We spent one week in Japan with our toddler at the end of November, with 2 nights in Osaka and 4 nights in Kyoto. We had our highs and lows, but I definitely want to go back soon! Here are all the tips and lessons we learnt, boiled down in bullet list. Why Japan? 1. There is a direct flight from Seattle to Tokyo (about 11 hours), but we flew from Nanjing, China, to Osaka (2.5 hours), because we were visiting my parents there, and since it’s only less than 3 hours to Japan, why not? 2. And even if I need to fly all the way from Seattle to Japan, I would still do it, because there’s so much there: delicious food (not just sushi or sashimi or miso soup), beautiful temples and gardens, world-class attractions (Disney, Aquarium, etc.), hot springs and ski resorts, delicate handcraft and rituals (origami, kimono, tea, flower arrangement), and the super polite and always well-dressed people. The only thing is the jet lag, for the baby. It’s 8 or 9 hours difference. I haven’t found an efficient way to deal with that yet, and that’s why I took the opportunity to go there while visiting China. 3. Japan is one of the few developed countries in Asia. Safe, clean, efficient, but still affordable. Why Osaka and Kyoto? 1. It’s my first trip to Japan, and with a two-year-old, I wanted to start from somewhere less cosmopolitan or crowded than Tokyo. I was wrong about it. Osaka and Kyoto are very cosmopolitan, crowded and touristy but still bearable. So you could go to Tokyo. 2. We went there end of November, peak of the fall foliage season. Kyoto with its numerous old temples and beautiful gardens are perfect for appreciating the red leaves. I was right about it, but so were all the other tourists! 3. The nearest international airport to Kyoto is at Osaka, the two cities are only half an hour away by train. 4. We only had one week and didn’t want to spend all the time on road with all the luggage. So only Osaka and Kyoto. But the train system in Japan is very well developed which makes moving around pretty fast, though usually very crowded on the train. So here are all the tips I gathered during planning and the lessons learned from our trip, boiled down in bullets: 1. Plan your trip and book accommodations ahead! Time for or avoid the peak seasons (April cherry blossom season and November fall foliage season). When I read that the end of November happened to be the perfect time for fall foliage in Kyoto, I was excited, thinking how lucky we were! I knew it would be peak season, but I didn’t know it would be so peak! We started to book the accommodation about one week before departure, and it was almost impossible to get anything in Kyoto for that weekend. We were monitoring basically all the booking platforms that we knew, and in the end, had to book two hotels for the four nights in Kyoto, and we should be thankful for getting anything. We paid a lot. $250 per night for a tiny room of about 20 square meters, with one queen bed. And we were two adults and a toddler. This is at Hotel Monterey, a centrally-located chain hotel with no characteristics or special views. I would not recommend it. Another surprise about coming to Kyoto in peak season was it was extremely hard to find restaurants for dinner. Every evening during our 4 days there, we had to ask at least 5 restaurants before finding seats available for two adults and one toddler. Most of the Japanese restaurants are small with limited seats, and some of them only have bar chairs. I didn’t see often highchairs available. But that was fine for our two year old, who dislikes highchairs anyway. We have to admit that we were a bit uncompromising in our demands for authentic Japanese food. There were McDonald’s and some western restaurants, but it was never within our consideration. 2. Bring a stroller! You will walk a lot. Trains, subways and buses are very developed in Japan, but there’s always some minutes of walk from the stop to the destination. And if the kid needs to nap, a stroller is really handy. Actually the only time that I could really enjoy a temple or garden by myself was when our daughter fell asleep in the stroller, my husband stayed outside looking after her and waiting for me. Though the public transportation is very crowded, people are willing to give space for your stroller. You need to get used to staying really close to other people though. 3. Bring a small stroller! So far, we’ve been bringing our loyal cheap but steady Graco stroller everywhere in the world, because our daughter could lie down flat and the basket could be detached from the frame to be carried inside if necessary. It served well in our Japan trip, but it would be much easier with a smaller stroller. There are many times that I just didn’t know how we got our stroller in the packed compartment of the train. Japan, as its map shows, is narrow. Upon the arrival at the Osaka Kansai airport, while going through the immigration, I had to take my daughter and diaper bag and our coats out, remove the basket, and fold the frame, to go through the narrow isle. Most of the elevators are also small, so we usually had to wait a few rounds before we could get in. And of course, the hotel rooms are also small. We had to squeeze ourselves in and out of the room after parking the stroller inside. 