Updated October, 2023
When you travel to Japan, you will quickly find that you can get all over the country pretty easily. Taking a train or the Shinkansen (bullet train) is pretty easy to do, and if you have a rail pass, free. So getting around is easy and relatively fast. So it’s important to give yourself the full experience by finding a variety of things to do in Japan. My focus is on Japan for kids. So here are my top 12 things to do in Japan, no matter the travel requirements. I tried to make a mix of kid friendly activities to do in Japan as well as general activities, maybe just for the adults! It all depends on your child and what they will do with you.
Before You Go
As you read above, one of the keys to success in getting around and exploring Japan is by having a pass to get on their public transportation. I personally recommend the JR pass, which is what we used while there. This will get you on a vast majority of their train systems. You can get a national pass if you think you will travel a lot of Japan, or just a regional one if you think you will be fairly local to the Tokyo area. It’s an incredibly good deal and can be purchased for a short time, just while you are there!
1. Bathe in an Onsen
Onsen are traditional Japanese bath houses. In many onsen, you wash yourself very well before going in the water. Not just your typical “please wash before entering the pool” approach, but a full shower, to include soap and shampoo. If you have long hair, it is respectful to put it up in a towel. You enter completely naked and the water is better than any hot tub you have ever been in before. Most onsen are separated by men and women.
There are some onsen that you wear a bathing suit in and you can be with your family. Other onsen have a women only side and the other side is co-ed. You can also visit tourist onsen where you can bathe in anything from coffee to ramen to sake. These are great for young children, but still too hot for babies. Monster was a little over one and I would not have put them in the hot water at the onsen we went to, although we didn’t necessarily go to one that was family friendly.
Important note: If you have tattoos, you will have to find an onsen that allows tattoos or you should not mention your tattoos and wear apparel that will cover them completely, such as a swim shirt. Tattoos were, and often still are, affiliated with the Yakuza. So many onsens will not allow tattoos at all. The onsen we went to did allow tattoos and my partner said he saw some very Yakuza looking tattoos while he was in there.
2. Walk through Akihabara
This town houses “electric city”. Here you can play the rhythm games that got their start in Japan, such as Dance Dance Revolution or Dance Rush. There are also plenty of pachinko parlors, which is Japan’s version of gambling. Beyond the games, there are also a lot of really great stores. I hardly bought anything the entire time I was there, but it is interesting to walk through their shopping districts. And finally, you have to eat there! Not in a fancy sit down restaurant, but at a little hole in the wall where you get a ticket and hand it to the server. It’s too awesome not to experience.
When it comes to kids, I think this space was a little crowded, so feel confident that you can keep your kids with you. We didn’t use a stroller, so I don’t recall how stroller friendly it was. But there were plenty of stores for kids to explore in as well. If your kids are not fond of walking or can’t walk through a store without asking for things and you didn’t budget for this, maybe skip this particular stop.
3. Find a Festival
I believe festivals can tell you a lot about a culture. If you are planning a trip to Japan, look up what festivals are happening while you are there. We attended a boat festival in Yokohama and it was a blast! It really will give insight into how a culture celebrates as a community. More importantly, it’s super fun! And the food is always delicious and it’s cool to at least try it.
Most festivals that I was able to find took place outside. So as long as you bring water I think festivals are great for children to attend. They get to see cool new things, which is always important for every trip.
4. Sit on the Beach
Go to a beach. Any beach. We went to Zushi beach where there was black sand and tons of wind surfers. So much fun. The water is warm and the view is beautiful. We spent an entire day there and I could have easily spent more. Seriously, even years later that one day is still my highlight of the whole trip.
We found the beach to be plenty kid friendly as well. They got to play in the sand, and since the water was so warm, it was easy to take Monster into the water.
