Japan is a fantastic place for a family
vacation. It’s safe, child-friendly and full of incredible things to see and do… as well
as eat. Whether you want the hustle and bustle of the big cities or you’re keen to explore a
quieter, more traditional side of the country, there really is something for everyone, kids and
adults alike. About the only thing that’s going to prevent you from having the best holiday
ever is running into things that aren’t so intuitive or that simply operate very differently
in Japan. And that’s what this video is all about. I’m going to give you a stack of tips and advice
to help you make the most of your trip. I’ve broken it all up into the broad categories of
transport, accommodation, food and activities, so if you want to get to a specific section just
use the chapter select. For those that already follow the channel, yes, this is a compilation
of the previous “taking kids to Japan” videos, but with some extra updates, so
consider this the ultimate guide. Time to get into it. Let’s start with an obvious question - when is the
best time to come to Japan? Well, it depends on what you want to do, obviously, but I’d definitely
avoid bringing kids to Japan in summer. Summer - particularly in the big cities - is brutally humid
and hot, and will make everything you do more of a chore than it needs to be. Spring and Autumn,
on the other hand, are ideal times to visit. The weather is far more moderate and you can tap into
other attractions such as cherry blossom season and the fall leaves. If you’re looking to take the
family skiing, you can brave the winter cold or potentially look at coming at the start of spring
as the season extends into March and even beyond. Most people coming to Japan for
the first time fly into Tokyo, so here’s one tip if that’s what you’re going to
do - if at all possible try and land at Haneda airport as opposed to Narita. Haneda is much
closer to the city and much more convenient. Once you’ve landed, one of the first
things you should do is get IC cards for every member of the family that needs to
pay for public transport. IC cards make getting around heaps easier and are one of the most
essential things to have in Japan in general. There are tons of different brands that are
functionally the same and work throughout the country, such as SUICA, Pasmo and ICOCA.
You put money on these cards and you can then use them to tap your way through almost
all public transport. This option is obviously much more convenient than buying tickets for
trains or dealing with change on buses. IC cards are also widely supported elsewhere.
You can use them on many vending machines, in convenience stores and in plenty of
restaurants and shops too. Topping them up is as simple as using a ticket machine
at a train station or visiting a conbini. I’d highly recommend getting adult and child
IC cards for everyone in your family that needs to pay for public transport as it just
makes life so much simpler. That said, if you’re flying into Tokyo your options - as
of publishing this video at least - are limited. Since August 2023 sales of most SUICA and Pasmo
cards in Japan have been suspended due to chip shortages. There ARE ways around this, however.
You should still be able to get both the Welcome SUICA card and the Pasmo Passport. These are
special tourist cards that expire after 28 days, so you need to ensure you spend the
balance on the card before you leave. As of April 2024 you can get Welcome SUICAs from
select counters and vending machines at Haneda airport, and you can buy regular SUICAs from JR
East Travel Service Centers at Narita airport as well as at major train stations throughout Tokyo.
Pasmo Passports are available at both Haneda and Narita airports, and can also be purchased at
various train stations throughout the city. If you’re buying physical cards
you’ll need cash to top them up, whether you’re doing so at a
train station or a conbini. If you have an iPhone it’s actually a simple
matter to get a virtual SUICA or PASMO card, but if you need to get ICs for your kids you’re
still going to have to find physical cards anyway. It’s also worth pointing out that I still need
to top up my virtual SUICA at convenience stores using cash as I can’t actually add to the balance
with any of my credit cards. Just so you know, this is an ongoing issue with foreign VISA
cards. I’ve never had any problems using my cards IN Japan, but doing things
like topping up my SUICA through the app or buying Disneyland tickets through the
official online site simply haven’t worked. To date it’s just SUICA and Pasmo sales that have
been suspended so if you’re flying into somewhere other than Tokyo there will be a different
regional card available, and this will also work all over Japan. In Osaka, for instance, you
should still be able to pick up an ICOCA card. With that out of the way, let's run through
the many, many options for getting around. If you’re moving around within a city you’ll
soon discover that the public transport is pretty incredible. Whether you’re on the JR
lines or using one of the subway services, in the big cities it’s rare to wait
more than a few minutes for a train, making getting from one place in
a city to another super efficient. It also helps that stations
have plenty of English signage, and this extends onto the trains themselves
- and even buses for that matter - which usually have English language
station info and announcements. And now that we all have supercomputers
and internet access in our pockets, the once daunting task of actually navigating
the many, many train lines in a megalopolis like Tokyo has suddenly become a whole lot easier.
I personally use Google Maps for 99% of all my travel planning and travel execution in Japan.
The app lets me set a bunch of parameters such as departure time or arrival time, and any
route I select factors in walking time and generally has platform numbers as well as
which exit to take when leaving a station. You can suss all this stuff out in advance too,
so when you’re planning each day’s itinerary at home you can get a sense of how easy or
hard it is to get from place to place. And then when you’re there you can lean into it
pretty heavily. If Google Maps says the train you want is leaving at 2:34 from platform
25 and there’s a train listed at that time on that platform I’ll generally just hop on
and it almost always works out. Like I said, Japan’s trains are reliable and crazy efficient. Even so, Google Maps isn’t perfect
and I’ve certainly found it’s given me inaccurate information from time to time
- particularly when it comes to buses and train travel in more out of the way places.
