Hi everyone!
So my (21f) kids (M/F), both 6, about to turn 7, are obsessed with Japanese culture. Their favorite movies are Studio Ghibli. Their favorite characters are Kirby, Pokemon, Sanrio, etc. I’ve always felt like Tokyo would be a dream for them, and I’ve told them about it and they’ve been begging me to go. Recently, we traveled to Spain with my parents and they loved it despite barely doing any kid-specific activities. They loved exploring, listening to the guides, and feeling included. The flight was 8 hrs from FL with a connecting 2 hour flight in Morocco to Spain. The kids did well, my family and I had bad jet lag but they were perfectly fine! So for Tokyo, the flight is 18 hours in total. I’m worried about myself and my bf, but more worried about the kids experiencing the same jet lag.
**Wednesday**: For the first day, we will be arriving in our hotel at around 6 PM. So we will be exploring Tokyo around our hotel, finding someplace to eat, and going to little arcades. We want to visit a Don Quixote, I’m hoping I can buy something we can have as breakfast for the following day there?
**Thursday**: I booked a one-day tour of the basics of Tokyo in an air-conditioned bus. We are to be at our meeting point at 7 A.M. We *pass* by Kabukicho, Takeshita Street, National Diet Building, Akihabara, Ameyoko Shopping District, Kappabashi Dougu Street, the Tokyo Tower, Japan National Museum, Roppongi, and Tokyo Mode Gaukuen. We *stop* at Meiji Jingu, Imperial Palace, Sensō-ji, Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree (with entry), Odaiba, and the Rainbow Bridge (we will be taking a cruise under it). Once we are done with our tour, we will be eating and going to arcades before finishing the day.
**Friday (kids’ birthday)**: Start the day with the Ghibli Museum. Eat breakfast at the Straw Hat Cafe. Visit Inokashira Park, canoe in their lakes, see bird sanctuary and aquarium. Lunch at Hachu Cafe, a reptiles cafe (kids LOVE reptiles). Tokyo Character Street up next for some birthday gifts, followed by Pokemon Center Tokyo DX. After this, I found a reality VR escape room I was hoping we could go to, along with an arcade nearby just in case. Next, visit Yamashiroya. We will see Ueno Park which is close by and head out to eat dinner at Ninja Tokyo. After this, teamLab Planets Tokyo.
**Saturday**: I booked a tour of Hakone and Mt. Fuji. It takes us to the Fujisan 5 Gome and Gotemba Premium Outlet before taking us to the Hakone Ropeway, which is an aerial sightseeing gondola ride. After that, it takes us to Owakudani, and then the Hakone Pirate Ship, which we will ride on. When we get back to our hotel, I was thinking of having dinner and then heading to the Samurai Museum for the night. Apparently the costumes can be worn by visitors?
**Sunday**: I booked another tour. We go to our meeting point after eating breakfast at a café nearby. The bus takes us to Nikko Toshogu, Kegon Falls, and Lake Chūzenji. Once we get back to the hotel, our plan is to go to Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo (it’s a thing for my son where he wants to visit every Hard Rock Cafe in every place we go to) and then check out the Tokyo City View in Roppongi Hills.
**Monday**: Here is where we may have an issue. Check-out time is 11 A.M. The flight leaves at 6, almost 7 P.M. I was thinking we go to DisneySea until 5 and then head out to Narita airport. I was strongly debating whether or not to go to Disney since we live close by to DisneyWorld, but I opted for DisneySea because of it’s uniqueness. The kids are aware the trip is happening but do not know this exists so this would be a super cute surprise for them since tbh we haven’t gone to Disney that much.
I basically need tips for my plans, or if you think something isn’t worth it, or if maybe it’s too much for kids. I love itineraries. I made our Spain one and I would like to have it perfected because honestly it’s way less stressful for me and more comforting through the jet lag :’) Thank you all!!!!
19 comments
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I just found out the Tokyo Samurai Museum is closed with no ETA to reopen.
Honestly it feels really packed to me, especially since you’ll be jet-lagged to hell. The Friday schedule seems really ambitious to me. I can also imagine your kids might be toast by the afternoon and adding stuff after dinner in general may be too much. But you know your family best.
