My husband and I visited Japan with our toddler of 20 months in 2024.
We had started looking at visiting Canada in February, but then decided it would be too cold… so then just took a look at the best Avios flights we could get with British Airways – and ended up with 18 days in Japan, flying in and out from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda.
We stayed mostly in chain hotels, which we thought would be easier, as it was our first long-haul trip to a completely different culture with a toddler! But, when we do it next time, I’ll be planning to find the hotels that really interest me.
Here’s an overview of our 18-day itinerary in Japan, when we visited, how we managed the dreaded jet lag and some other tips for getting the best out of the stay.
When we travelled
We travelled in May/June 2024. These months are typically not recommended because they can be either too wet or starting to get too hot. We decided to take the ‘risk’ as the weather seems to be pretty changeable everywhere nowadays – and it turned out amazing!
Luckily, we only had a few rain showers over 18 days, and the weather was generally mid to high 20s, with a day or two at about 32-34 degrees. Therefore, we lucked out, and it was actually pleasant for a trip with a toddler.
Travelling in May and June meant that we really didn’t have many issues with crowds, even at Tokyo Disney Resort, which had the soft launch of Fantasy Springs when we were there. Therefore, my advice is based on our experience in the low season, and it may not be the same when you visit.
Top tip
Keep checking the weather before you go, and adjust as needed!
A brief itinerary outline
Here is an overview of where we went in Japan and how long we stayed in each place:
- 4 days in Tokyo Disney Resort (including arrival day)
- 4 days in Tokyo
- 2 days in Osaka
- 5 days in Kyoto
- 2 days in Hakone
- 1 night in Tokyo pre-flight
Pre-trip planning
I spent the 5 months before we travelled to Japan learning Japanese, and I absolutely loved it! I spent time on a Japanese online class run by Surrey County Council, in-person lessons with a Japanese teacher, conversation coffees with a local Japanese lady, and using Duolingo.
I’d say it helped me, as I felt confident. I found that just knowing a few key phrases really helps build engagement with the people you meet. By the end of the trip, our toddler was saying ‘riato’ as his way of saying ‘arigato gozaimasu’ as we’d walk past people.
The flights 🫣
14.5 hours. On a plane. With a toddler 😬
That’s enough to give anyone nightmares!
But actually, despite the toddler not sleeping, except for the hour before landing, the excitement of travelling to Japan and being on a plane, meant that the flight didn’t seem quite as long for any of us.
The British Airways flights to Tokyo are quite tricky if you have a toddler, as they seem to be a c. 8am take off, with about a 7:30am landing in Japan – so essentially having two daytimes without a night, as the plane was set up for the night (on Japanese time), so if you didn’t have a toddler it’d have been perfect to relax and sleep.
We were also fortunate that we’d been collecting avios points for years and hadn’t used them, so as the toddler was under 2 and could sit on my lap, we managed to snag business class seats, so we had more room for activities.
Check out our top tips for travelling with a toddler
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We had airplane/airport books and books about Japan to read; new sticker books, new toys from Lovevery.com and of course, the trusty iPad and some toddler headphones.
The dreaded jetlag
Don’t fear it… just go with it! 🫣
We were terrified of what the jet lag would bring, but on the way out we didn’t really suffer at all.
We got off the plane at 7:30am and headed straight to Tokyo Disneyland Hotel where we checked in, left our bags, and were in Tokyo Disneyland and on our first ride by 9:30am! Turns out a day at Disney helps keep your energy levels going!
The toddler had a huge sleep at lunchtime, and we were all pretty sleepy and in bed for about 8pm, and woke up the following day at 6am raring to go!
The return home was slightly more challenging. We had a few nights where the toddler thought 2am was the morning, so we did have to get up for a couple of hours with him, then we went back to bed about 5am, then woke him at 7:30/8am and had lots and lots of outdoor time to try and reset his body clock. It probably too about 3 days to get through it – but heading back to nursery helped! Relaxing into it was our best option, and we did wake him or stop him from having late naps to ensure we didn’t continue the jet lag too long!
The best phrases to learn
You’re probably not planning on learning lots and lots of Japanese before you travel, but I think it adds so much to your trip if you can ask for a few of the most basic things!
Remember that ‘R’ is pronounced more like a ‘L’. I.e ‘toire’ (toilet), sounds like a bit like ‘toy-lay’.
The ‘u’ at the end of desu or other words isn’t pronounced, desu is pronounced more like ‘dess’.
Here’s what I recommend:
- Hello – Konnichiwa (こんにちは)
- Excuse me – Sumimasen
(すみません). This is used to say sorry, to get waiters attention, to move past people, etc. A very useful word! - Thank you – Arigatou Gozaimasu (ありがとうございます) (ah-li-gat-o go-zai-mass)
- Where are the….
- Bathrooms – toire wa doko desuka? (トイレはどこですか？)
- Stamps (train station or museum stamps) – sutampu wa doko desu ka?” (スタンプはどこですか？)
- Shrine – Jinja wa doko desu ka? (神社はどこですか？)
- Temple – Otera wa dokodesu ka? (お寺はどこですか？)
- Station (eki) – eki wa doko desu ka? (駅はどこですか？)
- Bullet train – Shinkansen (新幹線)
Friendly people
We found the people in Tokyo to be pretty friendly and accommodating. My son loved interacting with the local people, and I’d say his confidence tripled thanks to our trip to Japan. He loved waving at people, who would mostly always wave back!
Japan was an amazing holiday with my family and one I will never forget. In future blogs, I will discuss the trip in a lot more detail, including our Tokyo Disney Resort itinerary, other fun things we did in Tokyo, travel suggestions for Japan with a toddler and tips for travelling with a toddler with allergies in Japan.
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