I typically try to cross check that kind of stuff either at tourist information centres
or by asking at bus stops and train stations. It’s also important to know what the different
grades of trains mean, as there are Local, Rapid, Express and Special Rapid services.
I’ve listed these in order of efficiency, so a Local train will stop at every station,
whereas Special Rapid trains will only stop at major stations and are the fastest
option without needing an extra ticket. An extra ticket, you say? Yes, if your route for
the day includes a Shinkansen or a Limited Express train, you can’t simply tap your way onto these
with an IC card. Both require an additional ticket to be purchased – whether that’s for a reserved
seat or to simply sit in an unreserved section. Purchasing that extra ticket for your family
is simple enough but you’ll need to bear it in mind when planning your travel itinerary.
Google Maps, for instance, doesn’t factor in the time that may be required. For the Shinkansen
you’ll either want to book your seats online ahead of time or allow plenty of extra time. Not only
will you most likely have to queue for tickets, but some routes sell out early so you can
easily wind up on a later train. More on bullet trains in a bit. For Limited Express
trains, our experience has been that it’s best to try and arrive a little early
to buy the tickets if at all possible. Google’s walking directions also aren’t always as
efficient or easy to understand as they could be, particularly when navigating dense, urban
environments like Osaka and Tokyo. Japanese cities tend to have a lot of levels Jerry, so
the best way to get somewhere might be along one of the extensive underground walkways
connecting different subway stations, or up along an overpass. You need to pay particular
attention to floor numbers too as big stations, shopping complexes and entertainment districts
tend to have a lot of verticality. Google Maps will certainly point you in the right direction
but the optimal route may not be obvious. Coming back to the trains, one thing you should
bear in mind is that even as efficient as they are they still get stretched to capacity at
times. The trains can get insanely busy during peak hour in the big cities and the only thing
worse than being crammed into a carriage with a hundred other people on your own is doing
that with kids. It’s worth trying to avoid peak hour travel during the week if you can.
A city like Tokyo doesn’t really get started until 10am anyway – shops tend to open late
and stay open late – so dodging the morning rush between about 7 and 9am isn’t too hard. The
5pm to 7pm surge can be a bit trickier, though. Another thing to know about travelling by
train in the big cities is you’ll generally have to switch lines a lot. This can be a major
hassle with kids as it means lots of stairs and lots of walking between, say, the JR exit and
the subway entrance or vice versa. Google Maps will typically give you a few different options
for getting from place to place so you can try and pick the most straightforward route. There
are even checkboxes you can select for “fewest transfers” and “least walking”, which can be
invaluable. And in general, when travelling with kids, always try and allow extra time,
particularly when you’ve got transfers to make. You should also be aware that Google Maps
doesn’t do a great job of highlighting the different rail operators and what’s going to be
involved when you’re changing stations versus lines. In this travel schedule, for instance,
you’re transferring from Shinjuku Station to Shinjuku Station, but there’s no indication
that these are two separate Shinjuku stations that are actually a reasonable walk and
many escalators apart. On top of that, the app pretty much assumes that when you get
off the Oedo subway line you’ll know you need to follow the signs to the JR Shinjuku station…
which is quite an assumption if you haven’t spent much time in Tokyo already. The somewhat annoying
solution is to try and get your head around which rail operators you’re using ahead of time or
while in transit so you’ve sussed that - in this example - the Chuo line leaves from the JR
station and then you’ll know where you’re heading! I’ve also found that Google Maps resets
itself periodically, which can be pretty annoying when you’re mid-journey and then have
to reconstruct the itinerary that you’d mapped out and were actively following. There’s
a system for pinning your planned route, but it’s not very intuitive, so I tend to
screen cap my plan so I have a record of it and just go through the process of putting it back
together as and when necessary. Technology, eh? Oh, and when you’re leaving the station, pay
attention to the exit Google Maps tells you to take. Some stations have dozens of exits
and getting back to street level in the most convenient spot to reach your destination
will save you a heap of time… and a whole lot of grumbling from your kids. If your map app
of choice doesn’t give you an exit, look at where you need to go in relation to the station and pick
the most likely option. One thing to keep in mind, if you look at a map in a station, they’re
almost never orientated with north at the top, so orient yourself towards north before you
decide which exit you should head towards. Trains almost always have priority seats
reserved for the elderly, pregnant women, families with young kids and so on, so look
out for those and hopefully at least your kids will be able to sit down some of the
time. Stations generally have elevators to and from the platforms too, so if you have a
stroller or bags, they can be helpful. Just bear in mind that you often have to go out of
your way to find them so, yep, more walking. As far as train fares go, if your kids
are 12 or older they pay the adult fare. If they’re 6-11 they pay a kids fare which is
50% the adult fare. Kids aged between one and five travel for free. At least, they do
if there are enough adults accompanying them. The rule – apparently – is two
children per adult. So if you have two adults somehow travelling with five kids aged
between one and five – good luck with that by the way – you’d have to pay a kids fare
for the fifth kid. Infants that are less than one year old travel for free and I assume
aren’t included in the rule I just mentioned. One last thing to note. Say you’re travelling on
the Shinkansen and want to get reserved seats. If a child aged five or under is going
to use a reserved seat they’re meant to pay the child’s fare. Otherwise they’re
fine to sit on your lap or you can go in an unreserved car where they’re okay
to have their own seat if available. Fares for buses follow similar rules to
trains, while highway buses also generally offer cheaper fares for children.
