1st time to Japan with a 3 y.o. and 1 y.o.
 

Hello and thank you in advance.

My wife and I are apparently crazy and decided to bring our very active 3 year old and 1 year old boys to Japan. We are landing in Osaka on June 14 and departing Tokyo on July 1. We're currently booked for 3 nights in Osaka (we land at 8pm the 1st night, so that night and the next day will surely be lost to jet lag and exhaustion), 6 nights in Kyoto, and 7 nights in Tokyo. I would love to reduce Kyoto and Tokyo down to 5 and 6 nights, respectively, and insert 2 nights in a 4th, more rural, destination in Western Honshu between Kansai and Tokyo. I've been looking at the Japan Alps or Hakone, among others, but would really appreciate some advice from parents who have taken small children to Japan.

1) It looks like Kyoto and Tokyo have SO much to do, especially for small children (and adults who act like small children) and there are so many possible day trips from these locations. Am I shortchanging myself if I reduce the nights down to 5 and 6 for Kyoto and Tokyo, respectively?

2) Is 2 nights in any possible 4th destination going to be enough time to arrive, settle in, and relax, considering that we will be dragging 2 small children with us?

3) Where would you recommend as a 4th destination for small children? My sons would love the snow monkeys outside Nagano, but the Japan Alps seem like such an out of the way place for just 2 nights. We would never have time to see more than 1 place, so perhaps it would be better to save it for a future trip when we can spend the time to really take it all in?

Thanks so much for your help! None of the guide books are really oriented to someone in my position!

I can't really help on your travel places, but we did take my two grandsons (2 and just turned 4) to Japan in December for my son's wedding so I have some experience on the travel portion of the trip.

Have you traveled long distances with them before?

@ltr - Yes, we regularly fly to Hawaii from LAX (5-6 hours) and took our now-3 y.o. on a flight to Israel, which was close to 17 hours including layover, so we know what hell is like!

Since your grandkids are close to the same age, do you have any helpful advice?

Thanks again.

We flew out of LAX as well, with a layover in Tokyo and then on to Fukuoka. We opted for the midnight flight and were happy that we did. We left on Christmas night so the boys were a little wired up due to Santa, gifts, and the trip to the airport.

The biggest issue we were concerned about was food for them. The littlest guy has food allergies, so we packed food for them for the plane as well as extra while we were there since he cannot eat eggs or sesame. We also had allergy warnings written out in Japanese and that came in handy for restaurants.

The boys each have Kindle Fires and downloaded them with simple games and a few Dora and Dusty videos so that helped keep them entertained when Jet lag was hitting the adults.

The transfer from international to domestic at Haneda was very confusing since we had to take a shuttle from one terminal to another. There were three adults, but we had carry ons, checked luggage, winter coats and two tired little guys. I know there are strollers available free of charge if you ask for them a few days ahead, even if Tokyo is your final destination. It would help to get them to the baggage area.

So, food, entertainment, and strollers are my three suggestions off the top of my head, but I am around here so please ask if there is something else. We traveled by train and car as well.

Free strollers? Sign me up. Do you know where I can find more information? This is the first I'm hearing about this.

Thanks. I'll let my oldest watch ipad until his eyes bleed if it means he'll stay quiet on the plane.

Just remembered one more thing. The boys loved the deep soaking tubs in the hotels. The only problem is that the hot water is instantly scalding hot. We made up a little song about the Red handle is Hot and the blue is cold, since the older one likes to top off the bathwater at home to make more bubbles.

We went to a ryokan one night in Beppu, but the water was too hot for the boys to go in, although the little Japanese babies were all in the pool with their moms.

We also asked for late checkout the day we were flying home, so the boys were able to take a nap and their final "swim" in their soaking tub before getting on the plane that night.

I found the info on the website for the airport under the info about wheelchairs. My SIL had back surgery and we were looking for some assistance for him and it was in the same place on their website. What airport are you flying into?

"Am I shortchanging myself if I reduce the nights down to 5 and 6 for Kyoto and Tokyo, respectively?"

It depends! Many of us think that Kyoto and Nara easily merit 6 full days. Many of us find 3 or 4 days in Tokyo sufficient. But whatever any of us think, it really depends on what YOU want to see and do, and only you can decide that. FWIW, Tokyo and Osaka are probably the easiest to reach for many of us, so the most easily visited on another trip -- those are the places I would shortchange if I needed to shortchange anywhere. Just a thought.

One thing that will make your traveling a bit easier than it might otherwise be Japan's excellent luggage-forwarding option so you only need to take an overnight bag with you. Luggage-forwarding is called takuhaibin; here's the info:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html

BTW, I highly recommend that you SCOUR japan-guide -- it's a great source of information!

Personally, I wouldn't try for the Japanese Alps until you can give them more time -- JMO. Another option for your 4th stop, if you do decide to fit one in, is Hiroshima / Miyajima.

There have been a few threads here on Fodor's recently about visiting Japan with little ones -- have you read them? You might find some great ideas that way.

Enjoy!

