Kick scooter

Planning a family trip to kyoto, Nara and osaka with two 8 & 10 years old kids. Will bring along kick scooters. My questions are if the city bus, JR, subway and train allow to carry in kick scooter, and whether temples and tourism areas allow to use or carry in our kick scooter s.

Have you tried looking at the websites of the various companies/locations? You might find you answer there.

Finding out whether transportations will allow them should be fairly straightforward; it's finding out about the individual attractions that will be difficult. I would assume most temples/shrines would not allow them (simply as they may disturb the peace), but I cannot say for sure.

Do you really need to bring them? Japanese tourist sites, and other popular areas, can be quite crowded and you might not get a chance to use them much anyway.

Kick scooters are called "kick board" in Japan. I couldn't find any info on the Japanese language internet about bringing them on transportation or temples or anywhere.

But as far as I know as a Japanese resident, there are no rules simply because everyone knows better not to ride them at public places apart from large parks.

I do see an old-timer neighbor who brings them on the local bus, though. He seems to ride the scooter on very short portions on the sidewalks. Maybe it helps his backache or something.

Heelys (sneakers with rollers on it) are actually prohibited at most public places. The rule exists because parents used to casually let kids wear them like ordinary shoes when it was a fad. But they're prohibited at places like supermarkets, because kids can make mistakes. Skateboards are also only allowed at very limited places.

I agree to the other poster that there is no need to bring them along when your children are sightseeing, and there won't be any places to ride them when sightseeing either. But just carrying them folded down is usually not a problem at places where carrying small suitcases is not a problem.

By the way, in Japan kick scooters was a fad among kids about 15 years ago, but most kids don't ride them anymore.

I see a lot of kids using them in the streets, so there is no prohibition on it. Ofcourse I do not recommend to bring it to Tokyo(Shibuya, Shinjuku, and the main centre), or the most famous tourist places in Kyoto, just because its to many people to ride it, and it would be pointless to carry it for a whole day without using it.

And as I myself have brought with me a bigger suitcase than folded kick scooters on the train I don't see any problems on bringing them on public transport.

But at temples it might be enough space to use them, but I recommend your family not to, just because it is a little impropriate as it is a religious place.