Travel to Japan with children
 

Hello!
I'm a 31 year old mother of two boys, one is 2 years and the other is 9 months. I really really want to travel to Japan,and my husband too, but I don't know if we dare travel with our kids. I live in Sweden and it is not only the plane ride that worries me, but also being in a different part of the world in a place where you don't understand the language for a long time. Is there anyone in this forum who has travelled to Japan with small children, and how did it go, and where did you go? It would be great to read about how others have done.
Thank you!
/Ninna

Hello Ninna,

I don't have children myself, but I have traveled withmy Cousin's kid, 3, and 2 at the time. It wasn't too bad, but having young children also mean it takes forever to get ready, and Japan being a place where you really want to hop from cities to cities, it will definitely poise some challenge.

In my case, I have some advantage with the language, however, the overall Japanese population is a courteous crowd, so when they see you with kids, they are usually more "gentle and helpful", so you should be good

Is there any reason why you don't want to wait another 2 years or 3 for them to grow a little older and more controllable first?

I wouldn't recommend it for a couple reasons. Besides the long plane ride, you are facing a lot of challenges that might dissappear if you wait a few years.

Japanese children are taught from birth not to run into the streets. Sidewalks are a luxury in Japan, so it isn't uncommon to be walking on suburban streets with cars, motorcycles, bicycles and scooters whizzing by. only inches away. Of course in the major cities there are sidewalks.

Parks tend to be just dirt, and aren't always very well kept.

I think it would be a lot of work and you would miss out on so much and your children aren't even old enough to remember the trip.

Thank you for the replies.

I think you're right. It is probably better to wait a few years. I got a bit carried away because many of my friends are travelling around the world, and one is even going to live in Canada for four months and she has three small children. So I thought, hey, I can do that too! But I know it is better to wait for a while.

Thanks!
/Ninna

Well, I can tell you that you aren't missing much for the "Canada" part :)

MMM is right, I overlooked the fact that my cousins are Asian, so their kids are also from a place with a similar system to the Japanese system. Hey, I did say it will poise some challenges :) lol..

Anyways, yeah, do wait a few more years if there is no real reason for you to go NOW...