Personally I’d be wary of tours with kids, since you’re stuck on their schedule and can’t stop for a break, stay longer in one spot, etc. Like my kid could decide she likes a turtle pond and want to stay there forever, but be bored at a temple in 5 min. What happens if you need to bail early? But you seem to say your kids like tours, so maybe that’s fine then.
It seems like you’ve made and paid for these plans already, so I’m not sure how this sub can help you. I admire your ambition and am all for kids traveling and seeing the world (we’ve been flying with ours around the world since they were babies), but this seems a little too ambitious.
Do I think it’s a good idea? Bluntly speaking: No, for several reasons. Japan is a lot further from the US than Spain, both in travel distance and culture and time zone. It sounds like you had help for your Spain trip that you don’t have here; it also doesn’t sound like you have much experience traveling internationally. Flying 36h to spend about 100h (most of which on buses) in a completely other time zone is insane to me, and I can travel hard and have very little jetlag issues as I’m used to having a very irregular sleep schedule.
What would I do instead? Find the time / money to do a proper trip to Asia with the kids. Ideally 14 days or more, but definitely no less than ten. Expose them to the other culture, not have them sit them on tourist buses for most of the time — navigate public transit, see what Japanese people (incl 7 year old kids) do every day, eat their food, do some local activities, etc.
ETA: I hope this doesn’t come across as mean. I think you are trying to do a really cool thing for your kids, but going from a Spain trip (with backup help) to a Japan trip (without it) is a *really* big jump.
You don’t give the dates this trip is planned, but both the Kirby Cafe and the Pokemon Cafe are reservation only. There is always a chance you might get in if people last minute cancel reservations but a larger group (4) is less likely than a single person.
If money is no object, there is a limited time Pikachu themed tea. It’s a lot more expensive than the Pokemon Cafe and it is limited, so depending on your dates you will completely miss it. It does not have child discounts.
I will assume you have also booked the Ghibli Museum if you are going in June, or if you going in July or August, know how to book the Ghibli Museum.
We use to live on the East Coast. My tween has been to the UK and been to Japan (multiple times) Jet lag to the UK (or across the US) doesn’t usually affect her much. Jet lag to Japan is a completely different story. It’s a 14 hour time change from the East coast. That’s a big change.
If your flight is leaving at 7, you need to be at the airport by 5. So no, if you want to do Sea, you need to leave by 4 possibly 3:00 to make sure you actually get there on time. Last time we were there, luggage drop-off took forever, and the lines for security were quite long. I guess if you are flying First or Business Class it won’t be an issue, but if you are in Economy, I think you are not giving yourself enough time to get to the airport and go through security.
I admit, I don’t get the obsession with Don Quixote so many tourists have, but I don’t remember it having much in the way of breakfast items unless you are planning to eat chips and candy for breakfast. If that is how you roll, I get it. We have been known to do Mister Donut for breakfast. I do now mostly try to book breakfast inclusive rates at hotels. I find most hotel breakfasts have something we both like, and eating a nice breakfast helps us get through the day.
I personally wouldn’t want to do all those tours. I can’t imagine my kid wanting to do them either, but everyone likes their own things.
Good luck!
Damn hella packed for 7 year olds imo. This will be too rushed to be enjoyable. Also tourists hop on/hop off buses are so far away from “culture” lol & leave 0 room for exploration. Kinda sad for what seems like a bucket list trip so far away.
Is this trip really for the kids or you also want to go to Japan and basically project your tastes on them? Very understandable given you’re gonna pass for their big sister. No judgement here, maybe some perspective is needed here. Budget wise and time wise 🦉
The birthday day sounds extremely full – I would strongly suggest editing it down a bit. This is on a Friday, so things will be more crowded than the weekday, and it always takes longer to get places than you think it will. You have a lot of seemingly reservation-based things that might be stressful to time, especially since lines can get so long at these places.
You know your kids best, but the Friday schedule sounds like a meltdown waiting to happen. Best of luck, I hope they enjoy the trip regardless!
Monday sounds incredibly stressful to me. Personally, I can’t recommend going to Disney right before a flight. If you do go, I think you’d need to leave earlier than 5 pm. Whether you go by train or bus, you’ll also be dealing with traffic on a weekday, and it’s best to arrive 2 hours early for international flights. Japan is packed with tourists right now, so customs and stuff will potentially take some time. Not to mention, an entire day walking around, only to get on a 18 hour flight… Unless you fly first class, in which case, maybe not so bad lol. Also, where is your hotel? That could potentially add even more travelling time to your day.
