We went back in Feb this year, but I wanted to post to allow others with kids to see that it is possible and we'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I would say that 8 months old was almost the perfect time for our first long trip with our daughter as she's 19 months old now and I think it would be more work as she needs much more entertaining than she did at 8 months.
We had a two week trip, one week in Osaka as a base, going out to Kyoto etc and 1 week in Tokyo. We also had one of my younger sisters come with us too, and the extra pair of hands in the morning to get ready helped a lot.
I speak Japanese so communication over there is not an issue but I'd also 100% say that it's not required in the bigger cities but learning some common words will make your life a lot easier, just so you can get your basic meaning across to shop staff and being polite. You might struggle a little more in smaller towns etc, but phones are so good these days that Google translate will get you 90% of the way.
One thing that was 100% needed for us in hindsight , is Yamamoto luggage. When we landed we lugged our cases to Osaka which was tiring and stressful. On the journey from Osaka to Tokyo I paid for delivery and the journey was 1000x easier when you have a baby and pram. The hotel can usually help you fill in the luggage slip which is in Japanese and phone your hotel to confirm they can take it.
Another thing we noted, add 30 mins or more onto your journey time. Looking for elevators in the subway etc can be like maze and really eats up travel time without you noticing. We missed our first Shinkansen to Osaka because of it.
In two weeks we did these bigger things
- USJ
- Umeda sky / plus the art museum
- Osaka Aquarium
- Dontonburi / Shinsekai
- Inari Shrine
- Teamlabs borderless
- Disneysea
- Harry potter studio tour
- Akihabara (twice), Shiubya, Asakusa etc all the major districts in Tokyo
- plus so much more shops, restaurants etc
If you have any questions etc, want to know more about our trip etc let me know.
by Kyarna