If you’re renting a car, meanwhile, children under six must be in a child seat or
booster seat in the rear of the car. Enquire in advance to make sure enough kids seats are
available before you rent the car. Taxis, meanwhile, are exempt, so just make sure your kids
buckle up or sit on your lap or are in a sling. Highway buses are a cheap option for getting
around, but really, the least painful way to move between major destinations in Japan when
travelling with kids is by express trains, bullet trains and regional flights. If you
want to go from Tokyo to Osaka, for instance, there are bullet trains leaving literally every
few minutes. You don’t need to queue for a counter to buy Shinkansen tickets either as the
ticket machines have an English language option. You DO need to get a ticket, however, as you
can’t tap your way onto the Shinkansen with an IC card. Each train has reserved and
non-reserved carriages with seats in the former costing slightly more. Since you’re
travelling with kids I’d recommend trying to get reserved seats so you know you’ll
all have assigned seats and will hopefully be together. That said you can consider using
the non-reserved carriages if you know you’re getting on the train at its first stop as you
can queue up and nab your seats out of the gate. It’s also possible to book Shinkansen tickets
online or through an app, but I’ve always just rocked up when I want to travel and bought them
on the spot. Getting tickets ahead of time is worth considering, however, if you know you’re
going to be travelling on a particularly busy day or you just want to have everything sorted
in advance. Sites like Klook are an option, but if you can I’d go through the official
channels. For JR West, for instance, that’s Smart EX (which also has an app) and for
JR East it’s eki-net. I haven’t tried using the latter but I can – sadly – confirm that Smart
EX generally doesn’t like foreign VISA cards. I tried using two different cards during the
registration process and got nowhere. Shame, because you can actually save a decent amount
of money by booking your tickets more than 28 days out. If you’ve got a Mastercard or
AMEX, incidentally, you should be fine. Another thing to bear in mind is that there
are express Shinkansen and there are those that make many more stops. The fastest
you can get from Hiroshima to Osaka, for instance, is an hour and 20 minutes
via the Nozomi, whereas the Kodama takes more than two hours and 45 minutes. If you
buy your tickets from a JR counter the staff will always put you on the fastest option. JR
counter staff typically speak good English too. Using the machines is straightforward
and often significantly faster, but just make sure you get a basic fare
ticket in addition to your seat ticket. You need them both and you actually put them
through the ticket gate at the same time. The Shinkansen are great, but they’re not cheap,
and they’re not always the fastest option, depending on where you’re heading. If you
want to go from, say, Tokyo to Fukuoka, a regional flight may well be both
the quickest and cheapest option. Many flights within Japan are very
competitively priced and JAL even has a Japan Explorer Pass that foreigners can
take advantage of for flat fare pricing. JR Passes used to be the way to go
if you wanted to travel around Japan, but since the huge price hike in late 2023
they’re no longer even vaguely reasonable value, so in addition to domestic flights I’d look
into regional travel passes as well. There are a heap of them, and if one fits your
itinerary it may save you money and hassle. Before we move on to the next topic here are ten more things to know when it
comes to travelling in Japan: Make sure you have data while you’re there.
I can’t stress enough how utterly essential this is. Sure, there’s free wi-fi in some shops,
public spaces and at your accommodation but being able to quickly look up transport or an address in
Google Maps or to translate a menu in a restaurant without any hassle will make your life a lot
easier. It’s not that expensive any more either. You can either get a Japanese sim, add an eSim to
your mobile or activate your existing provider’s roaming plan if it’s good value. Alternatively,
you can rent a wi-fi unit as that can be shared across multiple devices. That’s probably the
worst of the options, however, as it introduces the headache of managing the battery life on an
additional device, plus, it also becomes a problem if you split up. Oh, and if you’re planning on
using Google Translate, download the Japanese database before you go because it’s always
when you need it most that your data drops out. Unless you’re well outside a big population
centre, there are conbinis - aka convenience stores – everywhere in Japan and
they’re fantastic. They’re also the most straightforward places to get cash out.
The big names like Family Mart and 7-Eleven all have ATMs and international cards are
widely accepted. While Japan is less of a cash society than it once was, you’ll still
need cash for smaller establishments. I’ve also found the further you go from the
big cities, the less cards are accepted. Speaking of cards, the best way to
avoid currency conversion fees is to pay in yen. I use a Wise VISA card
whenever I’m in Japan as it lets me pay from a stockpile of yen without any fees.
