- A hand towel/hanky for wiping hands as many restrooms either don’t have hand driers or since covid they have been switched off.
- At least one plastic bag as rubbish bins in Japan are hard to come across and it can be so handy to have a quick storage option for wrappers, used tissues etc.
- A couple of small games ( a game of memory works well for us) or notebooks to keep children sitting quietly at restaurants or cafes or on trains – if space and time allows.
- Wipes for sticky fingers ( and noses.). I love this Mickey Mouse wipe holder that I bought at Japanese baby store Akachanhompo that links to the bag straps so it’s easy to access at all times.
- Pain medicine for kids and adults.
- Hand sanitizer -for obvious reasons
- Masks. Even though we are mostly mask free in Japan, as a family, (I’ve written more about masks and Japan here) we still use them for places where we cannot socially distance
- Water Bottle to refill as we go. There is an app called MyMizu that shows you all of the places in Japan that you can refill your water bottle for free.
If you’re looking for what I had in my diaper bag when my children were still in nappies, I have a detailed blog post here.
See here if you’d like to know how I pack and prepare for international flights with my kids.
