Taking Your Toddler to Tokyo in 2023: getting around, activities, first time travel tips

I have always heard that Japan is a really kid-friendly destination so I was excited to bring my three-year-old to check it out if you Google playgrounds in Tokyo you get a lot of this this and this so is Tokyo actually fun for young kids like toddlers is it worth traveling all that way today I will share everything that I did with my toddler in Japan what we did and where we stayed to help jump start your own trip planning however there was one thing that really surprised me about Japan's kid friendliness stay tuned until the end to find out what it was getting around I was pretty worried about moving through a bustling city with a small child but it turns out the transportation is half the fun in Japan and especially in Tokyo this may not be your kid but mine happens to have an obsession with trains or moving vehicles that meant Waiting for a Train for 20 minutes was actually really easy my son was fixated on the train platforms and could have sat there all day not to mention inside the stations going up and down escalators became a fun activity you definitely will want to bring a light stroller that you can just pick up and go you will find yourself in a pattern of getting on an escalator taking a few steps then getting on another one repeat four times literally there are also cases where it's just stairs but it's usually not a full flight of stairs for most local trains in Tokyo the suica card is your go-to for a travel pass it's also a card that you can use at familymart to pay for small conveniences Pro tip is that you can also put it onto your iPhone's Apple wallet we got the red suika card which is made for foreigners because it doesn't require a deposit and expires automatically after 28 days I believe all kids under six are free and do not require their own card activities I'm going to talk through these in general categories the first is indoor playgrounds or kid museums I visited the mibumachi Toy Museum outside of Tokyo in utsunamiya but I imagine they're all fairly similar the great thing about indoor playgrounds in Japan is that they are kept extremely clean they are strict about their no shoes policy and everyone is quick to comply at this Museum we found that their Train toys were even organized in buckets which made it very easy to play with we found a nice variety in what they offer in the individual rooms as well I found these Grand structures to be quite unique and I felt very safe having my kid play there while I sat on the sidelines pricing wise the kids were free and the adults cost only five dollars some examples of indoor playgrounds in Tokyo are asobono and playground Shibuya kids but we didn't get to visit any of these this time around we did get to experience little planet in odaiba which is essentially the child version of Team lab for adults instead of walking room to room at Team lab planets little planet is a single room with activities and digital art shown throughout the big hit was this ball pit and being able to throw balls at an interactive wall I thought this place was fun for children but a bit of a money grab they force you to purchase a five dollar membership card and are very strict on how long you stay I made the mistake of paying for only 30 minutes but it was impossible to drag my child out of there so I had to pay for extended time which is more expensive than if I had paid for extra time up front though odaiba is on the outskirts of Tokyo I liked that little planet was inside a huge shopping mall if you have two adults it's a nice chance for one of you to split off and get some good shopping done if you're looking for a place to stay odaiba is home to a lot of the child activities in Tokyo boats my toddler is constantly asking to ride a boat but in the Bay Area I haven't found a cheap way to do this for someone who's only going to be interested in it for five minutes that's why we love the sea bass water bus that took off from Yokohama station there are also water taxis that take off from Tokyo but we managed to kill two birds with one stone by checking out a new city and riding a boat Yokohama is just a 20-minute train ride away from Tokyo and has lots of child activities too the boat takes off directly from the train station [Music] these boat rides are great because you can choose various routes we chose the one that goes to monado Mirai 21 a shopping district that is literally a 10 minute ride away getting to take a boat twice for 10 minutes each time was perfect for my three-year-old animals by now you have probably heard about the animal cafes in Tokyo some have hedgehogs some have owls others have small pigs we didn't go to a cafe this time but we did visit an aquarium in Tokyo there are at least five choices of aquariums for you to visit we went to the more local shinagawa aquarium which I felt was perfect for my toddler it's not that big and all of the animal exhibits were low to the floor this aquarium is also at the end of a huge Park similar to Central Park so there are lots of things that you can do along the way like playgrounds even a small Beach and make a whole day out of it where to eat the great thing about eating in Japan with kids is that they are always free anytime you need to make a reservation in advance and pay per adult you can assume that your little one can eat with you for free at familymart we stuck to the Staples of onigiri milk cartons and he loved the smoothies too at McDonald's it was fun to try their unique menu items and I thought their Happy Meal or happy set toys are better than the ones we get in America in May of 2023 we got a Tomica aquarium truck that came with assemble your own stickers interestingly I saw that there's truck sales on Amazon in the