (1 Night)**
*General Impression:* Osaka was our first city and I liked it way more than I thought I would! We only stayed one night though and looking back, I would have maybe stayed longer and gone into the Osaka Castle as well as visit Team Labs.
*Accommodations:* We stayed at the Hotel Elcient Osaka Umeda. Location was excellent – very close to Osaka Station. The room was on the smaller side but that was fine for us for one night. Best part of the hotel was the free, on-site spa! We had been travelling for two days and it was a nice way to relax.
*Sites:*
* *Kids Plaza Osaka:* After all that travel, we decided to take it easy and give our toddler a chance to run around by going to the Kids Plaza Osaka. Highly recommend! Our daughter loved it and there was activities for kids of all ages. My only suggestion is if you have younger children, stay close as despite all the signs and announcements to not run, there are a lot of kids running around who will knock your kid over if you’re not careful.
* *Waterfront:* We kept it easy it later by walking down the waterfront. It’s a nice walk and there were a ton of food stands. No cherry blossoms unfortunately but still pleasant and relaxing, plus gave another opportunity for our toddler to get some of her energy out.
*Food:* For dinner, we went to a shopping area near Kids Plaza Osaka and got some delicious okonomiyaki from a little restaurant run by these two older women. We got a more traditional okonomiyaki with beef and then one with yakiudon – so good. I only slightly regret getting okonomiyaki and not something else because when we went to Okayama the next day, the majority of restaurants around us in Okayama were okonomiyaki restaurants.
**Okayama (2 Nights)**
*General Impression:* I enjoyed Okayama but I will say if you are going, be prepared that there is almost no English. Most menus are in Japanese only. We were able to make it work with Google Translate but there was one Izakaya menu that was extremely complicated and definitely gave Google Translate a run for its money (we ended up ordering the couple of food items that we could figure out what they were). Everyone was still very polite but just know that it will be more difficult with limited to no Japanese.
I also wish I had done more shopping here! The shopping areas were way less crowded than in Kyoto and they had some interesting shops I didn’t see later in the trip.
*Accommodations:* We stayed at the Grand Base Okayama Ekimae which did cause some travel struggles (which I’ll detail below), but the hotel itself was great in terms of location (just five minutes away from Okayama Station and close to a lot of food) and the room was a really good size for Japan. We had two double beds which meant we could switch off who got to sleep with the toddler at night. The room was definitely not soundproof by any means – you could hear a ton from both the street and within the hotel. It did have a nice cooking area and fridge which is great with kids. There was also no bathtub; our kid is fine with showers but I know that can be an issue with younger children.
*Sites:*
* *Korakuen Gardens:* The Korakuen Gardens were nice but I wasn’t blown away. Our daughter did like them a lot, especially getting to feed the koi fish and to navigate little bridges. I think the gardens are probably lovelier in other times of the year when more is in bloom.
* *Kurashiki District:* The Kurashiki District was definitely the highlight of the Okayama portion of our trip, even though it unfortunately rained almost the entire day. The historical district was beautiful and there were a lot of nice stores with local artisan products. The temple gives a nice view and is very peaceful. If you want a historical experience without the crowds, this would be my recommendation.
* *Momotaro Museum:* We went to the Momotaro Museum in the Kurashiki District mostly to get out of the rain but also because the area is a possible origin of the Momotaro story (though that is up for debate). This museum is more of an optical illusion museum than a Momotaro Museum I would say. I thought it was cute but our toddler *hated* it. It is small and tight and pretty dark and she doesn’t really enjoy dark places.
*Food:* The food was good here but we only had one great meal and that was in the Kurashiki District. As mentioned, it was raining and we found this cute place that did curry and desserts. The curry was amazing (especially on a rainy day) and the strawberry parfait we got our dessert was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. We did get some pretty tasty ramen from a place where you had to order through a vending machine which was a fun experience.
**Kyoto (6 Nights)**
*General Impression:* Overall, I enjoyed the Kyoto. However, people aren’t joking about how busy certain areas can get. I would compare areas like the Gion District, Fushimi Inari, and some of the shopping districts to Times Square level of busy which can come off as overwhelming (especially when you are with a young child). However, there are a lot of areas that are not busy at all that are just as beautiful and those were the parts I ended up liking most. We walked a lot instead of taking transit and I thought it was a great way to see more of the city.
*Accommodations:* In order to get more space for not a huge price, we ended up not staying in a super central location – we stayed at the Stay Sakura Kyoto Gyoen East near the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The location worked out for us! It was pretty close to several subway stations, including the one we needed to do the Kurama-Kibune hike. Plus because it’s a chain, you could drop off your bags at their Guest Centre near Kyoto Station and they delivered it up to your specific hotel.
The room was smaller than the one we had in Okayama but it still had enough space for all our bags. It had a really nice large bathroom – the tub even had a tv in it which let me tell you, our toddler loved.
