Traveling with a baby + restaurants with high-chair recs

Hi all! We just spent a month in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka) with our one year old and just wanted to share our experience in hopes of inspiring others!

I was really nervous to travel with a 12 month old to Japan, especially because a lot of reddit posts made it seem like people would be annoyed or it was going to be impossible to take him to any nice restaurants, but that has been far from the case!

First off, everyone was extremely friendly towards us and our baby. Frequently, people were waving back to him, saying “kawaii” (cute), playing with him, etc. Obviously they do appreciate silence here, so if he was ever screaming we would simply remove him from the situation, but otherwise everyone was super kind towards us and our baby.

Secondly I found that facility-wise, Japan was very baby friendly. Every train station and department store had large private family bathrooms with diaper changing pads which made it super easy to change him no matter where we were. I’m no longer nursing him, but I also saw tons of private comfortable nursing rooms as well! Bathroom stalls even have seats to set your babies down while you use the toilet. Additionally, every elevator we found clearly stated that people with strollers and disabled/elderly people get priority, which I found most people respected. Lastly, there are designated handicap/stroller carts on every train which have a section without seats so you can park your stroller on the train-when you’re waiting for the train just find the section with a handicap icon. Tldr; it was easy and accessible to get around Japan with a baby!

Last off, and most importantly for us, was dining with the baby. While there are obvious places that are tough to take a one year old into (like tiny izakayas that allow smoking), there are tons of great restaurants that had no problem having a baby join us, many of which actually had high chairs/booster seats (for the restaurants that didn’t have high chairs, we brought a fold-up portable high chair that I can’t recommend enough). There are even fine dining options that allow children as long as you reserve a private room! Unfortunately, most restaurants do not have a children’s menu, but we fortunately do not have a picky eater so he just eats off the adult menu with us. Pretty much every restaurant gave us children’s dinnerware for him as well.

Overall, I just wanted to share our experience so others don’t feel as nervous as we did when traveling with our baby! Please see the list below of baby-friendly restaurant recs, and have fun!!!

Restaurant Recs:
(Side note: this list is primarily focused on restaurants that had some sort of high chair, but we went to many other restaurants without high chairs and just held him on our lap or placed him in the booth between us)
– Afuri Ramen in Harajuku – highchair that attaches to table. Has other locations but not sure if they have high chairs.
– Gyozaro in Harajuku – doesn’t have high chairs, but wanted to mention this one because the owner who is always there is unbelievably nice and great with kids. He even gifted us a toy car for our son to play with.
– Tempura Shinjuku Tsunahachi Shinjuku Takashimaya – has kids booster chair (basically a high chair without straps)
– Ramen Mugyu Vol. 1 Main Shop in Nakagyo, Kyoto – had booster chair and were super nice/lent us books for baby to read while we dined.
-Yakiniku Kitan in Dotomburi, Osaka -private rooms, seated on floor.
– Uobei sushi in Shibuya – high chair attached table. Had a kids food set as well.
– Disney resort – obviously very kid friendly. Every restaurant had high chairs. Recommend Disney sea, definitely way cooler. If you have a small kid, head to Ariel’s playground area where they can run around and have small kid rides.
– Tanta bocca in Shibuya- booster chair without straps
– Kobe beef & matsuzaka beef shabu in Ginza – private rooms that allowed kids. Seated on floor.
– Kagoshimakaren Ginzaten in Ginza – best shabu shabu of my life! Private rooms for kids and have booster chairs.
– Tonki in Meguro City – upstairs section is kid friendly with high chairs
– Mikawa Zezankyo in Koto City – high end omakase tempura. Have to book a private room for kids. Seated on floor.
– Nabezo Shinjuku Sanchome Store in Shinjuku- booster high chair seat that was placed on top of booth.

Other places I recommend are Tsukiji Outer Market for street food in Tokyo, and Dotombori for street food in Osaka.

For restaurants that didn’t have high chairs, this fold-up portable high chair saved our lives https://a.co/d/cNKXcUn.