Japan was never on my radar as a place to visit but because my husband had already been and loved it, I agreed to go on another trip with him and take the kiddies. My mind was blown.
Japan is amazing and ESPECIALLY for kids. There is so much to see and do there that it is impossible to do it all in one trip but we have included all of our favourite things from our 12 days visiting.
We wanted to check out a few different cities so we planned our trip to fly in to Osaka for three days, then to Hiroshima for one, to Kyoto for two, Nagoya for one (we just went there for Legoland) followed by five days in Tokyo. I was a little worried that moving around so often would be hard on the kids but with the extremely efficient and easy to use transport/train system it really wasn’t an issue and in fact that was probably one of Finn’s favourite parts!
Japan has to be the most thought out place in the world and I remember saying to myself so often “why haven’t we thought of this?!”. In their bathrooms, they have a baby seat on the wall for all those times you get stuck in a toilet with your child and have no where to put them! Ah-mazing. They have parent rooms everywhere and you’ll find nappies and wipes at the chemist or 7-eleven.
I have compiled a list of things we did on our trip with the kids in each place we visited with some tips when visiting if your planning too. I am breaking it up in to two posts because we visited five places and there’s heaps to include so part two will be coming soon!
Hope you enjoy xo
A few tips first:
Buy a JR pass if you’re moving from city to city-we travelled for free basically the whole way. We got the standard pass where you are not always guaranteed a seat (you can upgrade if you spend more) but we honestly never had a problem getting a seat. We could also book in advance and provided seat were available, we got to book them. It may seem costly but when you sit down and work it out you will end up saving plenty with the JR Pass if you’re travelling around like we did. Most suburban trains also used JR Pass and the smaller ones that didn’t were really cheap anyway.
Learn basic Japanese. Yes, the Japanese speak English but it is limited and you will find it difficult if you don’t know any Japanese. It’s also respectful to be able to say thank you and hello to them in their language. Learning basic sentences before you go will also make your trip easier. Things like “thank you”, “where is this?”, “where is the nearest coffee?? (do you like that one? 😉 ), “How much is this”, “How do I get here?” “Is this vegetarian? (especially important if you’re afraid of what you may be eating! hahaha).
If you’re travelling with a young child, take a travel cot. We wouldn’t have survived without ours and the Air Bnb’s/hotels are pretty small so if you don’t have somewhere to put your little one, chances are no one is sleeping!
OSAKA
Osaka Park will definitely be on your to do list when visiting and especially if you are doing so in Cherry Blossom season. It was definitely the prettiest park we got to see whilst in Japan as it was full bloom when we arrived and they are beautiful! There’s heaps to see and do here as well and you could easily spend a few hours so time it wisely around naps. Easily pram accessible and you’ll need one or a carrier for the walking. Lots of wonderful spots to stop and eat along the way and you’ll want to get photos of the Osaka Castle. Finn and I went in to the castle but he just wanted to climb to the top and then go back down so it wasn’t really worth it for the little ones as he wasn’t interested in any of the history side of things. I did spot a Kimono dress-up inside if you’re looking to do one! Tickets were cheap for entry at about 400 yen and I think 200 yen for Finn.
In front of the castle is a little stall where you can get your photo taken with a Ninja. You get to dress-up in some sweet costumes and get a photo from their photographer as well as you own. Because the Japanese are so courteous, they say you can pay if you like your photo and if not they don’t pressure you in to buying. I think one was around 2000 yen ($22ish AUD).
OSAKA AQUARIUM
This was rated one of the best aquariums in the world and although I don’t have a lot to compare it too as I haven’t been to many BIG aquariums, this one was pretty awesome and Leo was mesmerised by all the fish. You can’t take a pram in, but they give you the option to store it for free at the beginning and there’s lockers for your valuables. Definitely a good activity for the kids. We got to see small sharks, hammerhead sharks and whales as well as your expected aquarium marine life. Tickets were pretty reasonable for what you would expect a tourist attraction like this to be. Around $29 Australian for adults and $8 for Finn and Leo was free. Totally worth it.
Nara Park
Definitely a must do if you can while in Osaka. Nara is about an hour via train and is a beautiful little city that is known for its roaming deer. It’s more peaceful than most areas of Japan with less crowds, and a very relaxed feel. This was probably Leo’s favourite part of the entire trip as his face absolutely beamed when he saw the deer and he would have spent hours running around with them. The deer are really friendly and will come to you if you have food. There’s plenty of little stalls along the way where you can pick up deer food for 150 yen and it’s worth doing if you want to get up close. There were plenty of warnings about being careful around the deer as they often head butt you but I think common sense prevails and you shouldn’t tease them with the food. We had absolutely no problem with them and the kids got to have plenty of pats!
Nara Park is usually where everyone heads to find the deer but if you walk from the train station there’s a small park on the way that was covered with them and we actually preferred it more because there were no other people there. Nara Park is still worth a visit though as it’s beautiful and has the Todaiji temple as well as other historic elements. The park is about a 10 minute walk from the station.
Dotonbori
This would have had to have been the best spot for food in Japan overall and well worth the visit. Dotonbori is a district of street-food, restaurants and entertainment with a buzzing night life that really allows you to absorb the atmosphere Japan has to offer. The main street is lined with restaurants offering Ramen, sushi, dumplings as well as other cuisines like American and Italian. They also have plenty of entertainment and shopping and lots of capsule machines (which I got addicted too because they the Disney characters are so freaking cute!). Don’t leave without trying a melon ice-cream bun thing (I can’t remember what it was called but it’s pictured below!)
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was always going to be a must for me because of the history that embeds it. I was probably expecting it to be a bit less restored than it was but it really has become a beautiful peaceful place that promotes happiness everywhere you go. It’s not a big place so you can see most of it on a short trip and we only stayed the one night due to our schedule but we got to walk around the Memorial Peace Park which was beautiful and check out the Atomic Bomb Dome which was a very sombre experience; especially trying to explain it to little Finn.
We also wanted to do Miyajima Island but didn’t get enough time so next time we are definitely fitting it in because it looks gorgeous and it is only a 10 minute free ride from Hiroshima, free with your JR Pass.
I’ll have more to come on the rest of our trip to Japan in another post soon!
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