OK so you’ve decided Japan is the place to go with the family. What next?

Awesome, get ready for the adventure of a lifetime and priceless memories with your kids!

How long to go for?

The longer the better for any holiday! When the kids were younger (2-7 years) we found 10 days was enough. More recently with teenagers we have been for three weeks and wanted more time! No matter how long you take, you are sure to want to come back again.

When to travel?

My favourite time of year to travel to Japan is spring to catch the Sakura, cherry blossoms. Everywhere you visit looks picture perfect like a postcard (make sure you have enough storage for photos!). The weather in Spring can still be chilly but it is starting to warm up and you will have days in t-shirt and shorts. The cherry blossom season is short and usually only lasts for two weeks and it can be hard to time it right. However, the April school holidays (NSW Aust.) seem to be a good time to go.

Winter in Japan is also very popular with Aussies, particularly if you are keen on skiing or snowboarding, or just seeing some incredible snow! Christmas is not a holiday in Japan but be aware that the week after New Year is holiday time in Japan and many of the sites and particularly the shrines are crowded with locals. If you are in Japan for the first few days of the year avoid the shrines and you’ll be fine!

Autumn is starting to get colder but it is an amazing time to see the autumn colours, particularly in Kyoto. You’ll find pumpkin or chestnut themed food and there is nothing more delicious than a paper bag of freshly roasted chestnuts warming your hands as you wander through the bamboo forests of Kyoto.

Summer is very hot and humid. It’s perfect if you want to escape the cold of Australia’s winter. It is also the time of summer festivals so be sure to find out when the fireworks festivals are on near you.

What flights to book?

Currently the main carriers are JAL, ANA and Qantas. Look out for deals, there is usually a stop over in Melbourne or Brisbane if leaving from Sydney. Baggage and food will also cost extra on lower cost flights.

Flights to Tokyo will land in either Narita or Haneda airports. Haneda is closer to central Tokyo, however with a number of fast transport options from Narita (Including the NEX and Keisei Skyliner), the travel time to central Tokyo is fairly similar.

Overnight flight or day flight?

Only some airlines offer day flights and currently it is only for the flight to Japan. Flights home to Australia are only overnight.

Think about what would suit your family best. Will they manage to stay up to board the flight at 7 or 9pm at night? Will they be too excited to sleep or will they be overcome with tiredness!

The advantage of the overnight flight is that landing in the morning you will have the day ahead of you to explore or travel to accommodation, rather than wasting a day in travel. This worked well for us one year, we arrived in Narita at 7am, travelled to Tokyo, put our luggage in lockers at the station and wandered through the cherry blossom of Ueno park for the day before heading to our accommodation. Be aware that on overnight flights, breakfast is often served about 2 hours before landing and this may mean you are woken at 4am for a 6am landing.

More recently we have preferred the day flight to Japan as hubby and I don’t sleep well on planes and we arrive shattered trying to find accommodation and dealing with kids!

The advantage of a day flight is that the 9 hours passes quickly. The kids are entertained with movies and food – what more could teenage boys want! When we arrive it is usually about 5pm Japan time. Enough time to get to Tokyo, get settled into accommodation, find some dinner and start fresh the next day.

Stopover in Aus or not?

We fly out of Sydney so one appealing option is to save money with a flight that stops in Brisbane or Melbourne. We did this one year and although it saved us about $2000 for the family, we haven’t done it since! Although the transfer from domestic to international airport in Brisbane went smoothly, getting kids settled on the first flight and then out again and back onto another plane, was just another hassle that we will avoid whenever we can.

You know your family so consider what will work for you and book it!

Where to go?

Most itineraries take in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Tokyo has so much to see and do (and Disneyland) and is an amazing place to visit. Kyoto is the old capital and has beautiful traditional Japanese streets, beautiful temples and is a must for viewing cherry blossom and autumn colours, Osaka has amazing food markets and night views (and Universal Studios Japan – USJ). For a first timer staying about a week in Tokyo and then a week in Osaka or Kyoto and travelling to the other will probably give you a good taste of old and new Japan without a huge amount of travel.  

Other popular sites are Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Nagano, Nara, Hakone or further north Sapporo.

Check out our top 10 things to do according to the kids and according to the parents!

Where to stay?

Initially this was hardest for us as a family of 5. Japanese hotel rooms are tiny! I really mean it – TINY! Even booking two rooms really didn’t suit with little ones and we had no common space, no space to put them to bed and hang out planning the next day. So we prefer to rent apartments, this also has the advantage of having a laundry for washing (essential with teenage boys!) and a kitchen for meal prep (also essential with teenage boys!). Searching for ‘weekly mansion’ is one option. In Japan a ‘mansion’ means an apartment building. Also check out Airbnb and booking.com.

I’d highly recommend at least one night at a ryokan for an authentic Japanese experience. A Ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn with tatami mat rooms and traditional meals. Yukatas are worn while in the Ryokan and many have onsens as part of the hotel.

The rooms are essentially one space with tatami mat flooring, set up with a table during the day. In the evening while you are at dinner the room is made up with beds on the floor. They are surprisingly comfortable and cosy, however, there are not two bedroom options, they are just one room. Check that the Ryokan you book has a bathroom in the room, some of the older ryokans have shared bathrooms, often located at the end of the corridor. You will notice that often the room size is listed by number of tatami mats.

Staying in a Ryokan is more expensive, so one or two nights might be more than enough. We often managed to fit 5-6 people in one room. Try and find accommodation with half board included, this means breakfast and dinner is included. Dinner will usually be a Kaiseki meal, with multiple courses served in tiny bowls all perfectly presented. Breakfast depends on the ryokan, it may be buffet style or it may also be a kaiseki meal. Be aware that dinner meal time is booked either at time of booking or on checking in. You must be on time and the meals can be long, so it essentially rules out any night trips. Be aware of this if you plan seeing night views of a city, plan for that on nights you are not booked in for a kaiseki meal at your Ryokan.

If you have fussy eaters or younger kids, they may struggle with a kaisei meal, however, I would highly recommend it if you can fit it into your schedule. It is the most amazing Japanese experience and if you really want to immerse yourself in Japanese culture it can’t be missed!

How to get around in Japan

Public transport in Japan is fast and convenient. However it can be confusing finding your way around train stations. There are multiple train companies and they often meet at the same train stations.

In the smaller towns and rural areas there is less public transport and it can be harder to plan travel. You will find taxis and hire cars can be easier.

Japan is not really set up for prams or strollers, many stations do not have lifts of if they do they are only on certain platforms or at one end of the station. Remember these stations can be massive so finding the lift can be a huge challenge! We tried to hire strollers at tourist sites and museums but they were very hard to find.

Walking, walking walking! You will find that you do lots of walking and have tired little legs at the end of the day. There are so many new sights around that it keeps them more than entertained. In all honesty though there were times when we were all exhausted from walking and the thought of another two trains to get home was just a bit too much so we’d give in and get two taxis (because a family of five doesn’t fit in one!)