Inputs required: Japan trip with 1 year old

Hi

Me and my wife with a 14 months toddler are planning a trip to Japan and looking for few suggestions.

1) How's the weather in August to visit? Ic Oct/Nov a better month due to autumn colours? I have also read about the school holidays in August - will it be too busy in this month?
2) How's Japan with a toddler? We will be getting our stroller along with us. How much walking will be involved? Are there escalators and lifts at locations?
3) As things could be bit unpredictable that's why we don't want to book any tour in advance. Is it ok? is there a specific tourist attraction which we should book in advance?
4) Any suggestion on areas to stay in tokyo and kyoto. Our budget is around $150 - $200 AUD per night. Convenience is the most important thing.
5) We are vegetarians. Are there any decent vegetarian restaurants?
6) Any suggestions on below mentioned 12 days itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in morning and cover western tokyo
Day 2: Hakone - want to see Mount Fuji. Is there any other better way or place?
Day 3: Nikko
Day 4: Kamakura
Day 5: Asakusa and Odaiba full day
Day 6: Tokyo to Kyoto; Explore kyoto
Day 7: Higashimyana half day
Day 8: Northern kyoto
Day 9: Osaka
Day 10: Kyoto to Hiroshima - Is it worthwile?
Day 11: Miyajima to Tokyo
Day 12: Return

Thanks alot in advance!
Rohit

Hi!

While I've never been to Japan with a toddler, I have gone 3 times with a child so....

1) The weather in August is hot and humid. We are in Japan right now, and it's super hot and humid, worse than July 2017 or July 2016. My daughter is in school, so that limits travel times. If I had a choice I would definitely go in Fall. The Japanese travel around Japan in August, lots of foreigners like to visit Japan in Autumn. It feels like there are just frequently crowds now.

2) I met Australians who were looking for a stroller for their child in Kyoto because of all the walking in 2017. Many Japanese have strollers for their children, but for sightseeing and many shops outside big department stores they can be problematic because there are not always ramps and many stores have narrow aisles. They are also problematic anywhere you need to take the bus. Can you use a carrier like an Ergo still? And while there are elevators and escalators for subways and trains, many are quite crowded and trying to do them with a stroller, even a lightweight one, can be hard. Most of the people I've seen this trip with strollers are using them in smaller provincial cities just walking around said cities.

3) I guess outside something like the Studio Ghibli Museum, we don't usually book things super far in advance. We also don't tend to do tours.

4) I'm sorry I'm not as good at converting other currencies to yen. I'm quite pleased with my current hotel in Tokyo. The room is well designed and the bed is decently sized.

5) Tokyo and Kyoto both have tons of vegetarian offerings depending on what you are interested in. We just went to our favorite vegan ramen place in Tokyo Station last night. I went to a fancier vegan place in Kyoto this trip, but they didn't seem particularly pleased about me bringing a child there. The food was quite good though and the location was convenient. A lot depends on what you want or like to eat.

6) I know your itinerary would be too rushed for when my daughter was a toddler. She needed some downtime to nap in the dark in the hotel. But your child may be different. I wouldn't go to Hakone just to see Mt. Fuji. I've been 3 or 4 times and never seen Mt. Fuji from Hakone. However, I saw Mt. Fuji from Tokyo Disney on Saturday, so there you go. I pretty much see Mt. Fuji from Tokyo every trip to Japan. Hakone is also not stroller friendly at all. It seems like almost every day in Tokyo you are trying to take a day trip. Nikko and Kamakura or pretty much nearly all temples and shrines which are not stroller friendly and often have stairs. Sometimes they have lots of stairs. They sometimes have gravel paths. They often have stone paths. Odaiba is one of the places in Tokyo I can see a stroller being fine.

Good luck!

Japan isn't pram/stroller friendly. Lots of stairs at tourist destinations and lifts are hidden sometimes at train stations. If he can be carried in a chest/back carrier, I'd do that, but 14 months is getting heavy. Or wait one year and at 2.5, he'll be able to walk without too much fuss.

You itinerary I feel is very rushed for adults, let along a toddler. With only 12 days, I'd stick to the easy to get to tourist locations, so you ain't stuck on trains or buses for hours. Nikko for example as a day trip is 2.5-3.0 hours of travel.

Some useful info:
https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/japan-in-august

Maybe it's just us, but I found at 5 my daughter had a hard time with all the walking in Japan and the Australian family I met in 2017 had a 3 or 4 year old struggling with all the walking.

If you need a stroller I might recommend doing a JR Niigata - Nagano pass and you could use the stroller to walk around Nagano and Matsumoto. You could take turns visiting Zenkoji since you can't do some of it with a stroller and the same for Matsumoto Castle. But you can walk around the town as I saw many Japanese families.

I've got several children who were all 1 once. Sure the subway has stairs, but if you get a compact and lightweight stroller that folds, that shouldn't be an issue - especially if you have others with you to help. That's not really a concern for me. Keep in mind that if you end up in the busier areas around places like Shinjuku or Shibuya station, there will be masses of people. If you are using a stroller, you will need to be courteous to the locals just trying to get to/from work.

