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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
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
pinch it's kind of in a gray area but
changing outside in the baby's stroller
could be okay there's no other options
it should be quick without getting in
anyone's way cool so that's what to
expect at a japanese restaurant when
taking a baby if you guys like this
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next one