*Sites:*
* *Komo River Walk:* One of the great things about our hotel was how close it was to the Komo River and the trails that run alongside it. The cherry blossoms were blooming when we were there and the river is a great place to view the cherry blossoms without all the crowds.
* *Fushimi Inari:* Like everyone said, get to Fushimi Inari early. It was already pretty busy when we got there at 8 but it was crazy when we left around 10. The first part of the Fushimi Inari hike is pretty accessible if you want to go with the stroller, but farther up, you will need to fold up your stroller or go back. I liked the hike but admittedly started to get annoyed with the number of people who expected you to stop so they could get their “perfect” picture without people in it; please don’t do this. It’s way too busy. There are definitely opportunities to get photos without people in it the further you go.
* *Miyako Odori Geisha Show:* Since we were coming in early April, I decided to take the opportunity to book tickets for one of the annual Miyako Odori shows and man did I get nervous closer to the show based on how our toddler was acting on this trip. I had booked seats in the upper balcony towards the doors in case we needed to get up and leave if she didn’t behave. It fortunately went super well! My toddler loved the show and was pretty quiet except for a few “wow”’s here and there (she was even quieter than an adult woman behind us who talked off and on throughout the show) until she fell asleep about halfway through.
* *Gion District:* I didn’t really enjoy the Gion District because of how crowded it was, especially after we had experienced the much more peaceful Kurashiki District. If you really want to see a geisha or a maiko, I would recommend either going to a show like we did or booking a tea ceremony.
* *Kurama to Kibune Hike:* On the Saturday, we did the Kurama to Kibune hike which was one of my favourite parts of the trip. Even the train ride was fantastic. I recommend starting in Kurama though you can go either way. For this hike, we left the stroller at home and just used the baby carrier. The toddler loved climbing the stairs all the way up. We were able to time the hike so she fell asleep on the way down; the hike down was pretty steep trail and I would not have been comfortable with her walking it. If you like hiking, this would be my recommendation.
* *Nara Park:* I was nervous going to Nara based on some of the descriptions of how aggressive the deer were; however, we ended up having no issues with the deer at all! They were mostly pretty chill and our toddler had a great time feeding one. The park is busy but not overwhelmingly so. We ended up hiking around a bit, including to the peak of the hill in the park where we got a nice view with some more deer. We had dinner there – as a fyi, peak hours for restaurants there seem to be around 1 to 3 but if you go closer to 5, the restaurants are for the most part chill.
* *Philosopher’s Path:* We did the Philosopher’s Path after our Arashiyama plans got derailed due to a freak coughing/puking incident in the morning with our toddler (she seemed okay after a long nap but we decided to stick with outdoor activities after just in case). The Philosopher’s Path is gorgeous and though it was raining, it almost added to the ambience as it caused the cherry blossom petals to softly fall throughout the walk. We got some of the nicest views of the city and there were not too many people. Plus, on our walk to the Path, we got to stop at the Bunny Shrine which was definitely a highlight for the toddler who loves bunnies.
* *Kyoto Railway Museum:* If you have young kids, the railway museum is an absolute must. I think this was the happiest our toddler was the entire trip. We even got a cute bento box in a Shinkansen box!
*Food:* Overall, food was great. Highlights were the best sushi of my life at a small restaurant north of our hotel and a ramen from a pretty no frills place north of the Philosopher’s Path.
**Travel Struggles**
* This wasn’t a struggle for us but I’d recommend **not** reserving the Haruka Limited Express tickets beforehand. We didn’t and not only did we easily buy tickets at the machine (in early April which is a pretty busy time) but we were also done with the machines way faster than others. People seemed to really struggle with trying to pull up their reservations.
* I’d highly recommend looking up online what the machine looks like to buy ICOCA cards – not every machine sells them. When we got into Kansai, we were pretty jet lagged and I ended up just buying the Haruka Limited Express tickets, figuring that I would just buy the card when we got into Osaka. But then we went out of the station in not the perfect way and there wasn’t an ICOCA card machine there either. We only ended up getting our ICOCA cards in Okayama when a) I looked up what to look for on the machine and b) it was less busy busy so we didn’t feel so overwhelmed.
* Give yourself more time the first time going into a busy subway station, especially in a larger city. It can be overwhelming figuring out where to go, especially as sometimes Google instructions only feel a certain level of helpful when you’re trying to navigate a station with a number of different lines and railways. You start to figure it out more as you go but man, our first trip through Osaka Station to go to Shin-Osaka was a lot – and it wasn’t even rush hour!
* When I was picking the hotel for Okayama, I found one that was close to the station, decently priced, and pretty big for Japan. Seemed perfect. The downside was that it had no luggage storage and it was self check-in (which I assumed to mean no luggage delivery). I wasn’t too worried as I saw there were luggage lockers in Okayama Station. However, while there are luggage lockers, if you have big bags like we did, it can be difficult to find lockers available that are big enough for your bags. It honestly felt like a wild goose chase at points and it took way too much time to find the right lockers. I’d only recommend going the locker approach if you have small- to medium-sized bags.