My concern based on my experience with young toddlers is that they don't have the energy or patience for an all day excursion. You need to plan for easy outs for when the kid gets too tired or has had too much stimulation and just needs a nap or break back at the hotel. As is, I think you have far too many very long travel day trips. Your 1 year old will be all out of patience before you even get there.

A carrier gives you free arms to do stuff like carry luggage. If your child is happy to be in one, use it.

Also, for the conversation about older children has overlooked the use of carriers for them too. http://www.babyslingsandcarriers.com/carriers_for_36months_beyond We were able to hike with a 4 month old and 3 year old by each having one strapped to us. Easy! I wouldn't consider making any child under 4 or 5 walk. They'll be exhausted, whinge, and you'd get frustrated.

You can research vegetarian restaurants for anything specific you might want to try, but in practice you'll probably just want to find what's close when you're hungry. I would suggest putting the HappyCow app on your phone, which will let you sort by distance from your current location.

Also, for the conversation about older children has overlooked the use of carriers for them too. http://www.babyslingsandcarriers.com/carriers_for_36months_beyond We were able to hike with a 4 month old and 3 year old by each having one strapped to us. Easy! I wouldn't consider making any child under 4 or 5 walk. They'll be exhausted, whinge, and you'd get frustrated]

@Sal1980
I hope the person who carried the 3 year old did not end up with severe back pain or back issues!

Sure I would not consider making a 4 or 5 year old to walk for long distances but I would let them walk for a reasonable amount of time, and when they get tired we could rest for bit or I could carry them for a short time.

@Rohitmonga
Your plan is too fast paced for a one year old and totally uninteresting to this age group. Think of including parks, play centres, or even something like Thomas Land near Fuji Q. I think you can see Mt Fuji from there too and definitely skip Hakone- it's not that age-group friendly. But be mindful that the journey there is about 2.5 hours by bus from Tokyo so I suggest consider an overnight or 2 in the area in a ryokan.

I would skip Nikko with a one year old, and I would definitely consider a carrier. I may consider visiting Hiroshima although the Peace Museum may not be interesting for your toddler, but the park there could be awesome for him/her.
I would not do Miyajima unless you're just going to take the ferry to see the Torii gate and the Shrine, and not do the ropeway.

I would also allocate rest days or days in which there aren't any solid plans of doing this and that.

Would definitely think about NOT travelling in Aug for all your sakes. I'd probably choose any other month, with a preference for spring or autumn.

Also, your itinerary looks very busy. Maybe the sort of thing you could do with a very placid child who was half, or three times, the age of yours, IMHO - but of course all kids are different and you know your own child best.

Wearing a 14m old in a carrier (which is definitely the best way to do it in most places - strollers will be very inconvenient) will be really hot for both you and child.

Whenever you go, I'd suggest learning how to ask "Excuse me, is there a children's playground nearby, please?", and having something like a pencil and notebook on hand so that someone can draw you a simple map. That was one of the most useful things for us when we our little one was littler.

@captain italics. Obviously no, no back issues. 3yr olds don't weigh that much and of you have good physical fitness and a carrier that is well-designed it's not a problem.

Agree with above, your kid is going to absolutely melt in August, or any of the summer months. S/he will be irritable enough traveling on that itinerary, factor in the Japanese heat and it could get ugly.

I don�ft know how much effort I�fd want to put into planning trips to places the kid will like, maybe something for a few hours but beyond that, quite frankly for a one year old in a place like Japan it sounds like a waste.

And I think you would be doing yourselves and everyone else a favour leaving the stroller at home.

Thanks everyone for inputs.

This is my understanding from your posts.

1) August is a big no - autumn is better i.e. Oct/Nov
2) Instead of stroller we should rely more on carrier - we have stopped using it as he got big but will try again
3) Trip is bit hectic - need to slow down a bit

4) Last but not least we should think about some other holiday destination as with 14 months old it could be bit challenging.

Rohit

Hi,

We've taken our 18 month old toddler to Japan and did OK.

We took our stroller and it was useful - it was light and easily folded. We also took a carrier and kept it in the bottom of the stroller so we could use either. We usually started off the day with the stroller and then moved to the carrier around lunch-time.

It helps if you are aware of the locations of escalators and elevators in busy places like train stations and take your time, especially at rush hour. It also helps if you do an internet search ahead of time to locate elevators for train stations you are likely to frequent.

I also believe August will be too hot for your toddler, it's incredibly hot and humid. We went in October and the weather was great.

Don't be downhearted and don't lose sight of the fact that travelling with a 14m old will be relatively easy in Japan, compared to many countries.

The specific problems that people are highlighting to you are:
- August is really hot and humid. Many adults would choose to avoid travelling in August if they could.
- travelling in any country with the sort of busy itinerary you list will be really difficult if you're with a 14m old.

You can definitely take a stroller, but my recommendations would be (1) to get the smallest, flimsiest one you can find, because you'll be folding it and carrying it (and the child?) up stairs quite often, and (2) simply plan a slower pace of travel.