4. Bring a carrier if your baby is small! It would be a life saver when you visit the temples in Kyoto, usually full of steep stairs, and without wheelchair access. You can still bring your stroller, which can be parked by the temple entrances. A carrier could also help if you go visit those covered market streets, lined with all kinds of local eats and souvenirs. Japan seems to be a big fan of covered market streets. There is almost at least one near where we stayed. The busiest we visited is called Nishiki Market in Kyoto. We happened to be there around noon on a Friday, and it was packed with people, mostly tourists. I guess it’s packed almost any time. It’s full of delicious food. A bit of this and that from several food stands, and lunch is done. 5. Buy tickets before arriving in Japan! An ICOCA IC card is your passport on public transportation. Tab or swipe on subway, trains or buses. Charge on one of the self-service machines at any subway station. They have English instructions. We ordered at Klook and picked it up at Kansai airport. It was a pain to return the card and get back the deposit though. There was a long line and we didn’t have time to wait. So we just kept the cards. 500 yen deposit in one card, about 4.5 dollars. Seems it’s valid for 10 years, so we could use it next time in Japan. We also bought the one-way ticket for Nankai Line Airport Express from Kansai airport to Osaka Namba station, where you can change to most of the other lines. It’s faster and much more comfortable than subway, just a bit more expensive. I recommend that. When going back to Kansai airport from Kyoto, we forgot to buy the Haruka Express train ticket in advance, so we paid a lot more extra after having seated on the train. 6. Buy a Japanese SIM card or pocket wifi. We bought a SIM card and picked up at Kansai airport. It’s not absolutely necessary because the wifi coverage in Osaka and Kyoto were pretty good, and in the two out of three hotels where we stayed, they provided a cell phone for free. It was most helpful when we needed to check the route. Nevertheless, I felt safer to be connected in a country where we don’t speak each other’s language. 6. Study the public transportation map hard beforehand! Even though I’ve spent 10 years in the monstrous Beijing, when seeing the public transportation map of Osaka, I was still awed and intimidated, not only by the complexity of the lines but also the indecipherable Japanese. It’s critical for you to book your hotels, and decide which passes to buy. JR pass (if you go to many cities of Japan), Amazing Pass (if you hop on and off a lot for one or two days), ICOCA card, etc? We just bought the ICOCA card, because subway was our main transportation. 7. No carseat is needed for Taxi in Japan! So if the bus you are waiting for doesn't come, or if the subway is too crowded, or if you just need a break, wave down a taxi, but prepare to pay a lot. We didn’t see any Uber or Lyft in Osaka or Kyoto. Seems Uber is available in Tokyo. 8. Smoking is allowed in restaurants, and we really didn’t like that. Some restaurants forbid smoking during lunch times, but for dinner, most of the Japanese restaurants allow smoking, and the people who smoke don’t care at all that there’s a a baby right next to them. So, if you are very sensitive about this, do your homework ahead. 9. No English speaking in most of the restaurants. Even in the tourist-flooded city Kyoto, it’s hard to find a waiter who speaks decent English. Some restaurants have an English menu with limited selections, and in some restaurants you order food from a machine by the entrance which would show pictures. With my Chinese knowledge, I know the meaning of some Japanese words even though I don’t speak any of them. Most cases, we just ordered something defeatedly from the limited English menu while envying the food on the next table of the Japanese guests. 10. Try the conveyor belt sushi! That would win you back your self-dignity. It’s transparent to every guest, though you might not know every kind of fish or pickles. 11. Be prepared for restaurants with lots of narrow stairs. We came across lots of nice restaurants high upstairs or deep downstairs, and it’s very tricky with a big stroller. Same as in temples, we just carried the baby and the stroller up and down. Another reason to bring a small stroller or baby carrier. 12. Try the Japanese bath at least once! It’s hard to enjoy hot springs surrounded by bamboo forests or snowy mountains when you have a baby around, but some hotels have indoor bathing area, and you should’t miss that. I highly recommend our hotel in Osaka Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier. They have a great location by the river, comparatively larger rooms, and free bathing area for all guests! Upon check-in, the receptionist laboriously explained to me how to use the bath, and when hearing that it’s naked public bath, I almost thought no way, even though I grew up in China where there’s no privacy at all in the university bathhouse or the public bathhouse in my hometown. But the last night in Osaka, after about 8 hours walking everyday I decided that I needed a hot bath. So I gathered up my courage, read carefully again the bath instruction sheet, changed into the bath robe and slippers provided by the hotel, took a bath towel with me (no bath towels are provided in the bath area), made sure that I brought the right key (the male and female bath areas are separated. It’s Japan after all.) and took the elevator to the top floor. Luckily there was no one in the elevator. The doors opened, and I saw two senior Japanese ladies in bathrobes walking merrily towards the bath area, with a small caddy full of toiletries. This reminded me immediately of my university dorm life, and I relaxed. I first left everything in a small cabinet, including my only precious bathrobe, then took a shower, and