Taking a teenager to Japan for the first time can be challenging. Here’s how to take your teen to Japan on holiday and for both of you to have the best time ever, writes guest reviewer and author Rachel Bridge.
Get nostalgic for your youth
If your teenager is interested in Japanese retro games and tech, then head straight for Akihabara, a lively shopping district in Tokyo full of shops of all sizes selling everything from original Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Game Boys to Pokemon cards, Manga and Anime. Den-Den Town in Osaka is the same idea on a smaller scale. Just make sure you take a good book for you to read in the corner, as you will find it really hard to tear your teenager away.
The bustling streets of Tokyo are a shopper’s paradise
Make your teen transport leader
At first glance Japan’s train system may look incomprehensible, particularly the Tokyo Metro. But look more closely and you will see that every line is marked by a letter and every station by a number. So your journey may simply be a matter of going from M7 to M14. Even better, Google Maps will tell you how to find the right station and the right platform. So give your teen permission to keep their phone on (see Get Portable Wifi below) and put them in charge of getting you around.
Immerse yourself in art
Art Collective TeamLab – which has just been awarded the title of Most Visited Museum in the World by the Guinness Book of World Records – puts on amazing interactive shows such as Borderless and Planets in Tokyo and Osaka, as seen on the Amazon Prime series James May in Japan. Think water features that you walk in, mirrored floors that stretch to infinity beneath you and massive balloons installations that are perfect for Instagram. Just make sure you book well in advance of your trip as tickets sell out fast.
Enjoying the amazing interactive show put on by Art Collective TeamLab in Tokyo
Cuddle up to a pig
If your teen has ever begged you to get a micropig as a pet – or even if they haven’t – they will love watching them climb onto their lap at the Mipig Café in Tokyo. Actually café is not quite the right word to describe it as tea and cakes would just get in the way here. Instead you get to sit on the floor for 45 minutes while a whole menage of micropigs run riot. Even better, as you are in Japan it is literally impossible to take one home with you, no matter how much your teenager might love the idea.
Get Google Translate
Don’t speak a word of Japanese? It doesn’t matter. The free Google Translate app is your new best friend. Just click on the camera button in the app and scan the menu, sign or whatever you want to understand for instant translation on your screen. Truly mind blowing for anyone over the age of 40 and indispensable for everyone.
Buildings in Tokyo range from the historic to the ultra-modern
Get portable wifi
Forget about trying to understand roaming charges and temporary SIM cards. Turn off your mobile data and hire a portable wifi for your trip so you can access Google Maps, Google Translate and the rest of the internet whenever you want. The little black box will fit into a pocket and if you booked your trip through an agent such as Trailfinders they will provide one for you, to be collected from your first hotel and left at your final hotel. Just remember to charge it overnight and take the portable back up charger with you during the day.
The beautiful Kinkakuji shrine in Kyoto, known as the Golden Pavilion
Eat Yakitori
If your teenager shies away from the idea of eating anything raw or slimy, stick to Yakitori. These are wooden skewers of grilled meat such as chicken cooked on an open fire. Just be careful to check which bit of the chicken you are getting – thighs good, gizzards not so much.
Check out the grabber machines
You’ve seen them at the end of Brighton Pier but Japan takes grabber machines to a whole other level, with entire stores filled with several brightly lit floors of them. They all look pretty impossible to actually win anything but that doesn’t seem to stop locals and visitors alike spending small fortunes trying to win a stuffed toy.
Let the train take the strain
Catch the Shinkansen high speed bullet train somewhere, perhaps from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka where on a clear day you will see Mount Fuji from the window. The train travels at up to 200 miles per hour and you really can feel the speed.
The high-speed Shinkanshen bullet train is a Japanese icon and great fun to travel on
On a clear day you get some great views of Mount Fuji from the Bullet Train
Head for the hills
Check out Hakone, a small town in a national park which is a two-hour train ride from Tokyo. Here you can check out the beautiful Hakone open-air museum, take a circular tour which takes in a ride on a pirate ship and a cable car high over a still steaming volcano, with a stop at the top to eat black sulphurous eggs or charcoal ice cream.
One of the many outdoor sculptures at Hakone open-air museum
Say hello to the deer
Visit Nara, an hour by train from either Osaka or Kyoto, where you will find dozens of friendly deer wandering freely around Nara park. Buy bags of deer food at the entrance and feed them by hand before bagging a selfie.
Children of all ages will love hanging out with the friendly deer at Nara park
Rachel travelled with Trailfinders which organised all flights, hotels, transfers and experiences.
Other travel articles by Rachel Bridge: Things to do in Bruges on a family-friendly city break; The best Eurocamp sites in France
Love Japanese food? Then read all about my Week-long food tour of Japan with sake, sushi and puffer fish
Other bucket list holiday experiences: How to hike the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu, and enjoy it!; My perfect Jamaica holiday: beaches, boats and beauty; Setting sail in the Arctic, on the ‘World’s most beautiful sea voyage’; Island-hopping in the Aegean with SCIC Sailing; A week cruising around Spain and France with P&O Cruises Britannia; Dolphins, rum and luxury hotels in Mauritius; What do see on a Papua New Guinea holiday