Another option to consider is Revolut. It’s a good idea to carry a hand towel
or two with you, as – bizarrely – a lot of Japanese public restrooms don’t have
paper towels or hand dryers. Hand towels can also be good to wipe the sweat off if
you’re travelling in summer. Of course, as I said at the start my advice is - don’t
take kids to Japan in summer if you can help it. Consider whether you can make do
without a stroller and just take a baby carrier instead. Strollers can be pretty
cumbersome in busy Japanese cities. Mind you, so can carrying a kid that’s a little too
big for a carrier. If you do have a stroller, try to avoid trips where you’re changing
trains and stations a bunch of times. Finding a central spot to stay and then refining
your itinerary in advance goes a long way here. Enormous suitcases are a bad idea in Japan
in general. I’ve stayed in hotels where I could barely fit a modest-sized suitcase on
the floor. They’re also a pain on trains and buses. The overhead storage on the shinkansen can
actually fit reasonably large suitcases but if your luggage is too big you’ll need to actually
book a spot for it at the end of the carriage or in the luggage storage between carriages,
which is an extra hassle. That said, you can always use luggage forwarding services if you
really don’t want to deal with lugging luggage. Changing facilities for babies are pretty widely
available in major cities, so if you’re in need of them, department stores are your friend.
Not only will they have changing tables, but private areas for breastfeeding, as well
as microwaves, formula makers, high chairs and vending machines with juice, baby wipes and
diapers. Shopping malls also have changing rooms as do many larger train stations. Not sure
where the nearest changing room is? Try this app out as it can tell you where the nearest one is
located. I’ll include links in the description. Buses are pretty straightforward in the major
cities. They’ll generally accept IC cards so whether you get on at the front door or back
door, and whether it’s a flat fare or the cost changes depending on how far you go, you can just
tap your way through it. Outside major cities, on the other hand, buses can be a lot more
old school. You’ll typically get on at the back door and if there’s no IC card reader you’ll
need to grab a ticket from the machine. Knowing how much to pay when you get off is a simple
matter of looking at the number on your ticket and finding its price on the display grid at the
front of the bus. The machine next to the driver can change thousand yen notes too, so don’t
stress if you don’t have the right change. Public transport also gets a lot more haphazard
outside the big cities. You can go from a world where there’s a train every four minutes
to having to organise your travel around a bus service that only goes four times a day. I
always suss out my options well ahead of time. Finally, ask for help if you need
directions or anything else! Japanese people are typically very accommodating and
will bend over backwards to help if they can. And that’s it for transport and getting around!
Let’s move on to my guide to accommodation, in which we’ll cover what your
accommodation options in Japan actually are, and how you should
go about choosing where to stay. The first thing to consider is how straightforward
it will be to get to your accommodation with all your luggage in the first place. If you’re flying
into Haneda, for instance, the monorail takes you to Hamamatsucho and the Keikyu line train goes
to Shinagawa, so staying in one of those suburbs or close by on the east side of the city may make
sense. That also means hopping on a Shinkansen is easy as they depart from Shinagawa and Tokyo
station. I always use apps like Google Maps to work out how easy the commute will be before I
settle on an itinerary and book any accommodation. Speaking of your itinerary, I’d recommend building
it out so that you’re not constantly on the move. With young kids in particular it’s a real hassle
to move around with luggage, so don’t try and cram too many stops into your stay. The holiday needs
to be fun for everyone so don’t feel bad about making it easy on yourself and setting up camp for
a few days in each location. Of course, it depends on what you want to get out of the trip, but –
particularly if your kids have never been to Japan before – there’s so much to do in the big cities
that you can spend several awesome days in a single city and have the peace of mind that you’re
coming back to the same accommodation every night. The key part of doing that, of course, is
finding a central location in which to stay so that it’s easy to get to the places you want
to go. Keen to hit up TeamLabs, Disneyland and, say, Skytree while in Tokyo? The east side of the
city is going to be most convenient. And even if you want to spend a day on the other side of the
city in Shibuya or visiting the Ghibli museum – as a couple of examples – Tokyo’s public transport is
so good it’s still not going to be a huge hassle. Each city is a little different, of course.
Kyoto has limited train coverage so you’ll need to use buses a lot more for getting
around. With that in mind, you may want to stay near Kyoto station so you’re close to the
main public transport hub. If you head to Osaka, on the other hand, you’ll probably come
in to Shin-Osaka on the Shinkansen, but that’s pretty out of the way and the
subway system in the city is excellent, so you’re much better off booking
accommodation that’s closer to the action. But what kind of accommodation can you expect
to find in Japan? Well, your choice of hotels may be a bit different going to Japan with kids
as opposed to on your own or as a couple. When I travel on my own, for instance, I almost always
stay in business hotels. They’re everywhere, great value and I don’t really care if my room
is a shoebox with a view onto the wall of the adjacent building. Because these hotels
are meant to cater to business travellers, however, they have a lot less rooms that will fit
families than they do rooms that can accommodate one or two people. They’re also less likely
to have baby-friendly options like cots. I also found when searching for family
accommodation online that a lot of the options I was presented with were pretty
misleading. It was quite surprising how many of the search results seemed to assume that
a lone double or queen-sized bed would somehow be enough for myself, my partner and my nine year old
– to the point that I reverted to simply searching for rooms for three adults after a while.