Also, what season? Maybe I missed it, but if you’re doing this in summer time, it’s going to be brutally hot. Since you live in Florida I suppose you might be used to it, but… you do a lot of walking outside in Tokyo.
I’d recommend shifting Team Lab to Wednesday, to free up some time on the birthday but still allow the trip to end with a fun event.
Although, personally, I’d treat the last day the same as the first day, and be very laidback about it. But that’s just me.
You know your kids, but as an adult I found some of your itinerary to be exhausting. Friday particularly sounds hectic. You have like 12 things planned in a single day! Woah! When I did the Ghibli muesum, that took like half the day including travel and lunch. I’m a grown woman but if I had to do all that stuff in one day I would probably have a tantrum myself lol. Other days aren’t as bad, but I would still suggest to keep it simple and factor in time for travel and resting, especially if jet lag is an issue. Again, even as an adult I factored in nap time to my Japan plans.
This is a personal opinion, so feel free to ignore, but for a short trip like this, I would worry less about trying to see a little bit of everything and instead try to get some quality time at a few things. Keep it simple!
On Friday by my count you have ***thirteen*** activities planned. You could easily spread this out to 4 or 5 days.
Is this a joke?
By all means, bring your kids and have fun. It’s great and while some people may say kids are hard to travel with in Japan, they are no problem at all. Much easier than places like Paris, where I have been with a kid.
I’ll just echo what everyone else has said here. Way too much stuff planned for nearly every single day. Take just your first two full days in Japan and spread that out over trip and you will have a packed itinerary. Just for example, Asakusa and Sensoji is all about walking down the shopping street eating treats and buying tourist “stuff”. It’s really not a 10 minute stop on a bus tour. Same with others on the bus tour you have planned.
Also, jet lag to Japan is brutal. I never had trouble flying from the US to Europe or returning to the US from Japan. But flying into Japan, jetlag for days. You will be up at 3am the next day and by noon, ready to sleep. It’s so bad that we are flying to visit relatives in the US this winter(we live in Japan) and we are cutting stuff out of our trip and returning 4 days early so my wife can have recovery time before she returns to work.
At tokyosky tree there is a nice ghibli shop for information
Thursday: you’ll *be* in those places, but you’re not going to have any time to experience them. That tour looks like a checkbox ticking exercise to me. Places like Akihabara and Ameyoko really need you to explore and enjoy the atmosphere… just passing by reduces them to any other generic neighbourhood with retail shops.
Friday: OMG. All I can say is good luck. That’s a really hectic day.
Saturday: That is a long day on a bus. I really suggest skipping Gotemba outlets; the only thing going for it is the pretty backdrop (which you get from those other destinations anyway). As a shopping destination, it’s the same boring international brands you get elsewhere. I’ve found the outlet stores in the US much better. Also, I’m pretty sure Samurai museum has not reopened since covid.
Sunday: That’s actually a reasonable day.
Monday: It takes about an hour to get from Disney to Narita under ideal circumstances. Tokyo’s evening rush hour is not ideal circumstances. Don’t you need to get to the airport 2-3 hours beforehand?
Agree with some other comments that this is a *very* short trip – I think you’d still be feeling jet lag when you’re preparing to come home imo. You’re underestimating how long it takes to get around Tokyo, if I’m honest. Narita airport is over an hour away from Tokyo, for example.
Simplify it out a bit – personally I’d cancel the Thursday and Sunday tours. Tokyo is best explored, not seen. Do DisneySea on Sunday (yes it’s a weekend day but it’s Disney so it’ll be busy either way).
On Thursday, choose a couple of things from the tour that you’d like to do – possibly start with Meiji-Jingu, walk out to Harajuku/Takeshita Dori, move to Odaiba for the cruise, end your day around Shibuya for arcades (assuming this is where your hotel is).
Friday – I cannot tell when you are visiting. Please make sure you have all of your reservations in order (most open bookings at least 1 month in advance). I think this day is way too busy. Ghibli Museum is in Mitaka, which is quite a way out. Ghibli -> one themed cafe (MAYBE two) -> Pokemon Center (I spent about 45 minutes queuing just to pay in Osaka Pokemon Center not too long ago) -> TeamLabs Planets.
