Trip to Tokyo 2024 with 2 kids
I can’t believe the last time we were in Tokyo, Chase was still in my belly, just a few weeks old! We’re truly so grateful to come back, 6.5 years later, now with both our kids. This trip was in conjunction with our Hong Kong trip, and since the kids are still young, we weren’t really in Tokyo for sightseeing but more just enjoying the food and company and exploration. We used to go to Tokyo every year since we got married, so we’re so excited that we get to do this.
Thankfully, the flight to Tokyo from Hong Kong felt rather short this time. As always, I love that Asian flights often have food and we enjoyed eating it! Travelling with a 1.5 year old is no easy feat though - Jasiel literally bolted across the aisles like wonder woman. She refused to sit down and watch a show. I had already tired her out considerably before the flight, but she did get a nap in that day, so she was so hyper. Totally understandable, but definitely this was a tougher age to travel with. Chase, at 5.5 years old, was comfortable eating most things, walked everywhere, and was able to enjoy the trip a lot more than she did, I think!
We arrived at the Haneda airport late in the evening in Tokyo, and at this point, Clement still wasn’t feeling well. After the long customs process at the airport, we were able to find our driver who drove us to our hotel (I booked it from Klook!) Since we were travelling with two young kids, my MIL and aunt, plus all our luggage, it made sense for us to get a private charter so that we could get to our hotel as quickly as possible. We stayed at the Mimaru Tokyo Station East. We loved staying in this area before, but this was our first time staying in this style of hotel in Tokyo.
Where we stayed: mimaru Tokyo Station east
And we loved it! It had a 7-11 at the ground floor of the hotel, which was very convenient. The kids were very hungry and I felt a bit like a super mom grabbing some food and drinks for the kids while my hubby was lying down sick! The room had 2 bedrooms inside, which is nice because Jasiel distracts everyone from sleeping haha. Each room had two twin beds! It also had a fully stocked kitchen, a dining table/chairs, and a coin laundry. It was also nice that they had an English-speaking concierge, so we didn’t have to worry too much about communicating our needs. We highly recommend this hotel, and we stayed in it for the duration of this trip. The kids and I happily devoured our pasta dinners, and drank the Yakult 1000!
day 1: Photoshoot with megumi maris + Gyukatsu + shinjuku
Thankfully by the time Clement had woken up, he was feeling a bit better, so we were able to make it to our photoshoot with Megumi Maris Photo. Megumi took photos of us a long time ago in Tokyo before we had kids, and we loved her so much that we hired her to do our photos again, this time with the kids! She had stayed in the USA for awhile before moving back to Japan, so she speaks English fluently and was very patient with the kids. The sakura had not yet bloomed, so we went to the Hamarikyu Garden instead because it was a quieter area and it was still really beautiful - had a bit of nature + city altogether.
To be honest it was quite a windy/chilly day, and Jasiel was not in the mood to take photos at all. But we’re so grateful that we still got some of these beautiful pictures to commemorate our trip!
For lunch we had reservations at the Gyukatsu Motomura in Shinjuku (it’s the only one that takes reservations at that time!) and it had a private room, so that was perfect for our little group. I had the set with the ikura bowl, while Clement had the beef bowl, which were both delicious. It was our first time trying gyukatsu, and it was yummy. Then, of course while we were at Shinjuku, we decided to walk around and enjoy this area of town. Shinjuku was the area we stayed in the first time we went to Tokyo, so it was a special place for us. We checked out some of the arcades and won some stuffies.
This trip, we didn’t use the stroller as I really find that Tokyo is too busy for stroller life, so I carried Jasiel in a carrier, and she usually would have two short naps in it. Mimaru Tokyo Station East is really close to the Tokyo Station (about 1 km) and a few steps to 2 different train station lines, so it was very easy to get around. I also found a bus that helped us go to the station, so that was helpful! Since Clement was still recovering, I went to the department store bottom floor to pick up some strawberries (of course!) and some sushi for dinner to keep it simple. Chase indulged in so many different ice creams this trip.
