This is what you need to know when going to a

restaurant in Japan with a baby.

[Music]

So, I wasn't planning on doing this video

at this time but i wanted to spend some

time with my son today, Wolfy, and

several viewers have asked me about

this video so here we are for all of you

travelers i'm going to show you my

personal tips on how you can bring your

kid or your baby to a Japanese

restaurant. But, like always if you guys

want to see what i'm doing on the daily

check out my instagram account if you

want to help support the channel check

out the japan merch and if you have any

questions about Japan or Japan travels

then check out my Discord community.

Let's get Wolfy now and let me show you

my tips.

If you're traveling to Japan with kids,

dining out could be a little bit

intimidating when you don't know what to

expect. To be completely honest, it's

still tricky for us too even though i've

lived in Japan for many years, since it's

different from restaurant to restaurant

today though i'll share with you what

i've learned during the last year and a

half with my baby boy i'm sure some of

these tips i mentioned are common

knowledge worldwide but since i'm not

familiar with the standard in other

countries i'll simply share the

specifics about japan and you can let me

know how it compares to your country so

today we're doing a video at a japanese

family restaurant which is reasonably

kids friendly but these tips will apply

to most restaurants in japan oh damn i

should start by telling you that tokyo

and many of the other larger cities are

not the most kid-friendly places in

terms of stroller access as many of the

restaurants are tightly packed and only

accessible by stairs the first thing

that you need to know when coming to a

japanese restaurant is that the

strollers are sometimes accepted and you

can actually bring them to the table but

a lot of restaurants are a little bit

smaller so you won't be able to bring

the stroller in so before you're seated

make sure to ask what you should do

about your stroller same thing goes for

baby chairs some restaurants offer it

but many don't so you'll need to ask at

the front

if you do know before and that you're

going to a specific restaurant you can

check online to see what they offer and

if you can't read the japanese you can

always try google translate but it will

depend on the restaurant whether they

have kids related info or not

since a lot of the places make you check

the stroller in we usually pack things

that we often use at the table

separately in smaller bags the seating

will be smooth without making other

people wait we usually have two bags one

is a diaper bag while the other has

everything else this is what's inside

instant bento box fruit pack juice pack

utensils toys alcohol wipes and

non-alcohol wipes

also don't forget to bring some toys to

entertain them i often just use my phone

to let them watch netflix or youtube

while i eat my food i find that carrying

a little stand for the phone is also

useful ozaski style seating is also

available in japan a common style of

seating where you sit on the floor at a

low table since you don't need to worry

about chairs and parents can sit with

their children it's often preferred by

many japanese families so keep this in

mind when you're making decisions about

a restaurant one thing about japan is

that many restaurants offer private

rooms this is something we try to

request when we're with our son so his

so his beautiful antics don't bother customers

also it's probably worth noting changing

a baby's diaper in private rooms is

still considered unsanitary in japan

before going to a lot of these

restaurants if it's not like a family

restaurant then you might want to ask in

advance

whether or not you can go if you're

making reservations then that's probably

the best place to ask but if you're

gonna do a walk-in then i would suggest

just like asking them before you enter

and like take a seat just ask them are

kids okay or our baby is okay and if

babies are okay you want to say

or if you want to say our children okay

you would say

it's probably like the simplest and

easiest way to say it

now let's talk about what kids can

actually eat at the restaurant if you do

go to a family restaurant like the one

we're here today it's actually quite

nice because they do have a kids menu

but if you're not in a situation where

they have a kids menu you can simply ask

them if you can bring your own food it

it is polite manner to ask this shop

because what we couldn't eat a lot of

items on the menu even like especially

when he was a lot smaller you would ask

you know is it okay to bring in food at

the end of the day if you did bring food

you're inside before you start feeding

your kid nice to be able to say hey is

it okay to open up this food for my kid

or this drink

yeah you like it

you need to be careful sometimes and

just test the food to make sure it's not

too warm we often experience Wolfy's

food being extremely hot when served so

just be careful before feeding all right

so now we're going to feed Wolfy he has

hypoallergenic set it is curry it has

some broccoli it has some corn potato

and rice see if he likes it customizing

the menu or ingredients for your child

is more than likely going to be

difficult at a family or chain

restaurant whereas you may have a bit

more luck at a chef's own restaurant but

again this is not really part of

japanese custom so don't expect too much

now if you have a baby who's still

nursing the most polite thing to do is

find a nursing room but if not available

then using a bottle would be preferred

nursing at the table is still a bit

controversial in japan so it's best to

avoid it if you can asking staff for hot

water or to warm up bottles is also

something that most restaurants wouldn't

be expected to do in japan so quickly

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right let's continue on with my tips so

something that is interesting especially

with kind of like family geared

restaurants here in japan is that some

of them actually prepare food for kids

of them actually prepare food for kids

that are under one basically they're not

actually gonna like make any food but

they'll pretty much have the gerber like

bottled food for you ready so that you

can buy it and then serve it to your kid

some of these restaurants are royal host

fuji restaurant denny's kappa sushi coco

curry marugan ramen and ikea so another

thing that you should be aware of is

kids amenities now if you have a kid

that's over a year old then usually

they'll have kind of like the smaller

forks and the smaller spoons and you

know cups and stuff but if your baby is

under like one year old then they might

not have like the proper utensils or the

proper like baby spoons and forks so you

might want to prepare that just in case

they have these kid junior coins that

gives you free toys at the entrance so

we're gonna go cash them in right now

most family restaurants offer free toys

or something to play with so if you

forget to bring a kids toy and you

desperately need one japanese family

restaurants come and clutch

[Music]

one thing that's really interesting in

japan especially like in regular

restaurants or like regular typical

japanese restaurants is they don't offer

napkins they'll have like a wet towel to

start with but they usually don't have

napkins so Maiko and I bring kind of

like our own disinfectant napkins

one more um luckily like these like

family restaurants there are more like

freely to give like napkins

[Music]

this video is to be honest with you it's

probably harder than i expected talking

to you guys

okay okay

so i wanted to quickly talk about

diapers more specifically changing

diapers here in japan this one is like

you get kind of like controversial

points of view well the standard manner in

japan is that you don't change the

baby's diaper at the table for sanitary

reasons also a majority of the

restaurants don't have a changing room

so if you have a baby who needs a

changing table you'll again need to plan

for this one often times though you can

find a nearby changing room so in this

case you can let the staff know that

you're going to step out real quick and

then come back many parents use an app

called mama papa map to find nearby

changing and nursing rooms that are

available to the public it notes nursing

rooms and bottle warming facilities as

well we often use it ourselves as it's

very useful so i think it's worth

downloading before you start your food

adventure and if you're really in a