Came from the most amazing 15 days spent in Japan! I was 24 weeks pregnant at that time and also took our 4 year old with us. It’s my second time being pregnant at Japan and can’t of anywhere else I want to be on vacation other than Japan.
The 3 round trip flights ANA business seats and hotel stay for Tokyo/Kyoto were scored with points transfer from credit card spent (more details from r/awardtravel). We truely maybe only spent cash on Osaka hotel stay, transportation, food and shopping.
**Pre-trip**
\- ESIM (Super easy to activate once the plane landed)
**Transport**
\- ICOCA card saved from last trip purchased when we were in Osaka
\- JR Passes for Shinkansen (Tokyo>Kyoto/Osaka, Rabbit Island, Yokohama)
\- USJ, Puroland
**Hotel**
\- Tokyo (First day): Hyatt Centric Ginza
\- Kyoto: Park Hyatt Kyoto
\- Osaka: Hilton Osaka
\- Tokyo (Last leg of trip): Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills
Here are some tips I learned from traveling with a young child. Each child is different but based on our experience this is what I recommend:
\-Travel stroller is a must. We have one that collapses easily that could fit under tables at small restaurants or on trains. Our kid needed one since she would nap in the afternoon, we were able continue with outing when she napped.
\-Although google map has great instructions, the exits for stations only shows the fastest path. Those path sometimes have stairs so we would have to look for elevators for the stroller. Sometimes they are easy to find and sometimes not. If you plan to use elevators at train stations make sure you allocate extra time to locate them.
\-We reserved a few restaurants that offered private rooms. Not a must depending how old your children are but we don’t want our kid to cause any disruption to others. We were able to book a room for sukiyaki and omakase without extra costs.
\-Yamato luggage delivery was the best thing ever. We dropped off the big luggages at the airport so it would arrive to Kyoto (our second day in Japan). Had a small carry-on for one day and everything was waiting for us in the hotel rooms. We used it again for hotels in Osaka and back to Tokyo. It was a game changer with a kid. The hotel took care the paperwork for us.
\-We didn’t go crazy with the initernary. Some days we only did 1-2 things (also due to the rain) since we can’t go as fast with a child.
**Day 1; 24 Apr:**
\-Arrived at 5AM in HND. Had the immigration/custom QR codes ready and took about \~20 minutes to get through everything. Luggages were already out and didn’t have to wait to retrieve. Dropped off the luggage with Yamato for Kyoto. Getting the JR Passes took the longest since we waited in line before the office open. There were already other travelers lining up as well. It was still early by the time we finished everything and we found an udon place in HND that opened early. We were quickly seated and they had a basket full of toys for my kid to pick one! What a warm welcoming! Udon was good and kid ate everything.
\-BBQ served wtih A5 Wagyu beef at food truck (SLICE of Life)
\-Shopping in Shibuya area
\-Ramen dinner at Ginza Kagari
**Day 2; 25 Apr:**
\-Headed to Kyoto from Tokyo Station
\-Sushi lunch in Tokyo station
\-Check-in to Park Hyatt Kyoto
\-Dinner at Gyoza Hohei (kid really loved that place)
It was raining really hard that night so we chilled in hotel for rest of the night
**Day 3; 26 Apr:**
\-Rilakkume Cafe in Arashiyama
\-Miffy Sakura Kitchen for bakery
\-% Arabica (the famous one in front of Katsura River)
\-Walked around the surrounding area. Was thinking about going to the Monkey Park but didn’t want to push to hard with my pregnancy and not sure if the kid could make it. We will just have to back next time.
\-Small Okonomiyaki resturant near Gion
**Day 4; 27 Apr:**
\-Kimono day with pictures!
