Japan with Kids: Our Family’s Favorite Moments (and Honest Tips)

If you've been following along on Instagram, you know Japan has completely stolen our hearts. We took our family of five across the country — bullet trains, theme parks, shrines, and one very chaotic deer park — and I'm finally putting it all in one place. Here's what we loved, what surprised us, and what I'd tell any parent thinking about doing Japan with little kids.

Flying to Japan with Little Kids

This is the question I get more than any other, so let's start here. Yes, it's a long flight. But both our outbound and return flights left at night, and that changes everything. The kids stayed up for dinner and a little TV, then fell asleep and woke up when we landed in the morning. Honestly? It was way easier than our flights to London or Paris. Don't let the flight time talk you out of the trip.

Getting Around Japan with Kids: Trains, Cars & Taxis

Japan's transportation network sounds intimidating until you're in it — then you realize it's clean, punctual, and shockingly kid-friendly. Here's our playbook:

The Shinkansen (bullet train) for zipping between cities. Reserve your seats together as a family — it's easy and so worth it. Rent a car for rural day trips like Mount Fuji, where GPS is essential and trains don't quite reach. In Kyoto, don't miss the Sagano Romantic Train — the open-air car had our kids absolutely delighted. And inside cities, taxis were useful for filling in the gaps. For current trip planning, GO is a taxi-booking option; the former JapanTaxi and MOV apps combined into GO.

Tokyo DisneySea: What Our Family Paid

I thought it was a mistake when I saw the total. Our family’s DisneySea tickets came to $277 on this trip. Tokyo DisneySea was pure magic (it's the park Disney adults dream about), and at that price it genuinely felt like a glitch in the matrix. Judge my mom math all you want — I'm still not over it.

That was our trip’s ticket total, not a current quote or the total cost of our park day. Check Tokyo Disney Resort’s official calendar for pricing on your dates.

Thomas Land at Fuji-Q Highland, near Mount Fuji

We found Thomas Land at Fuji-Q Highland, and soon we were standing under the stone archway at Fuji-Q Highland with Mount Fuji towering behind it and our twins sprinting toward the entrance in their little Thomas jackets. Water rides, a treasure hunt ride, a helicopter coaster — every detail felt like stepping inside the show. If you have a Thomas-obsessed kid, add this to your Japan bucket list immediately.

Comme’n KIDS Bakery at Azabudai Hills, Tokyo

This might be the most Japan thing we did. Comme'n KIDS at Azabudai Hills Market is a real artisan bakery — except grown-ups can't go in. The kids were handed money, ducked through a tiny cave-like entrance built just for them, and came out beaming with paper bags stamped "Dream Cave Experience Shopping." Watching our three proudly carry out their own bread might be my favorite core memory of the whole trip.

Fushimi Inari, Kyoto: Walking the Torii Gates with Kids

Fushimi Inari in Kyoto — the endless tunnel of orange torii gates — is even more stunning in person than in photos. We walked it slowly with the kids, hand in hand, and it felt like stepping into another world. Go early if you can, wear comfortable shoes, and let little legs set the pace. Some of our favorite family photos ever came from this one morning.

Nara Park with Kids: Our Honest Deer Encounter

Okay, honest mom moment. Every dreamy reel of Nara Park shows gentle deer bowing for crackers like a Disney movie. The reality? I have dubbed them the Deer Mafia. They bite, they tug, they circle you like you owe them money — and one sprinted straight at our daughter while another headbutted for snacks. We laughed so hard we cried, but go in with eyes open:

Would We Visit Japan with Kids Again?

In a heartbeat. Japan with kids wasn't just doable — it was the kind of trip that rewires what you think family travel can be. Affordable, safe, endlessly fascinating for little minds, and full of moments we'll talk about for years.

Have a Japan question I didn't cover? Come find me on Instagram @santucci.family — I love talking trip planning. ✈️