We are a family of 4, two adults, and 10y & 13y old girls from New Zealand. This will be our first time in Japan and our first time travelling with our children. Pre children we’ve done a little travel with no cell phones & no google maps so hopefully some things will be a bit easier this time.
My kids will need a bit of downtime, and also we quite enjoy just wandering around looking at things rather than rushing too much from attraction to attraction.
We’ve booked accommodation at all the places below, more tricky than last time we travelled with trying to find rooms that sleep 4 (especially with booking.com saying lots of rooms with 2 single beds will fit 4 adults then giving no details of where the extra 2 people will sleep!). Trying to stick to the more budget end as flights over were qutie expensive.
31 march – fly to japan and arrive at Narita at 5pm, staying right next to suidobashi station
1 April
* \- asakusa old town and temple
* \-?somewhere to see blossoms/picnic lunch
* \-? Ueno park
* \-? Ameyoko shopping area
2 April – travel to Nara, 2 nights in guesthouse there
* \- see deer
* \- big buddha
* \- maybe do the train trip to Yoshino Mountain on the 3rd April
4 April – move to Osaka, 3 nights close to Nishikujo station
* \- visit aquarium
* \- dotonburi street
* \- maybe team lab or osaka castle
5th April
* \- universal studios
6th April
* \- Junie Moon, ? other shopping
* \- ? Pet cafe
* \- team lab or osaka castle if not done on the 4th
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6th or 7th – maybe change 1 of these nights to a Ryokan stay
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7th April – move to Kyoto, staying near higashiyama station for 3 nights
wanting to visit these things but haven’t decided on days
* \- Arishiayma bamboo forest, monkeys
* \- golden shrine
* \- fushimi inari shrine – keen to do this one earlier in the day and walk up at least part of the way
* \- see some of the other temples near to where we are staying
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10th April – travel to Nakatsugawa, aiming to get there later in the day, staying 2 nights in guesthouse
* 9th April – walk from Magome to Tsumago then train back to guesthouse
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10th April train back to Tokyo, staying in Shinjuku area for 4 nights
Wanting to do these but undecided re exact day or if will do all of them
* \- visit Blythe shops
* \- shopping for crafts (sewing, handicrafts), and stationary, fun foods to take home for friends.
* \- looking at shops in ikebukuro or akihabara(will be careful)
* \-Ghibli museum & Inokashira park zoo
* \-team labs planets
* \-pet cafe, maybe rabbit
* \-karaoke
* \-Harijuku- will try for Sunday visit & may want to visit junie moon again while there
* \- ?another shrine if girls enjoying them still
* \-? Art fish exhibit
16th move to Disney area hotel
* 17th & 18th Disneyland
* 19th Disney sea
30th – flying home in the evening
* Maybe just relaxing
* Maybe some last shopping and wandering
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Onsens – we’d like to try an onsen somewhere on our trip, maybe in Kyoto or Osaka or Nara. Are there any that are especially family friendly? We don’t want to change our schedule for a special onsen town as with 10 and 13y old girls they might decide later this is not an activity for them. Ideally somewhere with the option for a private family onsen too for if needed.
We’d really like to do the walk from Magome to Tsumago. We don’t have bears in NZ (or anything much to worry about in the bush!). I see the bear signs and the bells in the pictures. Is seeing bears there something that actually happens or to worry about? Hopefully if we are not too early others will already be on the trail too.
Disney – My girls have never been to any sort of amusement park so both the disney’s will be new to them. We’ll definitely have 1 day in each and have an extra day to spend in either but hard to choose which, would have loved a park hopper but I don’t want to hold off booking if this isn’t available when the tickets go on sale. Am thinking probably an extra day at regular disney but keen for others opinions?
Credit cards – I’ve seen a few issues with using credit cards mentioned here. Anyone with a NZ visa card been recently? was it OK? Do we need to get another sort too?
My girls love blythe dolls and we’ll go to Junie Moon (probably a couple or all of them). I saw something about some blyte things at kiddyland so maybe there too, or maybe the mandrake second hand shops. Any other blythe fans have any suggestions?
Also keen on craft shop suggestions, we like sewing (clothing, and most other sewing), felt handcrafts, embroidery, and enjoy most crafts we come across.
Food – usually we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. My mum (who went on a tour quite a few years ago) said she found that it was difficult to get fresh fruit or meals with enough veggies. I’m keen for any tips to help with this as I don’t think we’ll feel good if mostly just eating carbs and protein. Any good supermarkets for bags of apples/mandarins etc that aren’t too far out of the way?
Train station stamps, is an A5 about the right size for these? or A6 OK?
Thanks for any tips/suggestions!
1 comment
> 1 April
That day is a Saturday during spring break, so Ueno Park will be extremely crowded with cherry blossom-viewing visitors. The museum and Sky Tree will also be crowded. Therefore, it is better to skip these places. Sensoji Temple, Nakamise and Ameyoko are also crowded, but not as bad as Ueno Park. If you want to see cherry blossoms with a picnic, Koishikawa Korakuen or Shinjuku Gyoen are good places. You need to pay an admission fee, so it is not so crowded. This day can also be used as a day to wander around the neighborhood or shopping. You can buy a variety of confectionery for yourselves at Ameyoko and try them out. If you find something good, you can go back one more time to buy it before you leave Japan. Other potential towns besides Akihabara and Harajuku would be [Kagurazaka](https://matcha-jp.com/en/204) or [Daikanyama](https://www.gotokyo.org/en/destinations/western-tokyo/daikanyama/index.html).
> Any good supermarkets for bags of apples/mandarins etc that aren’t too far out of the way?
This is only in Tokyo, but in recent years, “My Basket” small supermarkets, roughly the same size as convenience stores, have been opening every few hundred meters in Tokyo. Fruits can also be bought there; they can be paid for with Suica or Pasmo.
Search results in Shinjuku Ward
https://goo.gl/maps/UDniha6xG7uTTFZb9