Tl;dr: Travel experience with a 22 month old. Won’t be applicable to those without a toddler. People definitely understate the difficulties of traveling with little ones and I want to offer a counter point. Overall we had a good time.
About my little travel companion: My son is 22 months old, and needs a 2.5 hour nap in the middle of the day. He has ~5 hour wake windows. Only once for disney land did he have a short stroller nap as generally it makes the rest of the day really unpleasant for us all if he’s not well rested.
We spent 3 weeks in mid-October to late November. Our itinerary was: Tokyo 7 nights, Kyoto 5 nights, Osaka 4 nights, Hakone 3 nights.
# My General Thoughts:
* Most restaurants did not have any sort of high chair/booster seat. I’d say 20% of them did. We brought a foldable booster seat for my son, and other times held him in our laps. I felt bad at times when my son would behave badly and staff were treating my son so well. Restaurant staff (as long as we got seated) were all exceptionally nice to my son). Every hotel did have a high chair in the room when I asked them to let us use one with advance notice.
* Generally hotel/restaurant staff/ strangers on the train would try and engage with my son, and I thought that was really nice of them. No one was ever mean to my son.
Many train stations/malls will have 6-12 restaurants next to each other which we liked as you can see what’ll work best for your family without traveling all over a neighborhood. We also found they wouldn’t play games and turn us away.
Many hotels don’t do late check out/ early check in. I found myself booking extra nights to allow for my toddler to have a good place to sleep for his nap.
* Book Shinkansen tickets as far in advance as you can. We were only able to reserve the green cars since I waited a week before to book seats, even though the train was on Wednesday. Especially key if you want the oversized baggage seating.
* Diapers: Bring as much from your home country as you can. I went to several pharmacies and department stores in the tokyo station area that both reddit and my hotel recommended that I go to, and none had diapers or if they did they were packs of 2. I finally found the grocery store under the Uniqlo Ginza location had them, but they were only pants diapers (we prefer the other type with the wings). You won’t find a wide variety of types of diapers like at Target in Japan, even a baby specific store in a mall I popped into had only two brands. Bring as many from your home country as you can manage.
* Zoos/aquariums: These were some of our favorite family outings. Some people here will make them sound like they treat the animals horribly but I found they were treated the same if not better as you’d see at any large sized American zoo (e.g. Dallas zoo, Denver zoo, Como Park Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, etc). They were generally cheap (exception being kyoto aquarium which was amazing) with admission being 1000 yen for my whole family, making the panda doll souvenir we got my son being the most expensive part of the outing.
* Playgrounds are very sad and small, but other families were very friendly when my son was playing near/sharing equipment.
Stay near a train station, even staying 10 minutes from the station made outings a lot harder as my son stopped wanting to sit in the stroller mid-way through the trip.
* Lower your expectations, and lower them again. Towards the end of the trip my son was just done being contained and we stopped taking trains places as it became too much for our family. We had only planned seeing one sight/outing each day but even that had to be paired back.
## City Specific notes:
### Tokyo:
Overall this city was reasonably baby friendly with a lot of great activities. In hindsight I would’ve spent more time here and spent more time at Disney. Kidzania is only for those 3+. Couldn’t book Ghibli museum or teamlab so I couldn’t go to them. Teamlab didn’t have openings until late in the evening, ghibli I missed the slot to book.
Disneyland was fantastic though towards the end of the day all rides had fast passes sold out, and waiting an hour and half in line isn’t something my son wants to do.
### Kyoto:
I found this city was challenging for my family to eat at restaurants, and sites were crowded like Paris (the real city, the capital of France, not the romanticized version). Sites were very crowded even at ~9am, though unlike Paris sites B list sites weren’t crowded. I did find that there were a lot of taxis, so we used them a lot since they were reasonably priced and they often went by our hotel which wasn’t so centrally located.
A lot of restaurants weren’t open before 5:30/6pm. I got turned away from ~12 places walking around right as restaurants were opening from 5-545pm. I’d walk into an empty place with my wife and son, and they’d ask if we had a reservation and then tell us to leave.
The Kyoto Aquarium was amazing and the highlight of our trip. I really liked how they had three different restaurants throughout so we could easily give our son a snack, and the exhibits were amazing.
### Hakone:
I had trouble finding a ryokan with a private osen that would allow children. The place we stayed at was really nice, but lacked AC. It was relaxing to have dinner and breakfast provided in a private dining room, though I felt bad when the staff was so nice to my son and he made such a fuss at meal time 🙁 .
