This is the first of a series of blog posts that I hope will encourage more families to travel to Japan and Tokyo. Along the way, there will probably be digressions into Japanese language and culture as I won’t be able to help myself.

Introduction

As a brief introduction, I lived in Japan for a total of 8 years. From 2012 to 2016, my family, consisting of my wife, my two daughters, and myself lived in Toyosu, Koto-ku¹, Tokyo. My two daughters went to a Japanese public school, while I worked, at first, in Tokyo, and then in the next prefecture over, Chiba. In the five years that we were there, we were able to experience life as a Japanese family would, down to me working “salaryman" hours and barely seeing my kids. But that’s for another time.

More importantly, for you, is that we were able to see beyond the tourist areas like Ginza, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku, and experience Tokyo like a local, with kids. I hope you will be able to get a glimpse of that too in your travels.

Words of Caution

My daughters were six and three when we first arrived in Japan, so my experiences, and most of what I will show you are aimed at the three to eleven year-old age range. If you’re looking for very young or teenage experiences, some locations may work, but I haven’t test-run them. As they say, “your mileage may vary".

Tokyo with Kids - Safety and Stamina

As many people would tell you, Tokyo, and Japan in general, is a relatively safe place to visit, even with kids. While there are relatively a lot of people (with an estimated 9 million people living in 600 some square kilometers that make up the 23 wards), even if you get separated from your kids in the street, it is likely they will end up in some police box (“koban") near by, or right where you left them with some elderly Japanese grandma watching over them (do expect a bit of a scolding from the police or grandma though). I’m not saying that you shouldn’t keep an eye on your kids, but it’s a lot safer than many other places. You can be completely lost in Japan and still be perfectly safe with the people around you trying to help with their horridly poor English.

That being said, it is a big city with lots of bikes, vehicles and trains, so physical safety should still be a your first concern, especially in the train and subway stations, and when walking on the sidewalks. In Japan, bicycles are ridden in the sidewalk generally, so keep an eye out for them.

After safety, the second thing you should consider is physical stamina. As a tourist in Tokyo, you probably won’t be driving. I never drove in all the years I lived there. So there will be a lot of walking. Which means that you may have to deal with tired and whining kids as you walk up and down the stairs to reach the train platforms. It’s even worse if you’re carrying a stroller. There are elevators, but it’s usually faster to take the stairs. I don’t want 30% of your trip being waiting for elevators. Get good walking shoes and start training, because there will be a lot of walking.

If you’re traveling with a stroller, I recommend getting a sturdy but light-weight collapsable stroller. A brand that my Japanese friends swear by is Macleran. We used a Japanese brand call Aprica (sorry, website only in Japanese). You may be carrying them up and down stairs, so keep that in mind when selecting strollers.

The next post will cover getting to Tokyo. Please feel free to leave comments and if there is anything you’d like me to address.