Ryokan booking: child or infant?

Hi everyone. Thanks in advance if you can help me with this query.

We'll be back in Japan next March-April with our 8 year old. I'd be grateful for any practical help on the question of when a child counts as a "child" for ryokan booking purposes, and specifically when an "infant" becomes a "child".

The last time we visited, our child was 6, and so we got on fine with the "Infant A" (meaning they get a futon and a child meal), "Infant B" (meal, no futon), "Infant C" (no meal, no futon), etc... system.

Now she's a bit older, I just wanted to check what we should classify her as when booking rooms. My main concern is to do the right thing (i.e. I don't know if there's a strict age limit at which an "infant" becomes an "child").

An adult-sized meal at a ryokan is way too much food for her. I'm guessing that a "Child" meal involves adult food, but in the sort of amounts of food that a teenager would eat. That would also be too much for her.

She loves Japanese food, and she can always have a taste of any special foods (that are served to adults but not to infants) from our meals. However, I'd prefer for her not to have a really toned-down typical "kid's meal", as that can be a bit babyish for her. She generally eats pretty much what we adults eat, in smaller portions.

Ideally, we would like her to have half portions of an adult kaiseki, but I don't know whether that's an option, or how to achieve it. We'll be making most of our bookings via internet reservation or by email, and we don't speak any Japanese.

Sorry for the long post. If anyone can give some guidance we'll be very grateful, and you may be giving a little girl some great food memories ;0)

Generally speaking, "infant" usually refers to children aged 5 or lower. And "children" to children aged 6-11. But depending on the specific ryokan, a different rule may apply.

In other words, ask the ryokan or consult its website...

Thanks, Uji.
Peace, Firas

Ideally, we would like her to have half portions of an adult kaiseki, but I don't know whether that's an option, or how to achieve it.

I searched on the net and found this Q&A. It seems to be quite normal to ask the Ryokan for the "small portion" whatever the reason would be. You can ask, however some ryokan may refuse it. In general, small, family-run ryokan might be more flexible for this request I think. You might better ask beforehand, 3 days or more before your stay.

Do also check that some ryokan does not accept childrens and babies, whiles some ryokan accept all pax as adults and will be charged as adults, so child or babies will be charged adult price even if a bed is not provided.

I'm Japanese and this is the first time I heard about this ABC thing, and I agree that you should discuss it with the ryokan directly. A lot of ryokan/minshuku will make suggestions such as deleting one or two dishes from the child's meal. But I can tell you what is commonly done among Japanese families so that you'd know what to expect when asking for options.

Meals:
Order set menus for the number of adults, and add side dishes. Then share everything among the family.
or
Order for all members of the family, and wrap leftovers if any to eat as snacks.
or
Order for all members of the family, but mention that the family doesn't need too much rice.

Bedding:
Place the parents's futon tightly next to each other and let the child sleep in the middle. (Typically, this is the way Japanese families are encouraged to sleep anyway.)

I'm also just curious, but I didn't quite understand what you were trying to say in the following statement:
I'm guessing that a "Child" meal involves adult food, but in the sort of amounts of food that a teenager would eat.

As far as I know, teenagers in any country or race eat more than any age range of humans. Anyway, if they have "child meal", just ask what the contents are. That's what I would do.

Hope you have fun!

While we all can generalize with out answers, only the specific can give you their rules, as they all have different set of rules for infant/child a/b/c/d.

Thanks, everyone.
Our problem is that we don't speak Japanese, so a discussion of the finer points of meals isn't really going to happen. Largely because of that, we tend to book through a ryokan's website where possible, and then try to follow up with an email in English if we have any significant queries.

We'll muddle through, and I'm sure it won't really be a problem. I just thought it was worth asking whether there were any general trends that might be useful guidance for us.

Thanks again...

(i.e. I don't know if there's a strict age limit at which an "infant" becomes an "child").

*Infants (under 6 years of age)
*Children (from 6 to 11 years of age)