Japan?

[mrsGreeko]

My first time starting a post on this board! I asked in my local board too, but it’s dead anymore...

Has anyone ever been to Japan? I’m especially interested if you’ve been recently and/or went with your kids. I’m trying to convince DH to go to Japan next summer (well before the Olympics so that won’t factor in much) instead of Eastern Europe. He’s hesitant because he has the impression that the language barrier will be too great and it will be too frustrating with the kids.

I disagree and figure we can figure it out. Plus I want to go to another continent. I lived in Europe in college for 6 months and traveled all over Western Europe and we’ve taken the kids to Europe twice already (including Croatia which is Eastern Europe) so I just kind of think I’d like to expose them to something different and I want to do something different.

For the record we only fly on points from card churning otherwise we wouldn’t be able to go to any of these places...

ETA: also my kids really like rice, sushi and miso soup, and other Japanese food. But when we were in Croatia my one kid only ate chicken soup and bread for the entire week because she didn’t really care for the Croatian cuisine. My other kids also aren’t huge fans of the traditional Eastern European foods. So I feel like eating would be more enjoyable in Japan. It’s a stretch, but anything to try to convince DH!

[mustardseed2007]

No but I'm jealous. Does that help?

[gaudi]

DH and I did Japan in summer 2016. We have DD 8 and DS 11 and travel with them internationally each year and looking at your posts, I think our travel style is very similar. Almost all of our international travel has been on points/miles, so that has always determined where we go. We didn't take them on that trip (DH wanted business class and we didn't have miles for 4 tickets), but wouldn't hesitate to take them if we go back. On the other hand, we just did Jordan and Egypt and won't take the kids there until they are much older. The language barrier was an issue one time in a small restaurant in a shopping mall, but otherwise we didn't have any issues. Everything in Japan is so organized and orderly that we thought it was just as easy, if not easier, than Europe.

We spent a little less than 2 weeks total. We started in Tokyo for a 4 nights, headed to Osaka for 5 nights and then back to Tokyo for the rest of the trip. The trains are so efficient that we wanted to have a home base and take day trips. I know we did Hiroshima and Kyoto, but can't remember the other 2. The only organized tour we did was a Mount Fuji tour, otherwise we did everything independently.

[mrsGreeko]

Nov 22, 2019 12:19:49 GMT -5 gaudi said:

DH and I did Japan in summer 2016. We have DD 8 and DS 11 and travel with them internationally each year and looking at your posts, I think our travel style is very similar. Almost all of our international travel has been on points/miles, so that has always determined where we go. We didn't take them on that trip (DH wanted business class and we didn't have miles for 4 tickets), but wouldn't hesitate to take them if we go back. On the other hand, we just did Jordan and Egypt and won't take the kids there until they are much older. The language barrier was an issue one time in a small restaurant in a shopping mall, but otherwise we didn't have any issues. Everything in Japan is so organized and orderly that we thought it was just as easy, if not easier, than Europe.

We spent a little less than 2 weeks total. We started in Tokyo for a 4 nights, headed to Osaka for 5 nights and then back to Tokyo for the rest of the trip. The trains are so efficient that we wanted to have a home base and take day trips. I know we did Hiroshima and Kyoto, but can't remember the other 2. The only organized tour we did was a Mount Fuji tour, otherwise we did everything independently.

Thanks! That’s funny because out of all the places DH has been in the Middle East he would only be willing to take the kids to a few, Jordan is one of them, but I have little interest at the moment and we don’t have the miles anyway.

My rough itinerary if I can DH on board is to fly into Tokyo, stay 4 nights in Tokyo (hopefully at the military resort there), take the train to Kyoto for 3 nights, take the train to Hiroshima for 4 nights, take the train to Osaka for 4 nights and fly home from there. We would do some day trips from all those places (Nara, miyajima, Disney). The only thing that skips that I’d really like to do is going to the snow monkey park, but I could probably fit that in if I really want to once we start actually arranging things.

[covergirl82]

I have not been to Japan, but I would totally go. I think in major cities you will be able to find enough people who speak English. If you stick to Western brand hotels, they should have all the accommodations you would expect in a normal hotel in the US. (That is a tip my aunt and uncle shared with me when they went to Japan around 10 years ago.) The only reason I would be hesitant to go with my kids right now is because they are such picky eaters I think they would starve on the trip (LOL).

I can understand how going to a country where the language is in characters can be intimidating (and Japanese actually uses 3 different types of symbols: kanji, hiragana, and katakana (I took a year of Japanese in college)), so you could always download Duolingo (or other similar app) to learn the basics and common phrases.

[mrsGreeko]

Nov 22, 2019 13:15:17 GMT -5 covergirl82 said:

I have not been to Japan, but I would totally go. I think in major cities you will be able to find enough people who speak English. If you stick to Western brand hotels, they should have all the accommodations you would expect in a normal hotel in the US. (That is a tip my aunt and uncle shared with me when they went to Japan around 10 years ago.) The only reason I would be hesitant to go with my kids right now is because they are such picky eaters I think they would starve on the trip (LOL).

I can understand how going to a country where the language is in characters can be intimidating (and Japanese actually uses 3 different types of symbols: kanji, hiragana, and katakana (I took a year of Japanese in college)), so you could always download Duolingo (or other similar app) to learn the basics and common phrases.

We do always learn at least a little of the language for where ever we go! The Croatians thought it was so funny when my youngest would speak Croatian to them (he only learned 3 or 4 phrases), but they just loved it. It’s always cuter when a little kid is saying things in a new language I guess!

[sdlaura]

DH and I spent two weeks in Japan after we met 15 years ago. SIL was teaching English there. I think it would be totally perfect for kids - super clean and safe, lots of outdoor stuff to do (we hiked Mt Fuji), castles and temples, bullet trains are awesome, conveyor belt sushi restaurants, and we had no issue navigating due to language. Our favorite place was Miyajima - the floating gate - there were friendly baby deer wandering around. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was amazing and moving and would be really educational for kids.