This is something to be very conscious of, so when searching for accommodation make sure
the site you’re looking at clearly tells you how many beds there are and how large they’ll
be. Be particularly wary of anywhere that says kids can stay for free, as there’s a reason for
that – they probably won’t have their own bed. When I’m planning a trip on my own I generally
search for hotels directly through Google Maps, but there’s no option in that interface
to specify that you have children with you and what their ages are. To
enable that functionality you’ll need to head to google.com/travel
and click on the “hotels” tab. Google is a reasonable enough
option for the most part, but you may want to try other aggregators such
as Tripadvisor and HotelsCombined. That said, in addition to the hassle of trying
to find a realistic set of beds, some aggregate sites also have a tendency
to shunt you from aggregator to aggregator. If you’re less concerned about squeezing the
best possible deal out of your accommodation, there’s something to be said for just going
straight to the Agodas and Booking.coms of the world, particularly as they incentivise using
them with various status and booking rewards. Your budget will partly determine the
kinds of hotels you’re looking at, but so too will your needs. Do you need
a bit more room than a business hotel is likely to provide for multiple suitcases,
strollers and the like? Would you value a view because you’re likely to be back at
the hotel early in the evening? Do you need laundry facilities? Luggage forwarding
services? There are lots of considerations. In addition to hotels, ryokan can be a good
option as they’ll generally have larger rooms - especially when the futons you sleep
on are packed away - and will give your kids more of a taste of Japanese culture. Plus, the
fact that you’re sleeping on futons means they can scale based on your needs a lot more easily
than a traditional hotel. Renting apartments or going through AirBNB can also make sense if you
- again - want more space, and are interested in using amenities like microwaves, stove tops and
washing machines. I also prioritise hotels with onsen facilities as for us a day in Japan isn’t
complete without a soak. Chains like Dormy Inn are both affordable and often have quite good baths,
so we’ve always got a couple of those in the mix on our trips. Be sure to check their tattoo
policy ahead of time if you’re inked up though. Check in for accommodation in Japan is
typically 3pm and hotels will almost never let you into your room before that. Even if it’s
2pm they’ll go through the check-in process and then tell you that the check-in time is 3pm.
It’s frustrating but just something you have to accept about travelling in Japan. The key
thing is to plan your days around that fact. Hotels are almost always fine to hold your bags
before you can check in or after you check out, so take advantage of that to ensure
you’re not lugging luggage unnecessarily. If you DO get caught with your bags, by the way, the lockers at train stations can be a lifesaver,
and they have English language instructions too. Lastly, this is an obvious tip, but save hotels
and other locations you’re planning on visiting or hoping to visit on Google Maps or your map app
of choice. That way you don’t have to search for them again as they’ll already be visible on
the map. Doing this ahead of time will also ensure you’ve got the right location. Plenty
of hotel chains have multiple hotels in the same city with very similar names. You
don’t want to rock up to the wrong one. Okay, so that was accommodation, let’s move on to ten tips for one of Japan’s most
spectacular assets - its food. Japan has a ridiculous array of food that it
does incredibly well. This obviously includes the full spectrum of Japanese cuisine, but it also
extends to food from around the globe. To quote Mr Baseball, the Tom Selleck classic – “Japan takes
the best from all over the world and makes it her own.” This means that regardless of whether
you want sushi or steak you’re in business. That said, as far as I’m concerned, eating
Japanese cuisine is one of the main draws of travelling to Japan, so if food is
going to be a focus it’s a good idea to try and ensure the whole family is on the
same page. This leads me to tip number 1. If your kids haven’t eaten a lot of Japanese
food, I’d recommend getting them started well ahead of the trip. Not only will this help
acclimatise them to some of the staples of Japanese cuisine, but it will also give
you a reliable baseline to fall back on without having to resort to the likes of
Maccas. And if it means that you have to eat more Japanese food before the trip? Well,
that’s just something you’ll have to endure. Before our first family trip to Japan, for
instance, my kid was already into udon, sushi, karaage chicken and tonkatsu,
so that gave us a great starting point, and from there it was only a short
leap to eating things like ramen, onigiri, yakitori, yakiniku, gyoza,
kushi katsu, okonomiyaki, shabu shabu and Japanese curry, which isn’t at all hot,
incidentally, unless you order it that way. Getting my son into Famichiki – the holy grail
of fast food that will absolutely kill you but at least you’ll die happy – wasn’t a hard
sell either. He’s such a fan of Japanese food these days that he usually goes over
with a wishlist of things he wants to eat and we check them off as we go along. You
want an egg sando with a Famichiki inside? I guess sometimes two rights just make an even
bigger right. Let’s move on to the next tip. If you’re on a budget – and even if you’re