last entered the pool. All these were done in front of other ladies' eyes, but really nobody was looking actually. So I just relaxed in the hot carbonated water where I could see tiny sizzling bubbles quickly clustered throughout my legs, like what you would see when making your own soda water. I read about the benefits of these tiny bubbles on a piece of paper on the wall by the pool, and started to sweat very soon, and feel drowsy. I guess that’s what it meant by the benefits? I got out after about 15 minutes and had a good night’s sleep. I wished I had tried it earlier so I could go there again on another night. The next hotel where we stayed in Kyoto also had a bath area, but it’s charged. About $15 per person per time. We didn’t go. Oh, and you can bring your kids with you, not the babies maybe because the water is pretty hot. But I’ve seen a mother with her son who was about 5 years old. Parents can bring kids of the opposite gender under 6 years old, at least that’s what it says at Mitsui Garden Hotel in Osaka. 13. Bring your own pack n play or inflatable bed! Baby cots are widely available for free in the US in our experience, but not in Japan. In Osaka, they provided a bed rail for free, which was not working well at all and we didn’t use it in the end. Every night we had to guard the bed with cushions and chairs or tables, whatever available in the room. In Kyoto, Hotel Monterey only provided baby cot to kids under 2 year olds. There was only one queen bed in our tiny room, and we begged them to relax their rule and provided the cot for our 26-month-old daughter. They finally agreed. And they charged, about $15 per night. It was a bit short for our daughter and it took up almost all the free space in our tiny room, but it worked. I regret that we didn’t bring the inflatable bed from the US. Or you book hotels with futons (mattress on the floor), which would solve the baby bed problem. 14. Osaka is actually better for kids than Kyoto, at least in my opinion. I had very high expectations about Kyoto which is widely regarded as the epitome of the ancient Japan. It might be right, but the ancient Japan with its peaceful temples and well-designed gardens doesn’t excite a toddler as much as the eight-floor aquarium in Osaka. 14.1. Actually even myself was very much awed by the aquarium (Kaiyukan in Japanese). We had a membership of the Seattle aquarium and I wish there could be some kind of membership or 2-day pass for Kaiyukan! Read its Wikipedia page and you will know why. This is also the only attraction for which I bought tickets before arriving in Japan. If you go there in winter, then stay there until it’s dark. The illumination outside the aquarium is beautiful. 14.2. Another place that we chose from my long list about where to go in Osaka is Kids Plaza. With five floors it’s like a huge combination of the Pacific Science Center + Seattle Children’s Museum + Library story times + Home Depot Make Your Own projects. It must be overwhelming for a little two year old, especially with hundreds of school children who happened to visit at the same time. We ended up in a quiet room where you could build your own something with instructors. So, if you go to Kids Plaza, better avoid mornings. School groups are usually off by around 2pm. 14.3. We didn’t go to Universal Studios. Never a big fan of that, but mostly because I read that the waiting time is very long and the height requirement for most of the amusement is about 102cm, which means roughly 3 year old. 14.4. If we had more than three days, I would like to go to the Expo City north of the city. It’s huge and I’ve read good reviews about it. Kid-friendly. 15. Due to my high expectations I actually made an even longer to-do list about Kyoto than Osaka, and arranged accordingly four days in Kyoto, which I don’t regret about but Kyoto is just different from what I read or imagined when traveling with a toddler. 15.1. Be prepared for the extreme crowdedness on the train from Osaka to Kyoto. I really didn’t know how we squeezed our gigantic stroller on the train. And people stayed calm. 15.2. I highly recommend the second hotel that we stayed in Kyoto: U-stay. It’s actually like a hostel, where daily cleaning is not provided, which we usually don’t want anyway. We got a room with two futons and private bathroom, and a half-enclosed balcony which served great to store the stroller at night. The best thing about it was the very affordable nightly price even included breakfast, which turned out to be a feast with over 10 small dishes, including rice, egg, salmon, soup, and different varieties of pickles. Our second morning there, the chef/receptionist saw that our daughter wasn’t very interested in sharing our food, he made a pancake from scratch for her. She loved it. The only drawback about this hostel is probably that it’s not close to any subway station, about 15 minutes walk. 15.3. Make sure to visit Nishiki Market: Kyoto’s largest traditional food market, and be prepared for the crowdedness. Bring lots of small cash. 15.4. Temples that we visited and enjoyed: Shoren-in Temple, the most impressive one for me because that’s the only one I visited alone peacefully while the baby was asleep. Ginkakuji-Temple (the Golden Temple), very famous and thus crowded. Reikan-ji, Anraku-ji and Honen-in, three smaller temples that we enjoyed. Reikan-ji is only open to the public for a few weeks in April and November. We were lucky to catch that. 15.5. Nijo Castle was also a delightful surprise. It has breath-taking gates with beautiful wooden relief. 