* I made another transit mistake while in Okayama when I didn’t buy the basic fare with our Shinkansen tickets, thinking we could tap our ICOCA cards. Nope, apparently not. I then had to wait in a long line to buy the basic fare option (they were fortunately able to remedy the mistake at the counter). Luckily since we had non-reserved tickets, we had flexibility for time to make the Shinkansen.
* If you’re not close to Kyoto Station and require a large taxi for your bags, give yourself a lot of time to get to the station – there aren’t always a lot of large taxis in that area available.
**Other Tips / Thoughts**
* If you are traveling with a toddler, expect things to take at least double the amount of time than they should. Even if your toddler is generally chill and well behaved — how your toddler acts at home isn’t necessarily indicative how they’ll act on vacation when their schedules are thrown off and they’re fully overstimulated. Things will only get worse if you try to keep them to a strict sightseeing schedule.
* As a lot of people pointed out beforehand, there are a lot of public bathrooms in Japan! However, I would also note, especially for women, that a lot of these bathrooms are porcelain holes in the ground; there were some bathrooms with a mix of both but people would wait in long lines to use the sit-down toilet. This wasn’t a big deal for me as I’m used to peeing outside from camping but if not, start preparing your squats! I would also note that many bathrooms don’t have soap so I’d recommend carrying hand sanitizer on you.
* For the Haruka Limited Express going back to Kansai, we bought the day before – it seems a lot of international flights go out in late morning/early afternoon and there are long waits for the machines to buy the tickets. If you want to avoid, buy the day ahead in the late afternoon.
* There are a decent amount of people who bike in Japan. However, there aren’t a lot of bike lanes and even where there are lanes, there isn’t a lot of comfort biking on the road. Which means people bike on the sidewalk so especially with a toddler who wants to walk, you need to keep an eye out.
* We had a small fold up stroller (fit as a carry-on on the plane) and I’d highly recommend something similar. Lots of smaller, narrow places and it was convenient to fold up and carry when an elevator wasn’t easily found or when eating in a small restaurant. Because of how light it was, it also made it easier to navigate around crowds. [This is the one](https://www.contoursbaby.com/product/contours-itsy-lightweight-stroller/) we used – only downside was that it doesn’t recline and it has a fairly small basket under.
* I got [this ride on suitcase](https://btoys.ca/products/gogo-ride-on-lolo-lb1759) for our toddler for traveling, thinking it would be a great way to bring our toddler through the airports. I do not recommend! It does not turn well and it’s a pain in the butt to carry around. Our toddler did love it but I’m thinking we’re going to keep that one at home moving forward.
* I’m not sure if I’d recommend it but if your toddler isn’t used to sleeping in a bed with you, maybe test run at home? Our first couple of nights involved our toddler deciding she needed to both sleep horizontally and not touch us – and if she did touch us, she started to kick… Not a super pleasant surprise.
* I actually liked going with the non-reserved seats on the Shinkansen trains and Haruka Limited Express coming back. It gave us more flexibility in timing (which we generally needed) and if your suitcases aren’t giant, it’s easy enough to fit in the space ahead of you. The flexibility especially helped when we were going to Kyoto when as noted, I messed up the tickets; the train was a lot busier in this instance but a man was nice enough to offer to switch seats with us so we could stay together. The flexibility also helped with the Haruka Limited Express when it took a lot longer to get a taxi than expected.
* I really liked the flavoured yogurt here for our daughter (and she did as well). It was a lot less sweet than North American varieties with huge chunks of fruit.
* Our daughter has pretty curly hair that tends to get frizzy and tangled at home in Canada. I packed detangling spray because of this — and didn’t use it once! I think the water in Japan is a lot softer than the water at home and our daughter’s curls never looked better!
* The convenience store coffee is actually pretty decent! It’s not the strongest but it also lacked a lot of the acidity that I don’t like about convenience coffee in North America. I will say that we always went for a large – which is about the size of a small to medium coffee in Canada.
* We ended up paying the few cents for plastic bags whenever they were available – the plastic bags make for easy garbage bags as many others have noted, there’s not a lot of public garbage in Japan.
* Our daughter’s Little People toys ended up being super useful – we brought a couple of Little People with two chairs and a table and they helped to entertain her when we had to wait for dinner (she was a big fan before we left so this might not work for every toddler). She was also a big fan of the reusable stickers when we were getting ready in the hotel but I have to admit, she got those stickers everywhere which was a bit annoying.
I hope this report is at least somewhat helpful for someone out there! And please go easy on me for the mistakes we made re: travel.
**Edit:** also I don’t know if it’s useful but I did most of the planning and booking for this trip in December and January for an early April trip; I used Booking.com for all hotels (with no issues). I ended up spending about $1500CAD for our accommodations in total. You do have to pay some extra tax for hotels in Kyoto but it wasn’t much.
by allycakes