not – lunch specials are your friend. Lots of restaurants do these, offering up
set meal choices that are both filling and excellent value. A lunch special will
set the family up for the rest of the day, letting you potentially just have
something light for dinner later on. Chain restaurants are a great fallback for family
meals as they’re reliable and consistent. Once you’ve been to yakitori chain Torikizoku once,
for instance, you know the options they have, how much things cost and how to order using
their tablets. There are heaps of restaurant chains in Japan that you can lean on, from more
focused options like Tonkatsu Maisen, Ichiran, Sushiro and Yoshinoya through to the broader
menus of family restaurants like Gusto and Denny’s. Many of the latter have menus with
a mix of Western and Japanese food and tend to be extremely affordable too. Also, robots. If
there’s a particular type of cuisine you’re after, do some Googling and see what chains are out
there, as it might be the easiest option. Pubs aren’t a staple part of life in Japan in
the same way they are in most Western countries, but that’s because izakayas fill that role
in their own inimitable way. Izakayas are informal bars that also have a variety of small
dishes on the menu. They’re fun places to go, and can be a good choice if you
need to cater to disparate tastes, as their menus typically encompass
everything from karaage chicken, gyoza and yakitori through to Western fare
like french fries and occasionally dishes like pizza. Some will be more family friendly than
others, but a good option is rarely far away. If you’re not sure what you want to eat, a
solid option is to head to the restaurant floors that are typically housed above
department stores. They’re great because there are heaps of restaurants to choose from
and you can simply walk around and see what’s on offer. The plastic meal displays are a huge
help in working out what different restaurants specialise in too. Not only are there usually
restaurant floors above department stores but there are often ridiculously vast arrays of
food stalls in the basement levels too, so you can wander about and pick stuff up individually.
You’ll need to find somewhere to eat it, however. It’s also worth pointing out that the
standard of food in Japan is uniformly high, so if the kids are grumbling you can
pretty much pick any hole in the wall restaurant and get something tasty.
Even the most unassuming places will serve up a decent meal so sometimes the
lowest effort option will be just fine. Speaking of unassuming places, plenty of
these will have vending machines out the front or just inside the door that you use
to place and pay for your order. More modern machines will have touch screens and the
option to change the language to English, but even if you’re using an old
school one with physical buttons, there’s no need to be intimidated, even
if all the choices are in Japanese. For a start, Google Translate can give you
a real-time idea of what the options are, as can the pictures if there are any, and
if in doubt, the choice at the top left is generally the recommended one,
or at least the most popular dish. The main things to bear in mind are that you’ll
almost always need cash to use these machines, and don’t forget that you can also order things
like extra toppings, side dishes and drinks. It’s easy to get flustered and feel rushed when
making your selections – particularly if there’s a queue – but a few extra seconds to make sure
you’ve got everything covered isn’t a problem. Just place your order, press the change button if there is one and hand the tickets
to the staff when you see them. Convenience stores – aka conbinis – are a
surprisingly good option when it comes to food and drink. Not only are they everywhere
but they stock a wide range of fresh food that’s replaced daily, from snacks like
onigiri and sandwiches through to full meals - which can even be heated up on the
spot. You can also get chips, chocolate, cup noodles, a wide array of drinks and
more. If your kids are picky eaters or have dietary restrictions for one reason or
another, conbinis can save a heap of hassle. Speaking of picky eaters, hotel breakfasts can
be a bit on the funky side in Japan. And no, not the good kind of funk. I’m talking more about
seemingly random selections of food that’ll have you scratching your head as to how you’re going to
eke a satisfying breakfast out of the choices on offer. Obviously, bigger places and more upmarket
hotels usually have quite wide selections, so chances are you’ll all find something you
want to eat at those. Smaller establishments, on the other hand, are much more of a
dice roll. And even if the selection is good for a Japanese person, if your kids
aren’t used to eating rice, miso, pickles, cured fish and the like for breakfast, it
may be a big swing and a miss. Personally I generally opt to save the money and just grab
food for everyone from the nearest conbini. If you have vegans or vegetarians with
you you’ll need to do more research when deciding on restaurants. One useful tip is
to ask your ryokan host or hotel concierge for recommendations. They’ll be happy to
make bookings for you too. Other than that, Google Translate or a similar app can help lower
the language barrier, so whether you’re browsing a menu in a restaurant or the aisles in
a conbini, technology is your friend. Those were my primary pointers for painless
family feasts in Japan, but before we move on, I have seven bonus tips related to
food that I think you should also know! While families are welcome in most
restaurants, some are definitely better suited to a family meal than others.