It was a good thing that we were near shops as we found transportation in the region to be really poor. The train up the mountain takes 50 minutes, and buses either ran once per hour or had insane lines to board (I’m talking about a 90 person line for a bus that comes every 15 minutes). Uber/other ride hailing apps that didn’t require a japanese phone number didn’t have cars available. Our hotel was able to call cabs, with a huge wait. As such we weren’t able to see lake Ashi given that we’d have missed my son’s nap.
### Osaka:
Had a mis-adventure where we got on a limited express instead of express train to nara so it took 50 minutes to get there, and we had to turn back a half hour later to get my son home for a nap. We had a similarly bad experience waiting for Osaka Castle (even though we bought tickets online) so we didn’t venture out to other more far flung sites. Around this time of the trip my son refused to get in the stroller, so we took him to more playgrounds and just stopped trying to see even 1 sight every day.
We did enjoy the zoo, and our hotel room was at a board game themed hotel that had a lot of child appropriate toys in the room for my son to play with. We also enjoyed Dadway in Namba parks mall as they had an indoor playground for my son.
My wife venturing out on her own did find a lot of restaurants in the north part of the nipponbashi neighborhood didn’t want to seat her even when they weren’t full.
### Narita:
We had originally planned to make use of the day rooms at Narita for my son’s nap, getting through security around noon for him to take a nap. Our flight was delayed by 5 hours, but my original plan wouldn’t have worked as United’s ticket counter isn’t even open until 1:55pm. A lot of hotels were selling out as we were on the train trying to book something. We found that the crown plaza was really great. They let you cancel until 6pm the day of, and had plenty of room for my family. They accommodated early check in without a fee, and my son really enjoyed the food served.
Also the town of Narita itself is amazing, especially the temple and gardens area.
26 comments
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This is all super helpful, thanks! I’m planning a trip with my wife and toddler son in Feb. who will be 2 by the time we get to Tokyo.
We will have two weeks and are planning to do Tokyo-> Hakone -> Kyoto -> fly out Osaka.
We will also be with my in-laws. So that may make things easier or harder haha. Hoping they’ll give us a day and some nights to go explore. I’m looking in to Airbnbs. Did you have any experience looking into them when planning your trip?
Would you recommend skipping Hakone? I’m worried that it will be very cold and a challenge to get around and it might be just simpler to spend more time in Tokyo or Kyoto?
Also, we were considering just staying in Osaka and doing day trips to Kyoto for two days and also going to Heniji castle and Nara. Is that a bad idea? Should we instead spend make our home base in kyoto and do a day trip to Nara instead? Maybe skip Himeji castle
Did you ship your luggage when transferring hotels? Thinking about making it easier when transferring hotel to hotel so we can do something during the day.
I have no kids but this was an interesting read as I always wonder how families with kids do it here. Makes sense why most people here only have one kid.
Just don’t do it. Problem solved
Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve been considering taking my 2 year old so this gave me a lot of perspective.
Do you feel like the difficulties were worth it? Would you do it again?
FYI for diapers you can easily find them at grocery stores, pharmacies do have them, maybe you only looked at ones attached to hospitals/clinics because all the ones I go to have diapers.
Also for short distances taxis can be a decent option with a group of 3 or more, not cheaper but not much more than public transport depending on the trainline and distance. I often use taxis when hosting family who have kids or elderly for distances of 1km -3km.
Thanks for sharing! We’re off of to Japan Dec 6 with our 18 mo old. He naps on the go, so hopefully that will makes things easier. I also bought the travel foldable high chair thing as I read not all the restaurants have high seats.
I understand this post isn’t for me, as someone who will never have kids. But I cannot understand the thinking of parents who insist on going on a major international holiday with a baby/toddler. You are missing out on so many experiences because your trip revolves entirely around your child, and your child will remember nothing of the trip when they’re older – maybe fleeting impressions if you’re lucky. You live in the USA – there are so many beautiful destinations in your country already, which don’t require long plane flights and unfamiliar surroundings. Leave the international holidays for when your kid is older and can actually appreciate it, and you won’t be tied to them every moment of every day. Okay, getting off my soapbox now.
This was helpful! We are bringing four young kids in another month but only have two things planned and are staying mostly in Tokyo for the whole two week trip. Low expectations and hopefully a really fun experience for our kids!
Omg I brought my daughter to Tokyo around the same age and +100000000 agree with you on diapers.
A) it’s just not easy to find them as a tourist in a touristy area. We had to go to 3 different drug stores in ginza before finding them. And yes I did ask the hotel concierge. Ugh didn’t know Uniqlo had them!
B) they run frigging smallllll. And yes a lot of them are pull ups bc I guess they potty train a lot earlier than in the US. My god my poor daughter’s butt was barely covered in the size large. I was so relieved when we landed in our second destination with regular diapers available.