Monday – Your flight is from Narita, so north of Tokyo to max out your day. Start in Asakusa/Senso-ji, move to Ueno for Yamashiroya (and a big Donki on the Monday because it’s the place you’ll buy the fun kitkats as gifts to bring home, and not a breakfast spot. Ff you’re eating in your hotel, a convenience store is going to be a good breakfast spot. It is not uncommon for me to have a Mister Donut breakfast also). See Skytree as your final thing before leaving for the airport.
I can’t help much, but I went to the Pokémon center DX a few weeks ago and it was terrible. I was given a “Ticket” with a time slot and had to come back an hour or so later. The shop was full, some things already sold out, and it would have taken an hour to reach the tills. I left without buying anything. Pokemon Center Shibuya was way better.
There’s also a small Pokemon Center at character street, there was a line to get in, but not as bad.
The Friday seems a bit packed.
You’ve probably checked but the Ghibli museum opens at 10am and you should book tickets in advance. Depending on where you’re staying, it could take you like an hour to travel there. Tokyo is really spread out. You might spend a couple of hours at the museum but some people end up spending a lot longer just exploring and enjoying the exhibits. The queues for the cafe/food can get pretty long too. When I visited, we didn’t even bother trying to get food because of the queues lol and this was back when the country still wasn’t open to tourists (I live here). It will probably be well into the afternoon by the time you’ve finished up there, visited the park, done those activities then spent time at the animal cafe. From there to the character street it’s about a 45 minute train journey. Then from the Pokémon Center Tokyo DX to Yamashiroya it’s 18 minutes on the metro. Of course there are wait times to include for things such as the Pokémon Center if it’s really busy, if there are any delays with the trains etc. If you’re planning to go to Ninja Tokyo then that’s 30 mins on the train again. From there to teamLab planets it’s about 35 minutes estimated on Google maps. This isn’t even including that VR experience that you mentioned or spending time at Ueno park. Obviously you know your kids best but I feel like that’s a lot of travelling on trains and walking, and some of these trains can be PACKED so you don’t always get a rest in the travel time. I’d say pick out a few main activities that you definitely want to do, such as the ghibli museum, and (as you’ve said in another comment) just keep some ideas in mind for the itinerary if you do end up having time to fit them in.
Also, I don’t know specifics about that reptile cafe but a lot of these animal cafes don’t actually have a wide variety of things to eat and drink because they’re more of a novelty place. So, I’m not sure if you’ll get a proper lunch there. I went to the mipig cafe and they sold coffee, tea, orange/apple juice and donuts. Just as a heads up.
Have you heard of the Unko museum in Odaiba? It might be fun for the kids. I’ve been and it isn’t very big but it was quite a funny experience.
To echo what a lot of people are saying, yeah that schedule is FAR too busy. Having came back from Japan 2 weeks ago I can tell you that two 7yo kids won’t be able to hack that much in a single day. May be your kids are far more energetic and motivated that I presume, but our own schedule left us (two 30yo) pretty drained each day.
Our biggest “what will we do differently next time” is to pace things out a bit more, our first 5 days alone in Tokyo was full stream ahead.
On the day we went Ghibli Museum our itinerary was packed like your own. Teams Labs Planets in the morning, Ghibli at noon, took a walk around the park before our alloted time, lunch at straw hat, back to Tokyo, explored Shibuya a bit (by this point we were already getting tired), then off to Roppongi for a Omakase meal, before heading back to our hotel in Ginza. This was day TWO and we were knackered and it was already sinking in how tired we we’re going to be for the rest of this packed holiday.
So yeah, I believe your kids would love it, but they, yourselves for that matter, might to be awake enough to enjoy to the fullest
I think you are underestimating the effect of jet lag.
Our kids were born and raised in Japan, and every time we came back to Japan from a visit Stateside, jet lag appeared. On the first day, the kids would be out cold by 6 pm, and awake at 2 am. The next day was 30 minutes later. I would take a walk with the kids at 2 or 3 am, and watch freight trains rumble by.
It would typically take 5 or 6 days to get them back in Japan time.
Also, if you’re coming in late July and August, most of the places you want to go will be packed. Especially DisneySea.