\-Walked around the surrounding area in Nishiki Market (it was super crowded so decided not to have lunch there)
\-Mos Burger for lunch
\-Goodman Roaster for afternoon coffee (high quality coffee)
\-Dinner reservation at Sukiyaki Iroha in Gion
**Day 5; 28 Apr:**
\-Dessert place specialized in chestnuts ([Waguri Senmon Saori](https://www.gltjp.com/en/directory/item/12044/))
\-Blue Bottle Coffee for coffee tasting event
\-Kyoto City Zoo
\-Okazaki-jinja Shrine
\-Hana-Kitcho for Kaiseki dinner
**Day 6; 29 Apr:**
\-Woke up late had breakfast nearby hotel
\-Lunch at Kyoto station
\-Headed to Osaka in the afternoon
\-Check-in to Hilton Osaka
\-Craft Burger Co for dinner
\-Kept this day really chilled since it was raining really hard. Didn’t want to head out in rain with a stroller.
**Day 7; 30 Apr:**
\-Rabbit Island day in Okunoshima from Osaka
\-Himeji Castle
\-Umeda Food Hall
Originally went to Kiddy Land searching for a Miffy stuff animal that my kid left on the train. Then found this food hall at the basement by accident. Lots of options with food and decided to stay here.
**Day 8; 1 May:**
\-USJ Day
Originally got Klook Express Pass with Nintendo Entry at 7pm. Arrived at USJ around 11am and was able to get entry to SNW around 5pm. Had dinner in Kinopio’s cafe which was on my bucket list!
**Day 9; 2 May:**
\-Early morning snacks from 551 Horai (fast food chain specializes in buns. We were curiously since there was always a line)
\-Explored Dotonburi
\-Teppanyaki dinner nearby
**Day 10; 3 May:**
\-Late start and headed to Osaka Station for Tokyo
\-Food from 7/11 on the train
Osaka Station was a mad house with the start of Golden Week!
\-Check-in to Andaz Tokyo
\-Dinner at building next door Food Hall (Bird Land)
**Day 11; 4 May:**
\-Starbucks Reserve Roastery
\-Don Quijote
\-Found a small resturant and served the best pasta ever had
\-Walked around at Meguro Sky Garden
\-Dinner at Udatsu Sushi nearby
**Day 12; 5 May:**
\-Ueno Park
\-Shopping in Shinjuku area
\-Pizza dinner at SAVOY Tomato & Cheese
**Day 13; 6 May:**
\-Ramen Museum at Shin-Yokohama
\-Shopping at Takashimaya
\-Family visit in Chinatown
**Day 14; 7 May:**
\-Shibuya Crossing
\-Explored NeWoMan Food Hall
\-Kura Sushi
Rained super hard this day so we did min. outing
**Day 15; 8 May:**
\-Sanrio Puroland
\-Dinner at Kuroobi
Spent almost the entire day at Puroland. Not much rides but it was fun for the kid as well as watching the performance.
**Day 16; 9 May:**
\-Headed to NRT after breakfast in hotel
**Overall experience**
\-We skipped alot of touristy things since my husand and I visited those places from the two trips we went. This time was introducing our kid to Japan and taking it slow.
\-What I love the most about Japan are the availabilities of restrooms anywhere. Even in a tiny resturant you can count on having restrooms and all of the are CLEAN.
\-Everywhere were clean.
\-We spent alot of time at the toy level of the electronic stores and gachapon. My kid was addicted to capsule toys.
\-At the end of the trip my JR pass was so beat up that the gate would not accept it anymore. Exchange for a new one at the JR office without issues.
\-Compared to 4 years ago when we visited, alot more place accepted credit card. A handful accepted apple pay (my primarily method of payment). Cash is still needed for taxi, arcades, and some grocery stores.
\-Our nightly routine was visiting 7/11 for next day’s breakfast. I was more excited to go there than any fancy dinner reservations haha!
\-I wish it didn’t have days with heavy rain when we were there. It was definitely harder taking the stroller in the rain so those days we opt for less activities.
\-Amazon Japan and ship to hotel was the best. We got some hard to find items and the hotel accepted the packages for us with no issues.
2 comments
wow can’t believe your kid survived two weeks. after about a week mine starts asking for home. at 5yo mine is able to walk about 15000 adult steps and stay up all day now (4 trips to Japan with them)
Great report! I appreciate seeing a slower itinerary, and it looks like you still had a wonderful time.
Also I totally get the konbini excitement 😆 I love it there.