Essential Tips For Visiting Japan With Kids (on A Budget!)

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Japan is not the easiest country to travel to, especially with kids. Despite being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, English is not widely spoken, the technology can be so advanced that it becomes confusing, and it’s also expensive.

For first time visitors, Japan can be overwhelming. It’s a very safe country, but it’s also very etiquette orientated with a lot of cultural norms and customs embedded in their traditions.

We all have nightmares of our kids screaming in a temple or disturbing the ambiance of a Japanese garden, and how that might reflect on the locals and how they might react.

But that doesn’t mean you should avoid visiting Japan with kids. It can be an enriching, rewarding and highly fascinating country for them to visit. Seeing other cultures and showing them how other people live is one of the main reasons to travel with kids.

Don’t let fears and anxieties hold you back, just make sure to follow these tips…

Tips for Visiting Japan With Kids (On A Budget)

We were all very excited to visit Japan, but I did have some quiet reservations – would the kids eat the food? would we be able to get around without understanding the language? would everything in Japan be super expensive?

After visiting, I now feel like I can honestly answer those questions. Below I have shared some tips for visiting Japan with children and how to plan for your trip so you can go feeling less stressed and excited about the adventure.

1. Be prepared for the flight to Japan

We flew with a low-cost airline from Asia to Japan. There are several airlines that fly to Japan, such as Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, British Airways, LATAM Airlines and ANA (All Nippon Airways) all fly direct to Japan.

It might seem daunting to fly on a budget airline with kids, but it is completely manageable if you prepare for it well.

Most budget airlines include the fare only, which means you need to plan food, entertainment and comfort packages.

For the flight to Japan, food was a must for us. Even if you purchase the food option with your ticket, I highly recommend taking along additional snacks.

With kids, you can never guarantee they will like the airline food, so they will most likely still need more to eat if they are like my kids. I made ziplock snack packs for the kids, which came in very handy towards…