I've been to Japan lots of times, and my boys are also two years apart. We never traveled internationally when they were that young, but I do have a suggestion for you for your fourth city. It's a city in western Honshu called Tottori, and they actually have sand dunes! I was there recently, and the young children were having a great time rolling up and down the hills, and the ocean there is mild and quite beautiful. The sand dunes are just a short bus ride from the city. In addition, Tottori has some beautiful nature walks in the city itself, complete with nice fish in the streams. I spent one day at the sand dunes, and one day walking the nature trails.

I would advise you to take advantage of the elaborate prepared food at department stores, or large stand alone grocery stores. You can buy sushi, salads, fried fish and chicken, and it's really inexpensive. You can take it back to your room, or there are always some tables and chairs in the stores. It's much better than trying to get two young boys to sit in a restaurant.

Regarding the snow monkeys, on the day that we saw them some of them were getting a bit aggressive and the ranger hand to get involved (although nothing happened and I personally did not feel bothered). There is nothing between standing between the tourists and the monkeys, so I don't know if I would feel comfortable with very active 1 and 3 year-olds in the mix.

<<My sons would love the snow monkeys outside Nagano>>

Forget it.

The park is about a 30-minute hike from the main road where the bus leaves you. You want to carry a 3-year old the whole way? No, the road there (mostly a path) is not made for strollers.

There are macaques elsewhere - like in Tokyo and in Kyoto.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

@ltr - In at Osaka Kansai and out at Tokyo Narita. It sounds like the strollers were just for use in the airport. Too bad - it would be easier to rent there if possible. I'm going to look into that.

@kja - I know that everything is subjective, but I'm just looking for thoughts from other parents similarly situated. I have no idea when I'll be in Japan again. Thank you for the suggestion of Miyajima/Hiroshimo and the luggage forwarding. I've seen those other threads, but the kids were either older or they only had 1. 2 is an entirely different story!!

@Californialady - thanks!

@RussinLA and @BigRuss - You are probably right. The person telling me about them said that they were extremely placid, but from everyone's comments, I'll save the Alps and the monkeys for another time.

I'm sorry that some of my comments didn't prove to be useful to you -- I was just trying to be helpful and keep your thread alive. With best wishes, I'll bow out.

@kja - I think you misunderstand. I was just acknowledging that all itineraries are going to be subjective decisions. Some may need longer than others. There is no right or wrong answer. I appreciate your feedback. I don't know when I'll return to Japan, so I wanted to solicit feedback on how long I should visit these cities with 2 kids in tow.

Thanks!

No worries, dcschwartz! Figuring out one's timing is ALWAYS difficult, and you are obviously doing what you can to plan a trip that involves some tricky constraints. (And figuring out one's timing is probably even harder than figuring out how to be clear in one's intentions when posting on Fodor's -- jeessh, that can be hard -- as I can attest!) I'm sure you and your family will have a wonderful time and you've obviously gotten the attention of some Fodorites who are much more knowledgeable than I about traveling with little ones -- and really, I know NOTHING about that! So thanks for clarifying and again, my best wishes -- I'm sure that you will have a wonderful trip, because Japan is a delightful and very child-friendly country.

P.S.: Can you think of anyone who might have had a bad day at work today? You might not see it, but MY hand is waving vigorously! Sorry....

Thanks again everyone for your help! Any thoughts on Hakone or the Mt. Fuji area with little kids?

My husband and I have been to Japan twice with our first son, he was 1.5 years old and 2.5 years old.
We are also going in June and will have a 4yo and 9 month old.

You can read my blog about our two trips http://www.strollingadventures.com/

As he was quite young we didn't really plan kid specific things to do. He loved the deer in Nara Park and Monkeys in Arashiyama. These would be a better alternative to the Nagano Monkeys since there won't be any snow.
The second trip he had a great time exploring Himeji Castle and enjoyed seeing lots of trains.

Both trips we rented a car.
In 2013 we drove to Takayama and visited shirakawago.
In 2014 we did a loop from Shizuoka around Mt.Fuji.

This time my parents are coming along so we have opted against car rental. I have booked a ryokan in Gero onsen in between Kyoto and Tokyo.

Have a look at my blog posts and feel free to ask me anything.

One thing to note is Osaka is a 1hour train ride from Kansai Airport. Kyoto is only about an extra 15 minutes. So unless you specifically want to spend time in Osaka, I suggest going straight to Kyoto.
It's a gorgeous city full of nature and would be great for aimless strolling when jetlagged.

Top tip: pack lightly. This is hard to do with kids and I'm yet to do it for our baby but it will make train travel and getting to accommodation so much easier. Plan to do some laundry to lighten the load.

<<One thing to note is Osaka is a 1hour train ride from Kansai Airport. Kyoto is only about an extra 15 minutes.>>

This is somewhat inaccurate.

Kyoto is 25-40 minute train trip from Osaka Station, similar distance from Shin-Osaka. It's ONLY the Shin-Osaka to Kyoto station run that's 15 minutes, and you need to be on a shinkansen for that.

It's about 50 minutes to Osaka (Shin-Osaka) from Kansai, and 75 to Kyoto.

http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi/en/inter...chday=20160329