Japan trip:
16 days
two week JR pass
30m 29f
First time in Japan
Hi all,
My wife and I have been going through the option of cancelling our Japan trip due to her pregnancy. She is still in an early stage but the nausea is quite intens.
We did a short New York trip (5 days) last week and that went pretty well, but we are a bit worried about Japan because of two reasons:
– the food: finding food that is allowed for pregnant women. In NY we ate pizza, burgers, fries, noodles with veggies.
How hard is that to find in Japan?
– crowds in cities and public transport: the nausea gets worse in crowds, e.g. in the subway.
Is it always crowded in public transport? Outside rush hours?
8 comments
Particularly in larger cities, there is a **huge** variety of food that pregnant women can eat, both western and otherwise.
After 10am and before 4pm, most trains will not be too crowded. There may be some exceptions, particularly on busy lines.
Burgers fries and noodle will be easy. Pizza and veggies will be a bit more challenging. Their pizza and pasta taste very differently than western counterpart. And for the love of God I couldn’t find food that has a lot of veggies.
For transport, after 9AM and before 4PM, it should be OK. Anything above 5PM usually will be very crowded even after 10PM (some sallarymen might go home early, others will stay at work or drinking till 9 then go home)
Real talk, would *you* want to go on a long international trip if you were feeling intensely nauseous all the time?
Pregnant and living in Japan. Should be easy enough to find food. The trains are a problem during peak hours. It was tough for my first trimester and sometimes I had to get off earlier just so I could breathe or cool down. I think it should be manageable but also plan for when it isn’t and be ready to cancel plans and go back to the hotel if you need to.
You’re going to have to define what “allowed for pregnant women” means to you— different cultures often have different recommendations for what pregnant women shouldn’t eat (not always based on credible research).
But if you’re looking for burgers, fries, pizza, veggies, and noodles, you’ll find those everywhere.
Subway crowds depend on the line, route, and time of day. Avoid rush hour if she wants to avoid crowds. Certain stations will always be crowded (Shinjuku), but whether or not its “too crowded” is hard to judge for someone else.
“Crowded” is a relative term in Tokyo. When it’s bad, you have the station staff physically shove you into the carriage. When it’s good, you may still consider it crowded (certainly by Sydney standards it’s still crowded). In my experience there’s a small window in the early afternoon where it can be considered pretty vacant by most standards.
How is your wife with walking? You’ll find yourself walking a lot in Japan. Even if you’re fit, walking until your feet ache is a very common thing there. There are very few public benches to sit down.
Here is a post talking about foods to avoid in Japan when pregnant:
[https://www.tokyourbanbaby.com/2012/07/traveling-to-tokyo-while-pregnant-what-foods-should-i-avoid/](https://www.tokyourbanbaby.com/2012/07/traveling-to-tokyo-while-pregnant-what-foods-should-i-avoid/)
But I would mostly just focus on avoiding raw fish and egg. There should be lots of other options available e.g. ramen, karage chicken, yakitori, etc. Don’t limit yourself to just eating western foods!
As for crowds, definitely avoid public transport during peak hour. If you are travelling during that time, it might be worth paying for the taxi/uber.
Is she going to be in her second trimester by then? if so, maybe hold out and see if the nausea goes away by then… everyone is different, but mine went away around 14 weeks or so.