If you see a standing ramen bar, for instance, the expectation is that you’ll order and eat
quickly, then be on your way. Anywhere with extremely limited seating that clearly wants
to get customers through at speed is a bad choice if you have really young kids or if you
just want to take a breath while eating a meal. Most restaurants will be able to
rustle up a fork or a spoon if asked, but if your kids are old enough you
may want to try and get them using chopsticks before you go over. You
could also buy training chopsticks to bring with you or a portable set of
kids utensils so you never need to ask. We always take games like Uno as well
as colouring in books and activity books to help bridge long train journeys or
waits in restaurants. Also as a futile attempt to reduce screen time at night. It
rarely works but hey, it’s worth a shot. Need a high chair? You’ll generally be able to get
one in places like department store restaurants, family restaurants and most chain restaurants.
Smaller places like tiny izakaya or ramen shops that only have stools are unlikely to be able
to hook you up, however. Just ask at the door. Conbinis in Japan are unbelievably useful for food
but they do have some blind spots in other areas. Need nappies? Or sunscreen? Or painkillers?
While those items are sometimes available, it’s far more likely that you’ll need to go
to a pharmacy or large supermarket. That said, one thing you can rely on is for conbinis to
have rubbish bins. You pretty much won’t see bins on the streets so if you want to get
rid of rubbish or recycle a bottle your best bet is to pop into a conbini. The
bins are usually just inside the door. While there are conbini everywhere, Japanese
people generally don’t eat while moving around in public. If you’re desperate, many conbini
have eating areas - usually just a narrow table or two and seats, or you can stand outside the
store and eat before moving on. It’s also fine to stand by a vending machine if you want
a drink. Eating and drinking on trains is generally a no-go too, with key exceptions
like the shinkansen, aka the drinkansen. It can be fun to teach your kids a few
basic Japanese words and phrases before you go over. And you should definitely
have some vocab related to food in the mix as it will most definitely come
in handy. My suggestions? If you can get your kids saying “oishii” or “oishikatta”
(delicious / it was delicious) and “gochi sou sama deshita” as you leave a restaurant (thank
you for the meal) you’ll be star clientele. So those were my tips for eating well
with the kids in the land of the rising yum. Let’s move on to advice for
planning out your activities. When it comes to how you spend your days
in Japan, there are a mind boggling number of options. From temples and shrines to
amusement parks, game arcades, themed cafes, toy stores and dense shopping districts, there’s
something for everyone. If you’re there at the right time of year you can even plan your
days around cherry blossoms or autumn foliage, not to mention seasonal sports like
baseball games and sumo tournaments. In general though, I think finding ways to
take advantage of your kids’ interests is key to having a good holiday. Japan really is a pop
culture juggernaut so if they’re into Pokemon, manga/anime such as One Piece, video game
franchises like Mario, Zelda and Final Fantasy, or other Japanese titans like Godzilla
and Hello Kitty (name a more iconic duo), then you’ll already have some stuff
to target while you’re over there. Many Japanese cities have otaku districts
with geeky shops, arcades and more, so if you’re in Tokyo, for instance, you can
head to Akihabara or Nakano Broadway and check out dozens of stores selling new and second
hand games, merch, manga and more. That said, there are more options outside those districts
than ever before. The big electronics stores like Bic Camera and Yodobashi have plenty
to offer, while there are brand-specific options like Pokecenters and One Piece
shops all over the place. Tokyo and Osaka both have Nintendo Stores too, while game
arcades aren’t too hard to find either. Regardless of the Japanese property your
kids are into, chances are there’ll be places you can visit to take advantage of that
interest, whether those are shops, themed cafes, amusement parks or statues large and
small. Your kids love Godzilla? Well, there’s a chain of stores selling Godzilla merch,
plus you can spot him in Shinjuku and maybe even zipline into his gaping maw on Awaji Island.
Where’s that? Just near Naruto. Naruto the city, that is - not the character. Although
it’s also close to the Naruto attraction. Your activities don’t have to be
based around Japanese properties, either. Do your kids love Harry Potter? If so
then Universal Studios Japan in Osaka or The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in Tokyo
might be worth a look. Are they into Disney, Pixar or Star Wars? Disneyland
and DisneySea might be the go. For theme parks, you’ll want to plan
ahead. They tend to be quietest mid-week, and by “quietest” I mean “bearably packed” so
try to engineer your weeks around going on the slowest days. And before you book, make sure
there aren’t public holidays, school holidays or anything else that might cause a spike
in attendance. Research is everything so you should also look into the busiest and best rides
so you can beeline for them when the gates open. Most theme parks also have an app, and while
they’re not without their issues, it’s helpful to have an interactive map and to be able to
see how long queues are in real-time. They have additional functionality too. At the Disney parks,
for instance, you can book spots for shows and the like using the app. The system is quite limited so
look into it ahead of time to make the most of it. Fast passes can also be crucial for
making the most of your amusement park experiences. At DisneySea we wound
up paying for fast passes midway through the day just to dodge the queues on a
couple of rides and get more stuff in. Universal Studios Japan works a little
differently, with a somewhat confusing range of packages you can choose from on
top of your actual entry tickets. As we’re big Nintendo and Harry Potter fans we bought
a package that included timed entry to both Super Nintendo World and the Harry Potter area,
as well as the ability to skip the queue for a ride in each. Our choice also included fast
passes we could use on a handful of other rides. My son was surprisingly fine queueing in
both parks but by the end of the day the queues for the best rides can be nudging towards two
hours long, so sprinkling in some quick fixes along the way means you get to do more and
you’re more likely to keep everyone happy. It’s also worth pointing out that you may have
trouble buying tickets for theme parks through the official channels. Tokyo DisneySea’s site
simply wouldn’t accept any of my credit cards, for instance, and this is a common problem.
