Two adults, a 2 year old and a 4 year old.
April 18 – May 3. Husband and I had gone to Japan in 2019, was interesting to see how it has changed since! Even though we did some of the same things, it was a completely different trip with the kids and post Covid. Brought our own portable wifi and plan.
2 women’s plus size stores mentioned! (Supure and punyus)
4/18 – Arrived at Narita airport around 4:30pm, customs was slow but we got through around 6:30, got a suica card easily and took Kesei skyliner. got to Nishinippori station around 8pm.
4/19 – Sensoji temple, surrounding areas. Asakusa Kegetsudo for melonpan, was so good, suzukien asakusa for matcha gelato – there was a really long queue compared to 2019, so it must be more popular now. overall I didn’t think it was worth it this time after the long wait. Lunch at Katsuya – we stumbled on this random spot near Senso-ji temple, it was small but they were friendly to us and our kids. We got three trays, with rice katsu cabbage and soup, for a total of 2600 yen, very good price
4/20 – Tokyo toy museum (worth the visit), sunshine city mall – stopped in supure and loved it, a bit pricey but I was happy with my purchase. I am a 2 at Torrid, I needed a 4 in supure.
4/21 – Team labs planets (an absolute fave experience for all) and Lego land (extremely disappointed, maybe it’s my children’s age group but didn’t seem worth the time or money) explored nearby aqua city, seemed like a better spot to have spent time. I did a solo venture out, did a sento called Saito-yu which had 0 other tourists, was friendly for tattoos. And overall happy I went (very outside of my comfort zone)
4/22 – Takeshita street, slice of life bbq (so worth the walk and money) stopped in punyus and was disappointed overall. It wasn’t even trendy clothes, just a bit ugly. I got one shirt with fruit all over it, in a 4, fabric is very stiff, it shrunk in the wash so it doesn’t even work well for a sleep shirt. Sad.
4/23 – Disneyland – chaos, didn’t get through half of the park, very repetitive snacks, was hard to know what direction to start in, overall kids had a blast
4/24 – Akihabara, stopping at Taito station and don q is my fave! I went out quickly after to a store called “lemon” by Nippori station, they had so many cute kids clothes, I spent way too much!
4/25 – Tokyo to Kyoto, explored Aeon mall near Kyoto bus station, there was a grocery store so we stocked up, some of the most incredible strawberries I’ve ever had! quite close to our Airbnb as well.
4/26 – we booked a photoshoot on viator, chose to do this in Chishaku-in Temple at 9am, very happy with location as it was quiet, empty, and beautiful! Followed by Nishiki Market, and I went into my only fragrance to make my own perfume (citrus, sandalwood, and vanilla) loved it and so happy with the experience (though a tad expensive, 8500 yen)
4/27 – Day trip to Osaka, Tennoji zoo (kids loved it), Shinsekai (across from the zoo), round1 and Dotonbori, I completely agree with others that Dotonbori food quality has gone down hill, and it was extremely crowded, granted we went at 7:30pm. We got the famous melonpan, we had this in 2019 and could not stop talking about how excited we were for it again on this trip, what poor poor quality it has gone down to. It was served warm with soft serve ice cream before, this time it was basically stale, with a brick of hard ice cream. So sad. The skewers seemed over priced and just not good. Wouldn’t go back.
4/28 – small trip to Nara, unfortunately we had a late start to our day, made it to the deer park at noon, it was packed, the deer were not interested in anyone, didn’t eat any crackers, kids were disappointed. I was disappointed. Not one deer bowed. Another example of an over tourist spot. Finished back at Nishiki Market
4/29 – booked a car day tour on Viator, so happy we did this. For 42000 yen, it allowed us to squeeze a bunch of things in! Fushimi Inari, Kōmyō-in zen Temple, Sanjusangendo Temple with 1000 statues, Okazaki-jinja rabbit Shrine, Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, and an Italian pizzeria (Lugra, chef is from Italy!) in Arashiyama! The pizza was incredible, though perhaps considered sinister to get Italian pizza in Japan….
4/30 – Kyoto Aquarium (extremely disappointed for the cost of this vs how small it is) before our train back to Tokyo.
5/1 – last full day in Tokyo, my husband and I split up as the kids were grumpy and it was pouring rain all day. I did sunshine city again (I loved supure), and my husband went out to Nakano broadway, very over priced, he found a store that had a bunch of plates and dishes, he grabbed a few fun ones.
5/2 – Tokyo to Airport, terminal 1, tons of last minute shopping to keep us busy while we waited for our flight
There were other stores and things we went into along the way not mentioned, overall it was a great trip, some days a little packed, kids were sometimes cranky. We brought a small stroller mainly for my 2 year old, and carried a baby carrier with us, so we could switch the 2 year old and let 4 year old sit in stroller. Was necessary for us, happy it all worked out! We found an elevator at most of the stations, we sometimes used an escalator to skip the elevator lines, there were 2 stations (can’t remember the names) the entire trip that we had no choice but to carry the stroller up and down the stairs, overall fairly stroller accessible compared to what I had heard before. We lived off 7/11 and family mart for most breakfasts and snacks, kids LOVED it. They were happy to be on an escalator and use an elevator, so don’t worry about keeping them happy with only “kids” activities all day long. Feel free to ask any questions!
*added* I brought some maple treats with us to Japan, and this felt like a wonderful gesture to share with our Airbnb hosts, photographer, and strangers we met! My daughter (2) is quite the charmer and she would wave and get strangers attention on the train, she received a paper crane from a local and treats from another tourist (Holland), and I didn’t have those treats on me in that moment but I would have shared too if I had them! A small gesture to offer can go so far!
by Migessa