U.S for eight dollars for one of our dinners we visited utoya which I know has expanded to New York City in Tokyo it is very much a family restaurant which is why we appreciated it as far as the broader categories of restaurants conveyor belt Sushi is a fun one for the kids my toddler learned how to take trays off of the belt and enjoyed picking off the Sashimi from the nigiri in general you will find conveyor built Sushi to be cheaper than America and even the average restaurant there has a much higher quality of fish we went to this particular one located inside Yokohama station [Music] we considered the idea of the famous robot cafes but it seemed like something that's more suitable for elementary age kids plus I was worried my toddler would get scared we did go to a few quote unquote adult restaurants like an Izakaya place and mizutaki where there were less kids in the room we use the screen time during these instances so the adults could enjoy a quieter meal when food arrived a bit slower the thing about Japan is that not all restaurants allow children which can be hard to navigate in general you may want to make a quick phone call to the restaurant if it is Izakaya Yakitori or a more upscale restaurant so how kid friendly is Tokyo I found that there were a ton of amenities for young children and new moms for example in the Roppongi Hills Mall there was a resting area for young families with a microwave nursing rooms and changing tables there was also a designated play area for kids under two shoes off of course at the diver City Mall in odaiba I found plenty of changing pads as well it's not uncommon to find a child-sized toilet and a child height sink even in an adult bathroom for this reason going to the bathroom was never an issue for us and my three-year-old delighted every time there was a bathroom made just for his size where to stay I'm no expert on Tokyo but I can tell you that where we stay this time near rapunzi station was actually really great Not only was it a two-minute walk from the train station but I also did a quick Google search for my hotel and found several Park options that were more than just one play structure if you're coming from the United States you're likely dealing with jet lag and early morning wake UPS it was nice to be able to go outside and find something outdoor for the kids to do while everything was closed we stayed at Candia hotels roponki and we saw a lot of families staying there the breakfast spread will also have lots of things your child will like to eat in general I do think Hotel breakfasts are worth paying for when traveling with young children as they often want to eat right when they wake up one lesson I learned the hard way is that Japanese hotels don't do early check-ins so transferring hotels can be challenging if you have a toddler who is still taking one nap on days when we were changing hotels we were forced to do a stroller nap most hotels in Japan will make you pay an extra fee if you want to check in early [Music] before I get into the surprising thing I noticed about Japan's kid friendliness please remember to subscribe to the channel if you want to see more videos about motherhood and traveling with family so far so good right lots to do and lots to eat for both adults and a toddler in Japan but here's what was really surprising I've always known Japan has a strong culture of politeness and respect but I was way more sensitive to it with a three-year-old around I found that eating in most restaurants felt like we were in a library even if there were other kids around I don't know how the parents do it but Japanese children are extremely well behaved and don't seem to make a peep ever I felt like I got a lot of eyes when my toddler was speaking at anything above an inside voice a lot of the young adults in train stations acted like they have never seen a child before and they definitely didn't have a lot of patience for two or more toddlers running around restaurant staff tended to be very attentive too and came to wipe things down when water was spilled or Fork was dropped which if you have a toddler you know that happens a lot these were the moments where I felt the most American when my kid wasn't 100 respectful and quiet at all times the locals will never say something out loud but they will notice they're pretty strict about the shoe rule too even when my toddler took a nap while we were at a restaurant they requested that we take off his shoes that were touching the bench that some people sit on on the other hand I have heard from locals that older people in Japan like to interact with kids on the street which is not something you see in America maybe in Tokyo we were surrounded by more of a younger crowd I don't judge them for these expectations though it's part of Japanese culture that also makes Japan a really comfortable place to travel with kids it's so safe so clean and so organized so that's my guide to traveling to Japan with a toddler I haven't done a lot of international trips yet but I have a feeling that Japan will stay at the top of my list for years to come with all the food trains and things to see I know my toddler already can't wait to go back thanks for watching

Channel: Ashley Yang

Views: 21,455

Keywords: ashley yang, toddler travel essentials, travel with toddler, international travel with toddler, traveling with kids, travel for kids, travel with kids, family travel, zip air, japan trip, japan 2023, japan guide, travel in japan, japan travel guide, taking your toddler to tokyo in 2023, first time travel tips, is japan kid friendly, should i take my toddler to japan, candeo hotels roppongi, roppongi hills mall, little planet odaiba, yokohama sea bass, water taxi

Id: Ufzavbmgd40

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2023