Traveling to Japan and need advice about prams, travel tips.....

[fatbetty]

We are going to Japan at the end of this month and I'm having huge toss up about prams. We have two boys who are 3.5 and 2. The 3.5 is fine walking everywhere around town while DS2 still needs a pram which is fine as we would take our McClaren's single pram. But I'm wondering if it would be better to take our (obviously more heavy) double pram instead so that if DS1 gets tired he can climb in and ride. We do have a buggy board but those can be a bit of a pain.

We've done long haul flights before but that was to see family and we had cars then and weren't sight seeing everyday.

Also, does anybody have advice about travelling to Japan with kids? We've been thinking about renting a car rather than taking the trains - just wondering how easy are the trains vs. cars?

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Lucky you!

I would take the single pram with buggy board unless ds1 has a nap at the same time as ds2. A double buggy might be too cumbersome/wide. The airports in Japan have pushchairs you can use and I was told that you can rent pushchairs (I didn't follow this up as I took ours with us).

Depending on where you are going I would recommend taking the train, they are easy efficient and clean.

It is going to be HOT and HUMID! I would recommend bringing kid friendly insect repellant and afterbite from here.

Thanks biggersize! We have a tandem double buggy that we could take but I just think of the pain it would be pushing it all over the place. But then I think of carrying DS1 if he gets tired and the tantrums he'll have when he is tired. I think we'll just have to do kid friendly activities and take it slowly.

Thanks for the recommendation of insect repellant. Didn't even think of that!!

I bought a cheap buggy when I got there, small but super light and fine for my 22 month old. Trains are great if you are travelling round it is well worth getting a Japan rail pass saves a lot of money. You must do that outside Jpan though

I have heard that in Japan you can get a huge range of excellent, lightweight buggies at very reasonable prices, so it might be an idea to buy when you arrive. Though not, perhaps, if you are tall, as the Japanese tend to be shorter than Westerners and the buggies are correspondingly small.

Please tell us how you got on when you come back as we are thinking of visiting next year when dd is 3.5 and will be interested to hear how you got on. Have a great trip.

I think we'll take our mcClaren's single pram and maybe the buggy board if it comes to that. I found a book on Amazon about travelling with kids in Tokyo that I bought. It's suppose to have itineraries based around kids, even pit stops of where to take breaks. Hopefully that will be good.

Will let you know how our trip goes!

Fab- what is the book called? We may be heading that way in August and would be helpful to know of good places for toddlers.

as bluejelly mentioned the japanrailpass.com is a good idea if you decide to see more of the country.

One book is "Kid's Trips in Tokyo: City Walks and Family Outings" by Ivy Maeda. I bought this book so I'll let you know how it is. The other book that looked interesting is "Japan for Kids: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Their Children" by Dianne Wiltshire. This book sounds like a good resource for people who are going to be in Japan for a long time.

Also some good website I found for kids were:
www.travelforkids.com/Funtodo/Japan/tokyo.htm
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/features/children/japan.htm
www.bbc.co.uk/holiday/destinations/japan/

I've only got very limited experience, but the trains can be awfully crowded, so I would either plan your times carefully or avoid trying to take a pram on a train. Have a wonderful time

we went to japan in 2000 ish i think with a five year old for 10 days (so can't help you on the buggy bit) but we had a fab time - trains were brilliant not that crowded guess we didn't travel at busy times.

Only problem we had was persuading ds1 to eat - he found some foods v strange plus site of clam opening on dhs plate on second night put him off a bit.

Thanks for the info. Look forward to hearing about your trip - enjoy!

One more word about cars driving in tokyo is a nightmare, and if you drive long-distance you will have to pay tolls. Long-distance buses are cheap ( relatively) and reliable they leave from a stop near Shinjuku station.
But the shinkansen bullet train is definitely the best way to get around. If you are planning more than one train journey the JR pass pays for itself.
Have fun

Hi All! Just got back from our trip to Japan and just wanted to let you all know that we had a fab time!! We took our buggy board along for DS1 who is 3.5 but never used it. He did great walking all around. There was lots for the kids to do and see to keep them and us interested. Lots of places have a "stamp station" where kids can collect stamps from different places (would have been nice to have a little book for DS1 for him to collect). Since we just potty trained DS1 before going I was a bit worried about the bathrooms - but they were everywhere and very clean. Both kids didn't really like the food and had to stop into McDonald's or KFC once or twice for them. It was very humid when we went and it's nice to be back in a cooler climate.

Thanks for all your tips and advice!

fatbetty, we're going to Japan with our 3 kids early next year & would love some advice & info from your trip.