Five Reasons I Love Living in Tokyo With A Baby
1. There’s an infinite amount of things to do! Tokyo is full of parks, pools, baby play places (called jidoukan), baby friendly cafes, museums…the list goes on! Living in the biggest city in Japan, you have access to so many surprisingly baby-friendly activities. When you live in a big city, everything tends to be highly concentrated within a small area. This is ideal when you have a baby because you don’t usually have to travel very far to get to all the fun things! It also means you don’t always have to go to the same park or play place every day because that’s what is closest to you. If you live in central Tokyo, there are probably one hundred options within a 30 minute commute time of you so you can experience a variety of places easily. I’ve also noticed that people tend to bring their children, especially babies, pretty much anywhere! I’ve seen everything from fashionable moms with babies strapped to them out vintage shopping to strollers pulling up at my local ramen shop! Of course there are exceptions, but babies are pretty much welcome (or else people are too polite to say otherwise!)
Also, even though there is such a variety of activities in Tokyo, I still find I can have that “small town” vibe” in my local neighborhood. I often chat with the ladies who work at the local grocery store and fruit stands and they love saying hello to my son. Even though you live in a huge metropolitan city, your local neighborhood can still feel close knit and friendly, which I love.
2. It’s super safe. I can honestly say I have never felt as safe as while being in Japan. This isn’t something that bothered me about my old home, San Francisco, California, when I was childless, but now that I have a baby safety is my top priority. When I’m out and about I don’t need to worry about making sure my belongings are safely tucked away on the train and I can do things like leave my phone on the table in a cafe while playing with my baby and I don’t worry that someone will steal it. I can go to the park and leave my backpack in my stroller without a problem. All that extra energy can be put into entertaining my little one versus worrying about our safety. It’s such a relief! I can’t imagine how parents do it in other countries now that I’ve lived here!
3. Public transportation is reliable and accessible. A lot of people living in Tokyo have a love hate relationship with public transportation. For me however, I find that it is mostly love! Although it can sometimes be difficult to manage a stroller on the train, I find that my baby is much happier on the train versus in the car (where he cries the entire time…)! I love being able to play and talk to my son instead of having to focus on driving while we get to our destination. Taking public transit is also much safer than driving in general, so that’s a plus for me too. Even with the occasional inconveniences, such as lack of elevators in some stations and germs, I find public transit quite easy on a day to day basis. Tokyo trains and buses are also WAY cleaner and safer than any I ever saw in San Francisco, so I don’t worry too much.
4. Babies get to experience life outside the home. Some may see this as a negative but I personally think that the amount of exposure to different sounds, scents, and sights is a positive thing for babies. Where I’m from in the US, it is quite common for babies and parents to stay home all day and maybe only leave the house to go grocery shopping a couple of times a week. When you live in the city, especially one as well-connected and baby friendly as Tokyo, it’s easy to go out and about every day. Babies are constantly meeting new friends and playing in new spaces which keeps their mind engaged. It’s also helpful for the parents mental state as well! I know I personally go a bit crazy when I have been cooped up inside all day, so being able to just walk out my front door and go to a park, the shops, or out to eat without having to fuss with the car is just so much easier.
5. The English-speaking parent community in Tokyo is super active and inclusive. This is my favorite part about living in Tokyo with a baby! Thanks to the work of Stephanie Kawai, the founder of Tokyo Pregnancy Group and Tokyo Mother’s Group, there is an incredibly well-connected community of English speakers here who are always organizing events and meetups for parents with children. The parenting journey can be a lonely one for many people so having that network already established to make friends, especially as a newcomer here, is so important to help smooth the transition into new parenthood (or countryhood, or both!)
Jocelyn Saito is an American woman living in Tokyo with her husband and one year old son.
Her blog and Youtube channel focuses on sharing her experience as a mother in Tokyo as well as advice on pregnancy, childbirth, and raising children in Japan.
Check out her blog at www.mymotherhoodtokyo.com for more content!
Or follow what she is up to daily, like I do, on instagram here
A teeny message from The Tokyo Chapter
If you enjoyed information on life with a baby in Tokyo, I think you will also like my post on my breastfeeding journey in Tokyo here.
I also wrote a post about all of the things that I found to be tricky with kids (when we first arrived) and how we overcame those issues here. And I also wrote a list of things that I first worried about when moving to Japan here.
Would you also like to guest post for The Tokyo Chapter? Please send me an email at contactjoatthetokyochapter@gmail.com