5. Feed the Deer in Nara
Nara is the home of the bowing deer. These deer are “wild” and roam about the town, just hanging out. They will bow to you and in turn you bow back and give them food. I would suspect tourism over the years has gotten a bit lazy on this because after we bowed and fed them once, they got a little pushy. But you could pet them and just hang out in general, which is super cool for kids. It was very cool. Plus there is a beautiful park with lovely shrines to see.
6. Get Tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum
This one is hard to do. You have to have a friend in Japan and you have to buy a ticket in advance. Like a month in advance. Tickets go fast, although they aren’t supper expensive. We had ordered our tickets but our friend was unable to pick them up in time so we were unable to attend at all. Still, if you are a fan of any of the Ghibli movies, it’s certainly worth trying to go.
7. Eat at a Sushi Go Round
I love sushi. Honestly, if I could afford to eat it every day, I would. So naturally, if you are in Japan, you should get some at least once. Specifically, visit a sushi go round, where you pick your food off the conveyor belt and pay by the plate. I admit this was probably the most expensive food I had eaten the entire time I was in Japan, but it was more than worth it.
My children eat sushi. I can’t think of a time they didn’t eat sushi, so this was certainly a great choice with Monster. If your child won’t eat sushi and doesn’t do well in restaurants, maybe pass on this one.
8. See the view from Tokyo Tower
My bestie wanted to visit Tokyo Tower and she really wanted someone to go with her. So my partner and I went. My partner was really excited and admittedly I was just going because they were. I wasn’t super excited about it, but I ended up being really glad that I went. It was absolutely beautiful. We didn’t pay the $100 to go to the very top of the tower with a full tour and everything, but we did go to the highest floor we could at a reasonable price. We also went down one level to the skywalk and it was beautiful.
Even Monster loved Tokyo tower, and even though we stayed up late to do this one, they were well engaged and seemed to enjoy the sights. My favorite memory from this particular attraction is Monster looking out over all of Tokyo in awe.
9. Chat in a Maid/Butler Cafe
When you walk down the streets in Akihabara and other towns like it, you will see lots of women dressed in adorable outfits handing out flyers. Many are handing out flyers for maid cafes. A maid café is a themed café with women dressed up as characters such as maids or vampires or cat girls. They serve you and chat with you. A butler café is the same concept except with men. You pay for a table for your group and then per hour. You can also pay to take photos with the workers there.
The conversation is the part that was most striking to us. You essentially pay to have a personal bartender to talk to. We ended up working with two different servers when we visited. The first girl was terrible at her job, but the second girl was awesome and ended up making the whole experience for us.
I like exposing my children to language and culture, so this was one we didn’t mind taking Monster to. We had to use a lot of google translate to communicate effectively but it was worth it.
10. Hike the Fushimi Inari Shrine
You can find a lot of shrines around Japan. And I mean a lot. We even found a few just walking down the street. It’s beautiful. To really get a sense of their culture though, visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. It has thousands of Torii gates leading up the mountain. The shrines, dedicated to Inari, the Shinto God of Rice, have been in place for thousands of years.
I will warn you, the hike is not stroller friendly. So make sure your children are ready to climb take the hike themselves or plan to carry them in a format that is not a stroller.
11. Buy the Ueno Parks Pass
We more or less stumbled onto the town of Ueno. It was one of the stops between our place in Kita-ku and Tokyo, the hub that we often visited to get around the country. Ueno offers a “welcome” park pass. It’s something like $20 (or 2000 Yen) to purchase and gets you into 12 different parks and museums in that area, all for free. This includes the Ueno zoo (there was a baby giant panda when we visited!), an art museum, the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Nature and Science, the National Museum of Western Art, and more. This small amount of money spent was a great way to spend a rainy day.
12. Get Lost
Okay, maybe don’t get so lost that you can’t find your way home. But take a day and just ride the trains around and walk. Just explore Japan for everything it has to offer. Not in the guide books, not the best place to eat according to you phone. Put away the technology, the phones and the cameras, and really look at what this beautiful country has to offer.