15.6. Kyoto Imperial Palace was closed on Monday when we tried to visit. There’s a nice playground outside it. 15.7. Check the Kyoto Events and see what’s special during your visit. In November, there are many temples who are illuminated at night. We chose the Chion-in Temple. The line started early but it moved quickly. It’s a little bit like the WildLights at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Nice experience but not so impressive to me. And it was crowded and cold. 15.8. Avoid Pontocho Alley and Shijo Dori, basically the central commercial area of Kyoto. It’s terribly crowded and only big brand stores or tiny restaurants with very long lines. Disaster with a baby and stroller. 15.9. Make sure to go to a Japanese restaurant where the chef makes your sushi or sashimi or whatever by hand right on the other side of the counter. We stumbled upon a little family-run restaurant just when we were about to give up our search walking in the cold darkness. It had tables available, but we were invited to sit on the bar chairs. Our daughter turned out to be perfectly fine there. The chef’s daughter who helped out in the restaurant spoke a bit of English and explained to us how to order. Again, there’s an elaborate Japanese menu and a one page English menu with big pictures. We ordered some sashimi from the picture, and it was such a surprising delight. The chef (father) has been making sushi for the last 34 years, and now he is running this restaurant with his wife and their daughter who lives nearby and helps out sometimes. I was worried that our daughter might had nothing to eat in a sushi restaurant but raw fish, but she loved tamago (the Japanese millefeuille omelette), the roe on a kind of sashimi, the miso soup, and even the raw tuna. The whole family were also very attentive to us. The chef was very loud and funny in a friendly way. It was not cheap, the two of us (we really didn’t order anything special for our daughter) spent about $80, but it was probably the best sushi I ever had. The name of the restaurant is Daigen, and they close on Monday. 16. Wear your best socks as you need to take off shoes when visiting the inside of the temples. 17. No food is allowed while walking around in temples. There’s usually a small area right at the entrance where there’s a food shop, machines selling drinks and restrooms. 18. The machines selling drinks everywhere are one of the things I love about Japan. There is a wide selection of cold and hot tea/coffee, hot corn and red bean porridge, cold juice, all packed conveniently in cans and available with a few pieces of coins. A can of hot corn porridge, not particularly tasty, was heart-warming in a cold winter night. 19. Convenience stores such as Family Mart, 7/11, Lawson, etc can be life savers. They are small but have almost anything you need to survive a whole day’s outing. They are everywhere and have free restrooms. 20. Both Osaka and Kyoto are very bike-friendly cities. There are bike lanes, though mostly shared with pedestrians. Japanese moms are particularly avid bikers. With two babies on the bike, one seated in front and one in back or in carrier, they seem to ride effortlessly, even with a light makeup and nice dresses. For me it was a pleasure and wonder to admire them, because when I bike in Seattle with my only child, I was always in a hurry or struggle, well, partly due to the hills. It's pretty flat in Osaka and Kyoto city area. 21. People drive on the left in Japan. 22. You pay when you get off the bus at the stops. You can not tap your IC cards at other times. 23. You and your baby are going to love the toilets in Japan! Heated seat, three different ways to wash your bottom, and music. I think that’s one of our daughter’s favorites about Japan. 24. No nursing in public. There are nursing rooms but not everywhere. If you are breastfeeding, bring along a cover. I am a person who needs to read a lot about the destination and tries to make a loose day by day plan, with some must sees and must eats. So here are some books and websites that I read and found helpful: >> Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen, by Denson, Abby >> Family Vacation to Osaka with a Toddler >> 13 Secrets about Visiting Osaka with Kids >> Inside Kyoto: a very helpful website with extensive and accurate information. My best helper in planning our trip. >> Inside Osaka: by the same editor. >>Japan-guide.com By the way, I flew alone with my 25-month-old daughter from Seattle to Nanjing, with a 4 hour layover in Beijing. Total time on road: about 21 hours. That was my first time to fly solo with her, and it went well. So I did another trip with her from Nanjing to Osaka. That was easy compared to the first one. See all my tips and lessons about flying with your baby in my next post.
2 Comments
12/30/2018 03:44:11 pm
We don't have any small children now .Thoroughly enjoyed your article .Don't know if we will ever get to Japan, but I can always wish for the trip . Thank you for being so informative . Continue to do that for the ones that are naive about traveling including myself . Living on the WEST COAST , it will be a looonng plane ride . Maybe someday .
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Pingping
12/30/2018 10:05:39 pm
Thank you so much for your encouraging comment Kathy! It means a lot to me. If you want to go somewhere very culturally different, I could definitely recommend Japan. Flying from the west coast is not too bad for an international flight. If you ever go, let me know! Take care.
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