- Japan holds a special place in my heart because I taught English straight out of college.
- My wife and I took our kids to Japan for a wedding.
- We learned that Japan is a great destination for little kids.
One of the greatest joys of my life has been traveling with my family, especially to other countries. Japan has an especially important place in my heart — I lived in Japan and taught English there for my first job out of college, and I still have wonderful friends in Tokyo. Japan has also given my family some of our happiest travel memories.
In October 2017, my wife and I traveled to Tokyo for the wedding of two of our Japanese friends. We brought our two kids, who were ages 9 and 7 at the time. Before the trip, I worried that the crowds and bustle would be intimidating for young kids under the age of 10.
But I was wrong — Japan might be the perfect travel destination for families with young kids.
Here are a few of the happiest memories from my family’s travels in Japan.
Tokyo is a kid-friendly city
Tokyo is a fascinating, massive, futuristic, neon megalopolis, but it’s also safe, clean, peaceful, orderly, and fun for kids to explore. Japan is so safe that young children often ride the subway alone while going to and from school.
Our kids felt comfortable in Tokyo. They loved the interesting, colorful Japanese vending machines dispensing hot tea or cold lemonade bottles. They enjoyed choosing sushi rolls and baked goods from Japanese convenience stores (“Konbini”). They loved looking at Japanese arts and crafts, toys, and souvenir treasures at local shops in the neighborhood of Shinjuku where we stayed. We loved walking as a family in Tokyo’s gorgeous parks and shrines, like Meiji Jingu, offering sanctuary and quiet spaces.
Tokyo is easy to navigate, with great public transit
From our first train journey into the city on the “Narita Express” from Tokyo Narita International Airport, our kids were fascinated by the easy-to-use, on-time Japanese train systems.
It was fun giving our kids their own little tickets for each subway ride, showing them the complex web of Tokyo subway maps, and helping them listen for the name of each stop to be called out in Japanese on the subway intercom.
Tokyo has lots of cute places to visit
Japanese culture has created so many popular imaginative universes, like anime and Hello Kitty. The best of Japanese pop culture is easily within reach when you travel to Tokyo, with fun spots like the Ghibli Museum for fans of movies like “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro.”
Our favorite place for kids in Tokyo was KidZania, an immersive, impressively detailed children’s museum and “kid city,” where kids could do various real-life “jobs” like bread baker, magician, firefighter, or Tokyo Gas engineer. Our kids met and played with many Japanese kids their age and were guided by friendly, English-speaking Japanese staff. Best of all, KidZania had an in-house café where moms and dads could relax with a cup of coffee.
Japanese hospitality culture is warm and welcoming
Every meal in Japan was delicious! Our kids especially enjoyed conveyor belt sushi (“kaitenzushi”), the hole-in-the-wall ramen shop that our friends took us to, and the izakaya restaurant where we could all choose multiple small plates (kind of like Japanese tapas) and eat family-style. We felt well-fed and well cared for at every meal in Japan.
Japan is a magical place of exciting sights, wonderful food, and friendship. It was an honor to see It with my family, vicariously through the eyes of my children and nostalgically through the eyes of my own younger self. I hope to visit Tokyo again sometime soon in the next few years.