What’s the name of the Hakone hotel?
Department stores such as AEON or Ito Yokado would have baby supplies. They are not fancy department stores like Isetan or Mitsukoshi, but more family oriented. Often they have a “kids” floor with kids’ clothes, toys, and games. They even have a play area for toddlers and family bathrooms. The first floor usually houses a supermarket where you would find diapers and baby food.
But honestly, I would take as many diapers as needed for a trip to another country with a toddler. Just like women’s sanitary goods, you’d better take the ones you normally use and like.
Aw man, I hardcore disagree about diapers. 😅 I think the Japanese “pants type” aka pull-up diapers are superior to the tape kind. Parents here start using them from probably around 6 months not because they potty train earlier, but because the super stretchy elastic waist is so much softer for the babies/toddlers and the diapers are less prone to leaks because there is more side coverage. To take them off when baby is lying down, you can tear them at the sides. The weight range (in kg) is clearly labeled on the front of the bag, so buying the correct size shouldn’t be a problem. I have seen XXL ones that go up to 28kg (61 lbs.)
Every time I go to the US, I think the diapers are awful. The pull-ups seem to be only for training, and are stiff, scratchy, and not absorbent compared to Japanese ones. I bring as many from Japan as I can.
My preferred brand is Merries, and all of the other parents I know seem to use this brand too. My second choice would probably be Nepia, and then any of the others after that (Moony, Goon, Pampers, etc.)
Thanks for sharing your experience. We have lived through the toddler years once before, so decided to put off the next trip to Japan until the youngest is 4. It’s not far away now and am looking forward to travelling outside of that stage of life. Good on you guys for making it happen.
My 5 year old has been to over 60 countries and her brother of 2 years is about halfway there.
I’m not going to wait 10 -15 more years and put some international destinations on hold. Also like many said, kids won’t remember at 2, but the parents will and also take pictures! My 5 year old loves seeing the things we did when she was younger.
Also, you really don’t need to go on a soapbox and explain to parents that expectations for traveling are different with kids. Honestly – sometimes spending 30 minutes in a store looking for the perfect souvenir is fun.
To those that are trying or thinking of traveling with kids – do it. To those that hate peoples traveling with kids, I hope I sit next to you on the plane. 😂
I was in Tokyo last week and I noticed the playgrounds as well, lol. Whats with them? Often just a large bare patch of dirt with maybe a slide or some climbing frame. Has a very distinct look.
Gotta disagree with the zoo part, the animals looked very miserable in ueno zoo and the photos online for others (as I won’t support more) looked equally bad.
The aquarium in tokyo was mostly good tho.
Thanks for this. I too was going to write about my experience. Still in Japan and have two days left here.
The diaper situation is true though. I have exactly two diapers left which we bought from NZ. And I can’t seem to find small packs of diapers anywhere where we are staying
I’m speaking from the experience of being American and being raised poor. But also, this family went on a 3 week trip. Regardless of the price of the trip, do you know how rare vacation time (especially paid vacation time) is in America? And even with cheap flights, I imagine a 3 week trip to Japan for a family of 3 (especially if they relied on taxies due to having the child with them, which from their comments sounds like they did) could cost minimum a few thousand dollars. That is a lot of money, regardless of the yen being weak. much of the rest of the world is still suffering from crippling inflation and our money doesn’t go as far back home, making it even harder or impossible to save. So, yes. In my 36 years on this planet, only the people I knew who were very wealthy were ever able to go on vacations to a country as far away as Japan and especially for more than a week.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m planning on traveling with my 1 year old in February. How did you travel in taxis with your little one? I read car seats aren’t required in Japan… but safety first. Did you bring a car seat or could you find taxis/Ubers with car seats in Tokyo or Kyoto?
OP, did you have JR pass and did you need to activate the JR pass in person to use for first time, or can you do it online for some future date?
For food places I would suggest looking in large train stations, Dept stores or shopping malls. These will all be family friendly and have child seats. Also large chain places are another safe bet. If you are walking around Gion or the like for a local place then yeah space and seating wise isnt going to be aimed at having kids.
I just wanted to say thank you! I joined this sub one week ago in preparation for a trip with my toddler next year. She’ll be 22 mo by then also, and this post was exactly the kind of content i was after 🙂
22 month old? I have a 430 month old. Jk mama
thank you.
i love Japan and i really miss travelling there (back in my childfree, younger, pre-pandemic days). Now ive got two toddlers… i was thinking of going to Japan with them, but had my concerns… which were some of the challenges you faced while travelling.
So might wait til both kids are a bit older 🥲😅
Well done you for attempting the trip and the write up! I know my kid enough to not attempt a trip until he’s at least 4 years old.