Day 2: mount fuji tour
In all our trips to Japan, we had never been to Mount Fuji, just seen it from afar, so we decided to make the trek this time. We used Klook again for this 1 day tour, and they promptly picked us up in the morning for it. We were so used to travelling by train on our previous trips to Japan, so we never really took the car… so I didn’t realize how much traffic there was and how tough it was for Jasiel to be in the car for a considerable amount of time. The driver also didn’t make any stops, so we were in the car for over two hours. Good thing I had brought some gravol with me, but Jasiel threw up in the car ride sadly. The tough thing about travelling at this age was that she just really wasn’t interested in screen time, and didn’t really want to do any crafts and wanted to sit on my lap. Thankfully, it was a spectacular day, sunny with literally no clouds in sight - and we could see Fuji-san in its snow-capped glory!
I honestly couldn’t remember the places we stopped at because my hands were full with Jasiel, LOL. But glad that it was still a fun trip with beautiful memories. I did remember though that it was tough to find a place to eat for lunch, because the area was quite touristy and it was mostly full of people. But, thankfully we were able to find a tempura set restaurant and enjoyed the food there.
That night, we decided to pawn Jasiel to my MIL, so Chase, Clement and I went to the Tokyo Station to check out the character street. We honestly love this strip of stores because it just had a little bit of everything. Chase got a chance to get his own car in the Tomica store, and mommy got to visit the Traveler’s Factory store at Tokyo Station. And of course, we had to get a little Miffy for Jasiel!
I love Traveler’s Factory - I visited the Nakameguro one a long time ago, and it was nice to see that they now have a Tokyo Station location. I didn’t buy much because the limited edition one I wanted to get wasn’t available yet until April, and we went in March. I also discovered that they had a location at the Narita airport, which I visited before we headed back home to Vancouver. I love to journal and their pieces are just so wonderful and I love their papers.
day 3: Shibuya / harajuku + Paper tree
We started this day heading to Shibuya Parco, where we checked out the Pokemon Store there as well as the Nintendo store and all sorts of other places in that mall. We also visited Rapha Tokyo for Clement. Sadly while Jasiel and I were walking and she was stuffing her face with goldfish, she threw up everywhere on me and on the sidewalk (sigh!) The saga continues with travelling with a toddler!
So we took a taxi back home. I picked up pizza at the Saizeriya restaurant in the same building as our hotel, and we enjoyed some delicious pizza before I headed out to Paper Tree for my book signing. Daddy Clement took the kids out for a walk, ice cream, and delicious treats. Then, we went for dinner with Sakura-san sans the kids! Woohoo!
Jasiel was so happy to see me home that day, haha. While I felt like I smelt like vomit all day, lol.
Day 4: a pit autobacs + odaiba + zauo fishing
On this cloudy morning we headed for A Pit Autobacs which used to be Super Autobacs, but now they renovated it to look so much nicer and there was even a book store and a Starbucks in the middle of the shop! This place is Clement’s heaven for car stuff and collectibles so we had to gladly oblige.
Then, we went to Odabia, which is where we discovered all the kids were in Tokyo! It was a nice family-friendly mall with a big Toys R Us store and we got to enjoy a conveyor belt sushi place, too. There was a ninja play section at the top floor, which was Chase’s highlight of the day! I definitely recommend a trip to Odaiba (we went to the Aqua City mall) if you have kids as the food options, mall itself was very much catered to children.
That night, we went to Zauo fishing because we saw it at the Outdoor Boys channel - where you could fish for your dinner. I must say it felt more like an operation / tourist trap, but glad we at least tried it! haha. Basically, it wasn’t so much fishing as it was catching, and the fish itself wasn’t incredibly amazing. It was also really busy, so between having to fish for your food and waiting for your food, and the food being mediocre, it wasn’t a great experience for us.
Day 5: sukiyaki + shibuya + Ginza
We usually start our mornings with convenience store food, and with 7-11, Family Mart and Lawson just a few steps from our hotel, it was so convenient. I personally love eating the ikura onigiri. It seems like Jasiel loves it too!
Sukiyaki is just the best in Japan, so when we were able to make reservations at Okahan, we jumped on the opportunity! It’s an expensive meal, but it was very delicious and the kids loved it. They gave us a private room, which is perfect for the kids to be in. Then, we headed to Shibuya again since last time we weren’t able to really enjoy the trip because Jasiel didn’t feel good. This also made us decide to take the train for the most part, because it was just easier than being in the car with Jasiel.
