The “Why does my Japanese hotel want me to share a bed with my child?” question does come up a lot for parents trying to book hotels in Japan for their whole family.
You may be a little bit confused as to why your child under 6 years old is no additional charge but there is no additional bed for them.
In Japan, it is not uncommon for a parent and a child to bed share (even a single bed). The reasoning is cultural, naturally linked to smaller homes and limited space – but it also makes more sense when you think of families in Japan bed-sharing on a futon ( there is literally nothing to “fall off”, you see…)
If this isn’t for you, you will need to look for a Japanese hotel room with multiple beds or adjoining rooms.
This can, of course, get expensive – so one thing we do is get a twin room (twin beds in Japan are closer to an Australian sized double bed) and usually one adult and one child share a bed. This saves us on money but also hotel availability issues.
If bed sharing is definitely something that doesn’t work for you – then the easiest way to make sure everyone in your hotel has their own bed – make sure that you search for rooms for every family member as an adult. Here are hotels I recommend for families of 5 or more in Japan.
So before you decide if you can manage to bed share or not (or have two children share with one another etc)- let me talk a bit about hotel bed sizing in Japan…
Standard bed sizes in Japan
(Hotels don’t often follow these measurements but it is a standard)
Single bed is 97 x 195 cm (in Australia, a single is 91.5 x 190cm)
Semi-double bed is 120 x 195 cm
Double bed is 140 x 195cm (in Australia, a double is 138.5 x 190cm)
Queen bed is 152 x 195cm (152.5 x 203cm)
King bed is 180 x 195cm (183.5 x 203cm)
HOWEVER each hotel can also have their own custom bed sizes so it is best to check. For example, at the Tokyo Disneyland hotel they have their own bed sizes (see here).
This picture is of a “twin room type” and we did have 1 adult and 1 child in the bed to save us having to pay for 2 separate rooms.
I’ve written about our stay in the Beauty and the Beast room at the Tokyo Disneyland hotel here.
So it is important to remember that the hotel’s room type doesn’t dictate the size of the bed – only the number OF beds.
This is also called a twin room – this is at the Hotel Anteroom in Kyoto. On the website it specifies that the beds in this room we stayed are 110 x 205 cms.
Alternative options to bed sharing with children in Japan
If the idea of bed-sharing at all on your holiday – these are the hotels I recommend looking into for families of 5 or more members holidaying in Japan.
I’m also often adding to my list of hotels / apartments in Japan which contain several different rooms (so grown ups don’t always have to go to bed at the same time as the kids) .
If bed sharing is definitely something that doesn’t work for you – then the easiest way to make sure everyone in your hotel has their own bed – make sure that you search for rooms for every family member as an adult.
See my blog post here on areas I recommend staying in Tokyo with small children.
Here are my favourite places to stay in Kyoto and Osaka too.
