Trip report – 16 days in Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto with a 3.5 year old

This forum has given me so much good advice, thought I would return the favour if you’re ever in Japan with a small human.

**Stroller and getting around**

We hired a stroller from a nice lady (cash only) and it was a lifesaver in that it was extremely foldable so we could get it into restaurants and up and down stairs if we needed to. Generally speaking, the metro in Tokyo is accessible and there are lifts everywhere — just follow the signs. (If you use Google maps, it won’t tell you where the accessible exits are – only the nearest exits). However the JR isn’t accessible at all and lifts are almost non existent. A foldable pram works well in a taxi if the walking gets too much. We took buses in Kyoto with the pram and it was not my favourite as the buses get really crowded and you have to try and “sumimasen” your way to the front to pay the fare (don’t sit in the back of the bus.)

**Food**

In Tokyo, everything opens at 11am. So we relied fairly heavily on the local 7/11 for breakfast and snacks. We did do a few restaurants that had lines and had to rely on electronic distraction (ie Octonauts on the iPad with headphones) to keep the small human occupied. Every restaurant will give you wipes so I stashed a lot of these in my bag for future use, you will need them. Not every restaurant will give the kid a fork (or think to give the kid a fork) so there was a few times when I used a plastic one stored from my bag. There really weren’t any high chairs (not that we needed one anyway but it occurred to me that we never got an offer) so either he had his own seat or was propped on my lap if it was a tight restaurant.

**Rubbish**

Take a stash of garbage bags with you, there are no bins anywhere. You’ll need them for stashing snack wrappers, empty bottles, whatever refuse your toddler dreams up.

**Luggage forwarding**

I had visions in my head of never having to move luggage the entire time. But it turns out that we were in an apartment/hotel/rental in Osaka that didn’t accept forwarding so that popped a hole in that dream. Check with your hotel!

**Tokyo**

*Pokémon Centre*

The kid loves Pokémon but I didn’t like my chances of booking a space in the cafe (there was no space). We went anyway and worked our away around the massive gift store which he was just as happy with. Came out with a whole bunch of Pokémon merch as the centre intended. It is hilariously noted that the same merch was cheaper in Yobodashi. Oh, and the kid lost the Eevee figurine several times (showed up in the pram cover and then lost forever in the streets of Harajuku) so if your kid is particularly attached to small pieces, I would consider getting duplicates (after Harajuku, we got Eevee triplicates)

*Disney Sea*

I guess the only thing I can say is: don’t go when it’s raining? (We had booked on Klook in advance and were locked in.) Everybody else had the same idea and the park was pretty empty. I think it might have been nice on a sunny day. All the stalls were closed, lots of rides were not possible or at least looked incredibly uncomfortable – the people on the Gondola looked pretty miserable. We mostly did the mermaid lagoon section which was targeted towards young kids and luckily undercover (not much wait times either) but all in all it was probably the shortest Disney trip I’ve ever done and we were out by 2pm.

As an observation, I thought it was interesting there was not much in the way of modern merch? No Frozen at all, no Encanto, no Moana etc etc you get the drift. Not a complaint, just interesting. Lots of headbands though.

*Kiddyland*

Giant toy store with six different levels. We amazingly didn’t buy anything there but you might want to hold onto your wallet. I think we were an anomaly.

*TeamLabs*

Booked Teamlabs pretty early on and so we had reserved tickets for the opening 10am session. It was pretty fun and definitely interesting. He wasn’t too thrilled with some of the darker rooms but worked his way through it. Wear shorts as there are some rooms where the water reached his thighs. If dark rooms and wet rooms are not your kids thing, the staff offer kid-friendly detours.

**Osaka**

*Osaka Castle*

Spent a full day in the parks around Osaka Castle. Lots of park to run around and rocks to climb. With the castle, noting that the castle exterior is stunning however the interior is not for kids. It’s a museum for history buffs (so all me.) lots of reading and some photos and he bored of it really quickly. We ended up having to speed run down the floors. So not worth it with kids basically, he was much happier outside doing his thing. We also did the boat ride and it was eh.

*Osaka Aquarium*

We had high expectations that it would be as good as Monterey. It was really fantastic and had an awesome time but it’s a whole day excursion. All the kids had play passports that you can get at the front to stamp what animals you’ve seen. The kid was “fished out” by the last half an hour, he wanted to look at something other than fish and was (slightly) relieved to get out.

**Nara**

The kid loved the deer, and for the most part they were pretty gentle with him. They 100% were not so gentle on my husband and he got chased around. The temple was pretty amazing but the kid did not care so much about that and just wanted to go back and hang with the deer some more.

**Kyoto**

*Umekoji Park*

Took the small human to Umekoji Park and it was lovely with a creek that he could wade in (the Japanese kids brought toys and nets to scoop tadpoles) and a playground he could play in. Lots of greenery he could run around in. It wasn’t remarkable for me but he loved it so if you need green that doesn’t involve temples, it’s a good kid-friendly choice.

*Arashima Bamboo and Monkey Park*

We got up extra early to beat the crowds. The small human enjoyed the Bamboo Park and picking up sticks, it wasn’t too intensive for him as it was pretty pram-friendly. It turned into a thirty degree day as we headed to the Monkey Park. It’s a really steep incline 450m up so we didn’t bother to take the pram (although we saw some parents who did), he did really well and walked all the way up but I can understand that there are lots of kids who would not be thrilled with the idea. All the way up the top is a playground area so he glommed onto the playground and not so much the monkeys (ask me how thrilled I was that we walked that distance in steaming hot weather for him to be distracted by a shoddy seesaw)

I dragged him to see the monkeys and we kept a safe distance of 2 metres, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

**Where we stayed**

Mimaru Akasaka – Tokyo

Bon Condominium Umeda – Osaka

The Blossom – Kyoto

We did our best to stay in places that were 40sqm and family friendly. We knew that it would be pretty stressful to stay somewhere where we would be tripping over each other. As a result, our hotels required a little bit more in travel time (extra five to ten minutes?).

Our hotels were pretty great overall. Just a note though – Bon Condominium needed to turn on a boiler before we could get hot water for a shower. If you’re at The Blossom, make sure you check out the basement floor for free snacks.

**Random bits and pieces**

*Random busty ladies*

I have been to Japan a few times before (but never with a kid) and in those previous times, I have very distinct memories of lots of random not-quite-clothed manga statuettes everywhere I went. So I was all prepared to talk to the small human about what they were doing and why they were semi-dressed. But in my two weeks, I never saw a single one so my prepared speech never happened. I have no idea where they all went. Maybe they all migrated to Akhibara?

*Loxonin*

It’s random but you can buy this rub at any pharmacy and it saved my legs considerably on days when I walked 20kms.

*Electronic distraction*

I’m *that* parent. When the lines or the public transport ride was too long, I popped some headphones on and gave him an iPad. It saved my stress levels and from him getting completely rowdy. I think particularly the restauranteurs appreciated for the most part a silent child.

*Most people speak English*. They really appreciate it when you try to speak to them in Japanese though.

*Masks*

Mask usage has dropped considerably, even on public transport.

*Kids clothes*

Was all set to buy the kid a new wardrobe annnnd there’s not that many obvious places to buy kids clothes other than H&M and Uniqlo. Sometimes not even Uniqlo – the Roppongi store has no kids section as a case in point. H&M overall had the better selection.

*Bathrooms*

Bathrooms are everywhere and they’re all extremely clean. We never really worried about finding one. We just made him go every three hours or so to avoid any potential issues or leaks. We only had one real emergency where I had to run him through a department store but got there in time and crisis was averted.

Happy to answer any questions or help where I can!