At night, I headed to Ginza because I wanted to go to Itoya and Loft to search for some stationery! While Ginza is known for their luxury brands, I personally love the amount of stationery stores that are so close to each other. A lot of the department stores will have a stationery section or an entire floor - I don’t think anywhere else in the world has it! Perfect timing, Jasiel fell asleep so I got to shop in peace. Here are some of the places I go to while I’m in Ginza
Itoya
Loft
Muji Flagship Store
Daiso
3Coins or Treeppy
This trip was definitely interesting for us as we didn’t really quite plan everything to the T because the kids got tired too and needed to rest, but we all still enjoyed Japan so much that we’re going again next year. Especially with regard to food - we would often eat at a food court, or something “easy” that didn’t require lining up! For dinner, we went to a tsukemen place close by.
day 6: TOKYO disneysea
We booked our tickets in advance using Klook, so we weren’t able to change the date of our tickets. Sadly, it was the rainiest day ever on our trip (the forecast was 75-100mm of rain!!!). We followed along The Tokyo Chapter’s blog a lot during this trip, which is super helpful by the way! She did recommend going early to Disney to line up, but because of the rain situation, we didn’t go as early because I know the kids wouldn’t be too happy waiting in line before it opened. However, it still ended up taking an hour before we were able to enter the theme park. We rented the strollers and the rain covers, which were super essential in this rainy day.
We went to Hong Kong Disneyland during this trip too and it was a world of a difference in terms of busy-ness, Tokyo Disneysea, even though it was pouring rain, was still incredibly busy with rides going upwards of 1.5 hours in wait time, and you can’t really purchase a lightning pass for all the rides like you could with Genie Plus in LA Disney, or Premier Pass in Hong Kong or early access. We picked Disneysea because it was more unique than Disneyland, and it had a big covered place “Under the Sea”. While going to Disneyland is always special for us, I personally find it hard to recommend going to Tokyo Disney because of the long lines and also that most of the places were entirely in Japanese, without any English translation. We watched a magic show that was in Japanese and that was interesting. So we checked it off our list, but I don’t think we’ll go again.
One thing you can count on in Tokyo at least, is that the Disneyland has delicious food! We really enjoyed our meal in a covered place, warm from the cold and rainy day we got. The kids really did still have fun, but with a lot of the rides closed (oh I know!) and over 30 minute wait rides, we headed home quite early as well.
For dinner, we got some delicious sushi platters from the department store, which is never a bad idea. We actually found ourselves using the dining table at the hotel a lot, which is really nice.
day 7: Ginza + akihabara
The next day, my MIL and aunt headed back to Hong Kong, so we spent our day strolling along Ginza and then we took the train to Akihabara as well. We started off the morning with some coffee and pastries, then we checked out the Police Museum as recommended by the Tokyo Chapter. I personally find that Tokyo in general isn’t too friendly for children, especially going to restaurants, so it was really nice that in this blog, she would recommend some restaurants to eat at that are friendly for children or things that are open early. A lot of stores, even cafe’s, don’t open until 11AM in Tokyo, which can be tough for kids especially when they may have some jetlag.
Anyway, the kids really did like the Police Museum! While we were at Ginza, I also went back to Itoya, this time with Chase, and both of them decided to pick out some erasers, because they had a special event where they had an eraser buffet and it came in the cutest little lunch box. I think our next trip, Chase and Jasiel will enjoy my stationery shop visits more than before now that they also love to draw, color, and write things!
While in Ginza, we also went to check out the Nissan store, because why not! The kids loved seeing the display cars. Then we walked all the way up to Ginza Six, which was the mall that literally just opened the last time we were in Tokyo. I remember that they had an amazing food court that we wanted to bring the kids to, but sadly it was no longer there. But! We did try a new italian restaurant and got to try some Japanese Italian pizzas. They were delicious! And of course, we also went to Uniqlo and some more stationery shopping, haha.
Chase was honestly such a trooper, doing all this walking. Jasiel was little enough that I could just use my lightweight baby carrier, but in the next trip, I’m bringing a small stroller. That way, Chase and Jasiel can alternate if they need to. It also helps extend the day if he gets tired from all the walking.
After our stint at Ginza, we took the train to Akihabara. The boys went in search of their cars, we checked out some arcades, then we headed back home. I can’t wait to go back again and this time I’ll be hunting for some unique gacha!
