We recently went on a three-week adventure to Japan with our three and four-year-old daughters. We fell in love with the country and enjoyed working through the cultural differences with food, language, transport and the variety of toilets.
I have to admit I was worried about taking small children to Japan when the Japan Tourism Bureau told us it’s not child-friendly and recommended we go elsewhere. On the contrary, it was the most child-friendly destination I have ever visited and I can highly recommend tackling Japan with kids in tow.
An adult’s paradise, yes, but Japan is also geared towards kids. There is so much variety within the country I’m not quite sure what to tell you about first. I’ll post more about some of these adventures over the next few days but here is a summary of my favourite places in Japan:
- The designer area Ginza, as stylish as New York’s Fifth Avenue but much larger, has the most amazing fashions and people watching. They close the streets on Sunday to traffic so it is packed with people in the most interesting fashions. We sat on the pavement for a while and watched the locals go by.
- Three huge toy stores, one was six floors in size and took an entire afternoon to explore, we’ll show you around inside a little later.
- There are many parks all over Japan with ponds, kids’ playgrounds, rides, buskers and ice cream for those hot days.
- Disneyland and DisneySea are a must and we spent two fun-filled days exploring the two parks which are only ten minutes by train from the centre of Tokyo.
- There is also the more traditional side of Japan with temples, shrines, geishas and places like Kyoto to see. Much of this is reached via bullet trains, which I loved almost as much as the kids.
- The Osaka aquarium has the largest whale sharks in the world and is designed so you start at the top and walk down the ramps with seven levels of marine life to take in.
First up is my love for all things Muji. I have always been a fan when visiting London, but in Japan they are everywhere. We have mentioned Muji in the past as they have a huge baby and kids clothing department, toys, homewares and everything else you can imagine.
I describe Muji as a modern and contemporary Japanese version of Ikea, only with fun Japanese meals and snacks at the kid-friendly Muji Cafe instead of the Swedish meatballs.
The toys at Muji are gorgeous and affordable. My favourite toys for older kids are the lego and paper sets. There are so many to choose from but the animal or circus sets are my favourites.
It’s hard to go past the Muji toys, they are very reasonably priced and just gorgeous. The animal toys are almost too beautiful to give to a child as they can be easily broken, but I had to get a few anyway. They range from US$8-US$12.
One of the things I loved most about Japan was the cleanliness and hygiene. All change rooms or bathrooms had baby seats like this one below where you can sit your child while trying on clothes or using the bathroom. Why are these not featured in every country! Have you tried going to a public bathroom lately with your baby in a sling or carrier?
I also love the punctuality in Japan. If a train is scheduled for 11:52am, it arrives at exactly this time, not a minute earlier or later. I love that! Another appealing aspect is the lack of theft. We left bags and prams on the platform while loading our kids on the trains and theft was not an issue at all. At Disneyland too we left our prams and bags for hours and found everything there on our return. All of this takes away a lot of the stress that comes when travelling with kids.
Over the next few days I’ll show you some of the best toy stores, child-friendly accommodation, parks and activities. Enjoy our Japan features, feel free to ask questions and I’ll be more than happy to answer. I can’t wait to visit Japan again and explore some more.
10 Comments
Were you at all worried about the hype surrounding radiation? I hope tourism has returned to normal, its the best thing we can do to support Japan whilst they are recovering from the crisis. I used to live not far from Sendai which was badly destroyed by the tsunami and it just breaks my heart to think of what they are going through.
We were there just before the earthquake, and it breaks my heart to think of the devastation they are going through. I wanted to help boost tourism with some of these articles from our amazing trip as it’s such a special place to visit for young and old. I really do love the country and am planning on going back for a 4-5 day break without the kids next time.
Its an easy place to fall in love with! Hopefully your articles will inspire people to travel there. Cant wait to see your recommendations, I only experienced Japan before kids.
We have been to Japan 6 times & have barely scratched the surface. You can have an entirely different experience each time you visit & it is just so safe. We left a bag with a laptop and pursev& got it all back! Go to theme park at base of Mt Fuji it is mind blowing.
Loved your article. Sounds absolutely fabulous. Hope one day to do a trip to Japan.
We took our boy to Japan when he was 5 months old and were pretty much treated like rockstars, because they just love babies and kids so much. We had to add a bit of time into our schedule to allow for being stopped in the street so that people could play games and giggle with our son! Our only minor difficulty was carrying luggage on public transport with a 5 month old but it really was only a minor thing. Japan itself is very special and spectacular!
Can you recommend any good places for a family of 4 to stay in (reasonably priced)?
it is seriously the most awesome place to visit with or without kids – it is cleanest country ever – people are so hospitable and welcoming they love children and the facilities for napping changing and feeding rooms are incredible all their stations have lifts and rain hail or shine you can get around so easily – and and everything works – their fruit and milk and enough western style food is available and easy to find and also very good (our little boy was 14 months and not quite into sushimi as yet )
stay in Ueno if in Tokyo at parkside which is opposite Ueno park and for in April for the most magnificent cherry blossum festival – aaaah it is just perfect!
I went to Japan 2 years ago and my first thought was this is not a child-friendly place as I rarely seen anyone with prams and not to mention temples with stairs and the crowds at stations.
But thanks for you for posting this, now i’m looking forward to come back one day with my kids! Japan is one of the best country I’ve ever visited, it is so safe (I had no prob carrying cash). Disneyland & Disney Sea are definitely the best place for kids and now you make me want to explore all those kids friendly places you’ve mentioned. It’s gonna be exciting for sure!
We took a 14 month old to Japan and found it incredibly child friendly. Very clean, organized, punctual and plentiful public transport and loads of open spaces. Cafes automatically provided plate and cutlery for our little guy when we ordered our food. He was blonde haired and blue eyed and got the rockstar treatment (photos, adulation and presents) where ever we went. Train trips were easy bc the locals entertained him. Essentially it’s also the same time zone which made sleeps easy too. Just don’t stay at a ryokan where walls are paper thin. We rented a Japanese style apartment. Highly recommend it..