Baby talk: A Singaporean's guide to Tokyo with an infant

Plenty of people discouraged me from travelling to Tokyo with my six-month-old, and I get it: trains are congested, cabs are expensive, and squeezing a stroller into an eight-seater restaurant isn't anyone's idea of a good time. 

But we went anyway, and truthfully, it wasn't that hard. In some respects, taking our baby around Tokyo was even easier than handling her when we're in Singapore.

Here are my tips for making your trip a successful one: 

Take an airport limousine bus to your accommodations

Some people are garang enough to lug their suitcases, baby, and baby gear from the airport to the hotel via the Tokyo Metro. If you're reading this, I suspect you're looking for easier means. 

While you could book a cab, I'd highly recommend the airport limousine bus as a cost-friendly option. Getting a seat is easy enough — you can either book tickets on the spot at the airport or reserve them online in advance. Every passenger is entitled to two free pieces of luggage and infants ride for free.

The buses stop all over Tokyo, leave every 10-20 minutes, and cost roughly 1000 to 3000 yen ($8+ to $26+) per passenger. If you're lucky, your hotel will be on the list of stops — ours wasn't, but the bus dropped us off just a five-minute walk away. 

Choose a hotel no more than 30 minutes by train from most of your activities 

During my solo travel days, I preferred booking hotels outside the city centre. But taking a one-hour train ride from say, Asakusa to Shibuya, is way more stressful with an infant in tow, especially if they're hungry, over-stimulated, or just so happen to unleash the dreaded poonami. 

My advice? Map out your activities and prioritise the ones that are located close together. Then book a place less than half an hour away from them. Otherwise, choose a hotel in Shinjuku or Shibuya to cut down on travel time and train transfers. While the chaos was a little overwhelming (as were the hotel prices), being able to hop all over Tokyo within 20-30 minutes made the congestion worth it. 

Considering a red-eye flight? Think again 

We booked a red-eye flight to Tokyo figuring that baby could sleep all the way. And while she did knock out for several hours, I forgot about one major inconvenience: that we'd land at 6am, but the hotel wouldn't let us check in until 3pm. This meant we had to plan a full day of activities for ourselves and baby when we were already dead exhausted. Next time, I'll book a flight that lands in the late afternoon so we can all snooze upon arrival. 

Buy diapers in Japan 

…but don't expect to find them in the supermarket if you're staying in Shinjuku. We packed only two days' worth of diapers to save space in our luggage, but visited at least three malls before realising that they're mostly sold in drugstores, not supermarkets, unless you're staying in a residential area. 

(Anyway, joke's on us because we could only find jumbo-pack diapers, which cannibalised our luggage space on the way back. Maybe you should pack your own diapers after all.)

Download the Mamapapa app to locate nursing rooms 

This user-generated database of nursing rooms and diaper changing stations takes the stress out of poopy diapers and sudden hunger cries. Listings come with photos, reviews, and a roundup of features, such as hot water for preparing formula, availability of sinks and wash stands, and even whether men are allowed inside the rooms.

Learn to embrace the malls

Singapore is so saturated with malls that they're the last place I'd want to go to in Tokyo. 

And then I had a baby. All of a sudden, I found myself crossing entire items off of my itinerary just so we could visit a mall. Queuing outdoors half an hour in winter for 10-seater sushi? Nah, let's dine at a mall. Need to rest my aching back without spending any money? To the mall's nursing room with baby I go. Malls aren't exactly hip, but they became a sanctuary of relaxation amidst the pandemonium of shuttling around Tokyo with a baby. 

It also helps that Tokyo's nursing rooms, commonly referred to as Baby Rooms, have everything you could ever need to give baby some TLC. In addition to the features I mentioned above, baby rooms in malls often come with three areas: private rooms for breastfeeding, a diaper changing room for nappy duties, and a family room where dads can hang out or where parents can feed older children in high chairs. Some even come with vending machines dispensing drinks, baby food, and diapers. 

Shout-out to Takashimaya Times Square, Ginza Six (pictured above), and Omotesando Hills for its state-of-the-art baby rooms. (Is it just me, or does the one in Ginza look like an airport lounge?)

Are there really that many stairs in Tokyo Metro stations? 

Short answer: Yes. While some of the bigger stations have escalators or lifts, they're not always easy to find, and you might need to queue for the latter. And bringing a stroller — even one that's folded up — onto a crowded train is a nightmare. 

I'll also add that bringing strollers on mall escalators is very much not a thing in Tokyo, so you'll need to hunt down a lift. Plenty of malls include priority lifts for families with infants, but these move at a snail's pace — not great when your baby is fussing about in the pram. 

If your back can take the weight, I'd suggest babywearing for peak mobility. If not, look into hotels — such as mine, Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku — that offer stroller rental. 

During my next trip, when the baby will inevitably be too heavy for me to carry, I might try Babycal, a stroller rental service that functions much like Anywheel's bike sharing service in Singapore. It allows you to rent strollers for as little as an hour, which is great if you need a stroller for only one activity. 

Don't stress about finding "baby-friendly" activities 

Aside from clubs, bars, and racing around on a Street Kart, most activities in Tokyo are infant-friendly in the sense that even if the activity isn't specifically for babies, they'll have a good time taking in the new sights and sounds. This will change once they're toddlers, but if you're wondering what the point of bringing an infant to Tokyo is when they "can't do anything", take it as an opportunity to do what you would like to do, before your kid is old enough to protest that they're bored or that their feet are tired. 

Case in point: my husband and I spent half the trip drinking specialty coffee at renowned cafes, including one that provided a 1.5-hour coffee tasting experience. Our infant happily napped in the baby carrier throughout, but I can't imagine how she'll sit through that in two or three years. 

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