For dinner, we had udon! I love that there’s so many udon shops and they’re definitely easy for the kids! Then Jasiel and I went shopping for a little bit too at Tokyo Station. We love Tokyo station because there’s so many food options, and the area itself is nicer than Shinjuku and not as busy as Shibuya.
One cool thing about this trip was that Clement was able to continue running - both in HK and Tokyo. Because we were so close to the Imperial Gardens, that’s where he went running! I thought that was so fancy.
Also, I personally really like the Ohayo brand of desserts, I really enjoyed the Creme Brulee ice cream and this one in the picture was the milk pudding. I discovered a small grocery store close to our hotel in my many walks with Jasiel, which was why I found it even cheaper than convenience stores!
day 8: shinjuku + Tokyo sTation
On our last full day in Tokyo, we had a lazy morning sipping Yakult1000 haha thanks to Hangry by Nature. Then we went to Shinjuku. This trip we went out west a lot, which meant we had to travel that way often. The next trip, I’m going to try not to go that route as much, else we’ll try to stay there. I met up with my childhood friend Erika who went along with us to the many stores in Shinjuku in search for more model cars, haha! They’re literally everywhere in Japan. We took a pit stop at McDonalds, cause I thought we should at least try McDonalds this time around!
Then, at night we went to Tokyo Station to do some shopping. That’s what I love so much about staying close to the Tokyo Station, because there are a lot of the brand shops there for snacks, which are great for bringing home as souvenirs. While you can get some of them at the airport, it’s also nice to be able to pack some of them in advance. For dinner, I really wanted to try an oyakodon place, so we found one near the Tokyo Station that was decently good. Because a lot of the popular places required us to stand in line, I found that it was easier to just walk around and choose a restaurant that we would like vs. researching extensively where to go - which worked for us with kids. And in Japan, it’s really hard to go wrong with the food to be honest, everything was delicious.
day 9: asObono + heading home
On the last day, we went to As0bono which was recommended by Tokyo Zebra, which is this massive indoor playground for the kids. It was a rainy day, which was a perfect day to stay indoors and also keep us occupied since we were flying home that same day. I loved all the pretend play sections, especially because there was a sushi station and grocery and even a flower arranging station! Right beside this play area was a big food court that was incredibly kid-friendly as well. All the food options were literally for kids, and they had seating for the kids, too.
That’s what I found in this trip to Japan was that we had to plan a little something for the kids to do or run around in at least once a day, that way they have something to look forward to and be able to run their energies out. Very different from our 20-30k steps a day visiting one area to the other. At times, we headed home to rest for the entire afternoon after maybe 3 hours out. Then came out again for dinner time. Regardless, we were able to create many beautiful memories on this trip and I could not have been more grateful. Next year, when the kids are a bit older, I’m sure our trip would look different as well.
We also booked a Klook car to bring us to the airport, but just like the previous times, we actually regretted taking Jasiel in the car like this because of the traffic and the car ride took over 1.5 hours because of the traffic. We had to fly out using Narita airport on the way back, that’s why it took so long. Next time, if we had Narita airport, we would take a taxi to the train station instead (so we don’t have to bring our luggage down the steps), then take the train to Narita. Or, Haneda airport is so much closer, just about 15-30 minutes by car, or even shorter by train.
At the airport, Chase was able to get his last ice cream of the trip (he had one or two a day!!). We had treated ourselves to the lounge on the flight back, so we got to eat some of the foods there. The Narita airport is fun to go to because there’s lot of shopping before the security check, as well as after. It’s awesome for picking up the last minute souvenirs. Our flight back was in the evening, so the kids were able to get some sleep. We brought an inflatable for chase this trip, which he liked, and it helped him rest through the night. However I do think that he is getting bigger now so the inflatable won’t work in the next trip. Jasiel wasn’t 2 years old yet, so we didn’t buy her a seat on this trip, but we didn’t have any extra seats on the flight back, so she wasn’t too happy to just be on my lap. I find it very hard to sleep sitting with her on me, especially because she is so wriggly. Looking forward to our next long haul trip with her sitting in her own seat, for sure! The food on the way back to Vancouver was way more delicious than our flight going there, which was nice.
While this trip was definitely more challenging than our other trips, I think that my kids were such troopers and Chase especially didn’t even experience any jetlag, which was really nice for us. Can’t wait to go to Japan again!