I've been thinking about a trip to Tokyo for a while now and this post has motivated me to do some research. The Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Hall sounds amazing! We have a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old and just have a few reservations about going there. Does overcoming the language barrier make getting about the city each day difficult? The kids get tired quickly so I don't want to be exhausted too just trying to find directions. Also, are train stations pram-friendly?

To answer the last question - no. Lack of ramps or elevators, crowds, lack of room on the train itself. Japan in general is not wheelchair/pram friendly, and personally I can't think of many times I actually saw people using prams (lived there for a year). It's a *generalisation* but I think mum's of little ones stay at home of don't stray far? Gender roles are pretty traditional… It's not like you never see babies but I didn't see prams too often in cities and the public transport won't make it easy. The largest stations might have elevators, but that's about it. That said, the pic in this article has a pram - anyone else disagree with my assessment? It's not like people in Tokyo don't have kids :)

Thanks, Susannah, for such a comprehensive reply! I'm feeling a bit more up to the challenge after reading your comments. I speak a little Japanese so I'm hoping that we'll manage sufficiently in the language department to get to places we want to see.

I live in Western Australia so the plane trip won't be too long and probably best to go while our young one still fits in one of those fold-down bassinets they have on Qantas.

With regards to prams/strollers/baby carriers I'm wondering if our three (nearly four) year old can just walk some of the time to avoid taking the double pram. Of course crowds are a worry so we could put her in the stroller when needed. We have one of those hiking baby carriers so our little one could travel on our back to make things easier.

Since you're such an experienced traveller in Tokyo, what would be the best time of year to visit? Or, are there times to avoid visiting when travelling with kids?

Amanda

We live in Tokyo with our four year old and my best advice for anyone going with kids is to consider that you want to take up as little space as possible when going through downtown areas because sometimes you will only have a tiny amount of space. We've been on the train before with people pressing on me and my daughter on all sides-not even enough room for me to pick her up! And in my experience seats are not given to children-only moms with babies. My daughter has asked people politely in Japanese if she could borrow their seats because she was so tired and they ignored her! Many families in Japan don't have cars and really young children are used to walking long distances. You should also know that eating and drinking on the trains is strictly taboo, and also eating/drinking and walking around is taboo, even outside. Indoor malls and shopping centers don't allow eating in halls or stores except in designated areas or restaurants. I think its best for kids who can understand to be prepped for this, just told that they won't be carrying snack traps around, etc.

Japan is a great place for kids. And extremely safe!!! Our daughter's adaptation is greatly due to watching the aforementioned "Little Traveler's" dvds. I think the more the kids are told ahead of time what to expect and what will be expected, the more accepting they'll be to a new environment and the more fun can be had.

I lived in Tokyo for 2 years with my 3 young children, ages 5, 2 and 1. We shortly realized after taking our double stroller out that it wouldn't fit in a lot of stores and trains. We purchased a single stroller and added a step on the back for my son to stand on. It worked well and I got a good workout pushing my children up all of the hills in our neighborhood. We didn't have a car and used the trains quite often. It wasn't easy sometimes as there were no elevators in some of the stations so we had to make the kids walk down the stairs and carry the stroller in our hands. That being said it was quite easy to use the subway system even though we didn't speak japanese. There are plenty of maps and the name of the towns were written in english and not just the japanese characters. I also used this website quite often before I went anywhere to be sure I knew where to go http://www.hyperdia.com/. You just type in what station you are starting from and where you want to go and it gives you several options on which trains to take. The other thing to note is that there are no street addresses in japan so it may be hard to find a store or restaurant that you are looking for. The japanese are so helpful and will usually go out of their way to help you find the place you are looking for.

You may also want to check out tokyofamilies.com which has a lot of info on what to do with kids in Tokyo.

I had such a positive experience living in Tokyo and I still miss it even though it's been 3 years since we left. I would highly recommend a visit there.