We will be traveling to Japan for the first time sometime in October for 13 days. We will be traveling with a 2 year old. We are huge Disney buffs. We love cool historic sights, but it isn’t a must. We have a running itinerary and would like some feedback/ideas especially from other families with a toddler. The wife also loves starbucks so that’s why it’s on the list. We’ve been compiling a list of ideas based on what we have seen others do here and what we’ve seen on social media. I’m also into watches, so I would like to check out some stores to see some Grand Seikos without going out of the way to see them (i.e. Wako, ???).
We saw that hotels can also ship your luggage to your next destination so we will be using that service. We will also most likely be getting the JR unlimited pass as my wife did some calculations and found that it was more economical based on our current palns.
**Day 1**
* Fly in and land at 4PM.
* Get hotel sorted
* Ubigi eSIM (10gb plan) setup, etc.
* Eat at supermarkets.
* Local sightseeing?
* Recover from flight/jet lag.
**Day 2**
* Tsukiji fish market
* Imperial palace
**Day 3**
* Shibuya crossing
* Shibuya sky
* Starbucks reserve
* Takeshita street
**Day 4**
* DisneySea
**Day 5**
* Travel to Osaka/check into hotel.
* Visit osaka castle
* Umeda sky building
* Dontonbori
**Day 6**
* Nara day trip.
* Todai-ji Temple
* Nakatanidou
**Day 7**
* Universal Japan?
* Osaka Aquarium?
* ????
**Day 8**
* Travel to Kyoto via Shinkansen
* Fushimi Inari taisha
* Nishiki fish market
* Old starbucks.
**Day 9**
* Kimono rental
* Arashiyama bamboo forest
**Day 10**
* Travel back to Tokyo and check into hotel.
* ???
**Day 11**
* Tokyo Disneyland?
**Day 12**
* Tokyo sight seeing
* Watch stores?
**Day 13**
* Fly home
5 comments
For the love of God, why? WHY do you consider taking a toddler on a journey? It’s a mess for you, for everyone around you starting from the plane, and he will NEVER even remember any of it anyway!
If you haven’t already, book your hotels. I’m going mid November and I’m already booked. When I was booking a month ago things were filling up.
I’m sure you’ll have no issue getting places to stay but availability in desired areas, room(adequately big enough for your family)sizes and ones being centrally located/near a station may prove to be difficulty. As of today China also just lifted the travel ban on Chinese tour groups to Japan so things are really going to fill up quickly.
I’d worry about getting your accommodation set before anything.
I’ve travelled with a toddler and that looks reasonable. Try and bring a compact pram, it will help a lot.
hi!
I’ve not been to Japan with a toddler but I have traveled with a toddler and been to Disney parks with a toddler.
I confess, I am unsure why you would take a toddler to Disney Sea or USJ unless your toddler is incredibly tall. There are so many rides with height lines at both parks, and I can’t imagine a child being happy watching their parents go on rides while they wait. It’s not like one of you can ride Mario Kart while the other does… what… you both have to be there to parent swap in USJ because the waiting area (at least for Forbidden Journey and most of the other rides I saw) is right there where you get on the ride. It’s incredibly nice, but it’s right there.)
Are you really going to hold your child or make them stand for an hour+ to ride Mario Kart, get the parent swap card, one parent rides while the other sits with the kid and then you switch off?
Disney is worse. They don’t have nice areas where you can sit and wait to do parent swap. So your kid waits 1 hour with you do Journey, and you and your partner take turns standing with them somewhere?
If the rides are nice and give you a card so the kid doesn’t have to wait with you to ride, what do you do with them while parent is doing the 1 hour+ wait.
Disneyland at least has a lot of rides without a height line or a very low height line (Bay max is only 81 cm and Beauty and the Beast and Pooh and Monsters Inc have none.)
I’m going to assume that the order you listed places is not the order you plan to visit them. If it is, I would definitely move somethings around like go to Starbucks Reserve first on Shibuya day..
Good luck!
I’ve been to Japan several times before having a kid and will be going in November with our kid when she’s 2.5 years old. We are staying in Tokyo only with random day trips out of Tokyo. We planned it this way because it is absolutely exhausting to travel to different cities but adding in a toddler would be even more exhausting. There’s enough to do in Tokyo for 2 weeks and there’s lots of day trips outside of Tokyo when you need a change of scenery. You know your family best but it’s just something to think about.
I read you haven’t booked your hotel yet. There are apartment hotels that have more space and kitchenettes that are perfect for families. The regular hotel rooms are typically very small (barely room for luggage) so we looked at apartment hotels that would accommodate families much better. There’s a chain called Mimaru that has many locations throughout Tokyo. We booked with Tokyu Stay Shibuya for the location mainly. It looks pretty large and has a small kitchenette and dining table/seating. Perfect for a small family. It’s also across from a supermarket so it’s easy to pop in there for something to eat. The hotel also offers breakfast (Japanese or Western) for purchase and it’s close to Shibuya station so you’ll be close to lots of action.
For Day 1 after you’ve arrived at the airport and have wifi and transportation to your hotel figured out, stop in at the konbini at the airport and pick up some sandwiches, rice balls, and snacks before you leave the airport. If you’re arriving in Narita, it’s a long train ride into Tokyo so you’ll need something to eat.
For the activities you have listed, those look very reasonable especially with a toddler. Have you looked at any other activities for your toddler? We have a list of toddler friendly activities for Tokyo that we’re going to squeeze in. These include Legoland Discovery Center, Fire Museum, Toy Museum, an aquarium, and random playgrounds (indoor and outdoor).