10-Day Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka Trip w/ 10 Month Old

9 comments

1. Disney Sea is better than Disney Land.

2. Disneysea is better but I think if you have never been to any Disney park then Disneyland is a better first time experience.

3. It’s going to incredibly hot… right now it’s 9:43am and the RealFeel where I’m at is 96 degrees. Just be prepared to take lots of breaks in air conditioned places and make sure you drink lots of liquids. I’m not sure the logistics of a 10 month old baby though.

4. Use this app to see where water taps are.

   https://www.mymizu.co/home-en

   Osaka you could go to the aquarium instead of a hike.
   Kyoto – do the outdoor activities early or evening to avoid crowds and heat.

5. Since I assume you’ll be using a baby carriage and/or carrier you’ll want to:

   * Make sure they baby is covered in UV protection. Hat, sun screen, even a sun umbrella would do wonders.
   * Make sure the baby can stay cool! As they don’t regulate body temperature as we can, you should avoid direct sunlight and preferably have something else to cool them down with, like a fan. Another good thing is to keep a hand towel and soak it in water, then wring it out and put that on your baby’s legs or arms. When the towel gets too warm again, just soak it in water again and repeat.
   * Make sure you wipe your baby’s body from sweat from time to time. Sweat accumulating on babies can give them rashes on the skin.
   * Make sure you all stay hydrated. There are vending machines everywhere. If you have something like a thermos, do bring that. What I usually do during summer is buy a bag of ice from 7-eleven and then get the ice in the thermos, then you can just buy drinks and pour them in to keep the cool all the time (pet bottles turn warm immediately in this heat)
   * Don’t just drink water! Only drinking water can actually increase your dehydration as you keep losing salts and stuff. The mugi tea or green tea are good alternatives if you want to avoid sweet or sugared drinks.
   * I would advise against hiking in this weather, especially uphill, especially with a baby. If you’re very experienced hikers in high temperatures and do this regularly – go ahead, but consider that the weather in Osaka is usually more humid than elsewhere, in addition to you being worried about the heat, I don’t think you’ll have a good time even if you can endure it.

   Looks like you got a really nice plan ahead of you 🙂 I bought one of those USB charged fans you keep around your neck that included a cooling pad, they’re great but extremely fragile. I dropped mine once and it completely disintegrated the fan on one side so maybe only get one if you’re careful and not clumsy like me.

6. Currently travelling with my 8 months old for the past 3 weeks. It has been incredible.

   1) like other posters, no hiking. Extended periods outside are rough in general. We were able to do maybe 20-30 minutes in the outside heat at a time before it was too much for the infant. We did lots of AC rest stops.

   2) your plan looks good, limit to 1 item per day. Try to get out in the AM, nap in the afternoon and head back out in the evening. This is what we did and worked well for us. If it’s an inside activity then going in the afternoon is okay.

   3) we had a carrier and stroller combo and worked well for us. My baby liked the carrier so I carried him everywhere and made the escalator trips easier too. We put the bags in the stroller.

   4) get those hand held fans + sprayer to spray the infant once in a while to keep them cool. The hand towel thing was okay but it got pretty gross near the end. We found the mist spray and the fans to work the best. We got a recharge one before we came to Japan. It was a great buy

   5) eating out wasn’t as troublesome as we thought. Most places were okay with babies as long as it’s not izakaya.

   6) we didn’t do any parks because it was too hot. Maybe cut that out if it’s still really warm and humid when you come.

   Hope it cools down for you when you come! Disneyland was better with all the shows

7. You should absolutely not be vacationing in Japan during the summer with a 10 month old. That is beyond cruel.

8. The itinerary looks great already, I do have some very doable suggestions:

   – If you really want to hike, you could go to Minoh Falls in Osaka. The hike is not too long and can be done all the way with a babystroller.
   – Mount Koya is also an option for a daytrip from Osaka. The weather is significantly cooler there.
   – Kiyomizudera in Kyoto is a must-see for me! The temple is amazing. There are a lot of stores with great streetfood to cool off in around the adjacent streets (Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka). Go rather early as it gets really busy.
   – There might still be a light-up festival going on at the Kōdai-ji temple in Kyoto. It should have cooled off a bit in the evening, so it might be nice to do 🙂
   – Someone else already suggested the aquarium Kaiyukan in Osaka. Definitely go there! Everyone typically leaves their strollers inside at the entrance, but if you ask the staff you can take it along with you in an elevator.

   – Fushimi Inari is already on the list. The whole hike to the top and back takes around 2-3 hours. Go super early in the morning (be there at 7am) to have almost no crowd and for the weather to be more doable. The vending machines along the path up are much more expensive so take enough refreshments along with you.

   I hope you have a great time in Japan!

9. Sometaro in Asakusa had the best okonomiyaki I’ve had so far in Japan, but it is VERY hot inside. When we went back in 2018, it was in the mid-80’s for high temperatures, and it was nearly unbearable inside for dinner, even after sunset. Given how hot it is right now in Japan, I can’t say I’d recommend it, especially with an infant, even if the food was incredible.