Just a few notes after a recent family (including two tweens) trip to Japan (Tokyo, USJ, Himeji-area). Since we used to live in Japan before kids, this was mostly visiting friends in the country, but we did do some touristy things.
-If you have a 12 year old, it’s likely that they are eligible for child fare even though most things in Japan say that it’s for 0-11. It’s actually trying to distinguish elementary and middle school kids. So if your child is 12, but turned 12 after April, check to see if they are eligible. The Keikyu rail guy let me know when I was buying our passmo passports. My 12 year old also got child fare on Shinkansen. Even though my kids are large by American standards and very large by Japanese standards, no one ever questioned their child fare (child passes make the alarm sound as you exit).
-Passmo passport was super easy to get at Haneda. If you have cash (I recommend the post office ATM just outside of customs), just go to the Keikyu station entrance. There was no wait at all. Kids loved the passmo cards since it works in so many places (vending machines, convenience stores, coin lockers). It also makes navigating the trains more pleasant since you won’t have to spend time getting tickets all the time.
-We really liked Sky Tree. It was low effort and currently has a bunch of Chiikawa stuff which my kids loved. Sky Tree Town was pretty convenient for getting some gifts and souvenirs. I know you can get better food, goods, and prices elsewhere, but it has a little bit of something for everyone which was nice.
-If you want to do Kirby or Pokemon Cafe, plan in advance and make a reservation. My kids weren’t heartbroken, but I wish I would have made a reservation because I love Kirby.
-Honestly, if I had to do it over, I’d just skip USJ. My kids wanted to go and, against my better judgement, I agreed. While we got there early and did get into Nintendo World, by about 11:30, the wait for everything was about 2 hours and my kids were done. This was on a Wednesday, but before a holiday, so maybe slightly more crowded than usual. The rides were OK, Nintendo World looked pretty cool, but at the end of the day this was not a highlight of the trip for anyone. I suspect my kids would have been fine just getting the stupid Nintendo hats at the store outside of USJ and skipping the park entirely. Since we left earlier than planned, we got to enjoy a few hours in Osaka, which was nice.
-If you go to Himeji Castle, utilize one of the free English guides. I have been there countless times, but never used a guide, but Japanese friends insisted we join a group with a guide to make it more interesting for my kids. They were absolutely right. The guide was funny and we all learned some new things.
-Shoshazan and Engyoji were super beautiful with the fall leaves and everyone enjoyed the light hike and udon/oden/onigiri lunch. We drove to the ropeway, but I assume it’s not too much of a pain to get to from Himeji station on a Shinki bus. Def worth an afternoon/morning if you have time.
-I was surprised at how many automated machines now have English interfaces (compared to my time in Japan many years ago). This allowed my kids to be more self sufficient. One of their best memories was having their own table at Sushiro (with some young adult Japanese friends’ kids) and being able to order whatever they wanted.
-I spaced and made our family miss the Shinkansen that we had reserved seats for, so we rode with unreserved seats and had no problem sitting leaving around rush hour from Shinagawa to Osaka. The ride back from Himeji to Tokyo we had to stand for one stop until we got seats. We used takkyubin to send large luggage places, which made everything nicer, but I think you could get away with not reserving a space for your luggage as long as you aren’t hauling some huge international suitcase.
-Seriously, consider using takkyubin. It was like 7000 yen to send three bags (mostly omiyage) to Himeji area from Haneda and made it so much nicer traveling without worrying about having to stash our stuff in places.
-Don’t overstuff your schedule. This is maybe harder if traveling to Japan is more of a once in a lifetime thing for you, but if you can, try not to let FOMO rule and schedule lightly. Especially in Tokyo, we liked just wandering around much more than any specific site we saw. There are so many neat little things tucked away here and there.
Safe travels!