We wound up buying our tickets through Klook. Also be sure to check whether your kids
are tall enough to ride everything before you book. You really don’t want to miss
The Flying Dinosaur because your damn weiner kids are too small. And as a general
rule, Disneyland is best with young kids, whereas I’d wait to visit DisneySea and USJ
until my kids can go on all the rides. And once you’ve done those parks, it’s
time to graduate to Fuji-Q Highland! Just as I recommended getting your kids
into Japanese food before the trip, the same can be true of other aspects
of Japanese culture. If your children haven’t seen Totoro or the other kid-friendly
Studio Ghibli classics, those characters are everywhere in Japan so it’s worth getting the
family up to speed. Speaking of Studio Ghibli, the merch shops are everywhere now, but if
you’re hoping to visit the Ghibli Museum or Ghibli Park you’ll definitely need
to get those tickets well in advance. That goes for plenty of activities, incidentally.
Lots of locations sell out ahead of time so if you’re doing Disney or tackling TeamLab, get your
tickets as far in advance as possible. You’re probably fine to buy tickets for things
like Skytree or Tokyo Tower on the day, but I’d still try and book ahead as you may be
able to find a better price online - particularly if you’re looking to book a handful of activities
and thus may be able to get a package discount. One overall piece of advice I have is to be
realistic about what makes sense for your kids. When my son was younger, for instance,
we definitely catered our itineraries more specifically to keeping him happy, which meant
more amusement parks and less museums, more merch and less temples, more chilling and less walking.
Now that he’s a bit older, however, it’s more of a mix as we try to get him into the stuff we like to
do in Japan. He might not have particularly wanted to hike up Mount Kintoki in Hakone for a view
of Mount Fuji, but the promise of a mochi at the top followed by a meal of his choice when he got
back down gave him something to look forward to. Context can be invaluable too, so in the instance
of Kintoki, I told him the folk tale of the super strong Kintaro, who was supposedly raised by a
witch on the very mountain we were climbing. That way when we saw the boulder Kintaro supposedly
broke in two, and then when we found an enormous axe on the summit – much like the one he was said
to have carried around – it all made more sense. Obviously your mileage will vary as my son’s
eyes tend to glaze over when I start talking about how amazing it is that a temple
has been around for a thousand years, but still, context will help them
get more out of the trip in general, and it’s a good excuse for you to dive into
researching your destinations a little more too. There’s some fun supernatural aspects
of Japanese culture you can all learn about together as well, such
as yokai and animism. I mean, who doesn’t want to know about how kappa love
cucumbers or how there’s that weird umbrella yokai. Or you can dig into some of the more
fearsome-looking creatures like oni and tengu. Choosing manageable, age appropriate
activities is everything. You’re not going to want to climb Kintoki if you have to
lug a stroller and carry a child the entire way, for instance. Instead, maybe you’re
better off hitting a toy store, finding a playground or petting
some adorable miniature pigs. You may also want to involve your children
in the planning stages ahead of the trip, telling them about some of the options so
they can build out a list of stuff they’d like to do. That way when you’re there they can
pick from their list - perhaps even choosing between a couple of options - so they have a
little agency in what’s happening each day. And if you don’t want your kids badgering
you to buy stuff for them constantly, you could think about giving them a daily
allowance that they can choose to spend however they like. That way they have to decide
what they really want. Do they want to spend money on UFO catchers? Gachapon? Gaming arcades? Merch?
Figurines? Vending machines? Famicom or Famichiki? Here are a handful of other tips to bear in mind: This is a bit counterintuitive given I’ve
said you should get your kids interested in Japanese food and culture ahead of the
trip, but it’s also a bit dangerous to hype it up too much. If you’re like “Tokyo is
the craziest, busiest city in the world!” or “Japanese game arcades are like nothing
you’ve ever seen!” you run the risk of setting dangerously high expectations.
Better to underpromise and overdeliver. A good way to help ensure your kids actually
remember more of the holiday is to either have them write a daily journal if they’re old
enough, or do some kind of family recap at the end of the day, covering off the stuff
that everyone liked most or perhaps even disliked! That’s a good time to go over
the plan for the following day too. You can also get your kids to write postcards to
send back home to family and friends. Sure, they probably won’t arrive until after
you’re back, but that’s not really the point. If you need a bathroom, obvious options
are train stations and department stores, but most conbini also have bathrooms that
customers can use. Just be sure to buy something if you do that. You can also use conbinis as
the easiest source of a snack, meal or drink. And lastly, don’t try to cram too
much in. Tired kids are grumpy kids. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video.
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