Taking your parents to Japan: a practical guide

Some of my favourite people on our trips are the parents. They're the first to the breakfast buffet, the last to leave the onsen, and the ones who end up in the most photos with strangers.

Japan is honestly one of the best countries to take your parents to. It's clean, safe, calm and runs on time, and there's a spotless toilet roughly every five minutes. But the things that make Japan easy for a 25-year-old, long walking days, stairs at every station and dragging a suitcase onto a bullet train, can wear out a 60-year-old fast. A bit of planning fixes almost all of it, and this is the planning.

Start with the flight

Japan is three and a half hours ahead of India, and most flights from Mumbai and Delhi either connect or fly overnight. That means your parents will probably land tired.

• Request wheelchair or assistance service with the airline when you book, even if your parents walk fine. Japanese airports are huge, and an assisted transfer through immigration is a gift after an overnight flight.
• Keep day one empty. Check in, eat something, go for a short walk, sleep early. The trip really starts on day two.
• Pack medicines in hand luggage, never in the checked bag.

Slow the pace down, on purpose

The most common mistake I see is trying to fit a youth itinerary into a family trip. Japan rewards going slowly anyway.

• One or two big things a day. A temple in the morning, a long lunch, a rest, then a gentle evening walk. That's a great Japan day.
• Fewer cities. Tokyo and Kyoto, maybe with Fuji or Osaka, is plenty for a week to ten days. Every move between cities costs half a day.
• Build in an afternoon rest. Head back to the hotel for an hour or two. Everyone, including you, will enjoy the evening more.
• Use taxis for short hops. They're clean, the drivers are honest, the doors open by themselves, and four people sharing one often costs about the same as the train.

Here's what a good day looks like in Kyoto:

Pick the right rooms

Japanese hotel rooms are famously small, and that matters more with parents and their luggage.

• Book the biggest room you can afford, or a twin or triple room rather than squeezing into a double.
• Ask for beds, not futons. Traditional ryokan rooms have futons on the floor, which is lovely for a night but hard on knees and backs. Many ryokans offer rooms with Western beds, so ask when you book.
• Stay close to a station. A hotel five minutes from the station instead of fifteen saves a surprising amount of energy over a week.

Send the suitcases ahead

This is the trick that changes everything. Japan has a brilliant luggage courier service called takkyubin. You hand your suitcase to the hotel front desk in the morning and it's waiting at your next hotel the following day.

• It costs roughly ¥2,500 to ¥3,200 per suitcase between major cities, around ₹1,400 to ₹1,800.
• Pack a small overnight bag for the one night you're without your suitcase.
• For the airport, hand bags over at least two days before your flight.

Your parents get to ride the bullet train with just a handbag, and nobody has to carry a 23kg suitcase up the stairs at Kyoto station. Worth every rupee.

The bullet train, done right

• Book reserved seats in advance, so nobody is standing or scrambling. The Green Car, Japan's first class, has more legroom and is quieter if the budget allows.
• Sit on the right side going from Tokyo towards Kyoto for the best chance of seeing Mt. Fuji.
• Big suitcases need their own reservation. On the main Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka line, bags over 160cm in total size (length plus width plus height) need an oversized-baggage seat booked in advance. Turn up without one and there's a fee. Sending bags ahead avoids all of this.
• Look for the lifts. Every big station has them, they're just not always obvious. Follow the wheelchair signs, and leave a little extra time to change platforms.

Watch out for these

• Stairs and slopes. Fushimi Inari's gates go all the way up a mountain, so enjoy the first stretch and turn back. The walk up to Kiyomizu-dera is steep too. A taxi to the top saves a lot of knees.
• Wheelchairs. Many big sights and stations can lend a wheelchair if you ask at the information desk. Even if your parents don't need one all day, it's worth knowing for a long museum or palace visit.
• Shoes off. Temples, ryokans and some restaurants ask you to take your shoes off. Slip-on shoes save a lot of bending and fuss.
• The toilets. They're wonderful, but the buttons are in Japanese. The two that matter: the one marked 止 stops the water, and the big flush lever or button is usually on the side or the wall.

Health, medicines and insurance

• Some common medicines are banned in Japan, especially cold and allergy tablets containing pseudoephedrine. Check anything your parents take regularly, and bring it in the original packaging with a copy of the prescription.
• Get proper travel insurance that covers medical costs and existing conditions. Healthcare in Japan is excellent, but expensive for visitors.
• Pharmacies are everywhere, from big drugstores to the corner of every convenience store, for plasters, painkillers and the like.
• Pack a small daily kit: medicines for the day, a water bottle, a folding fan or a light layer, and a pack of tissues.

Food, without the worry

Many Indian parents worry most about the food. If yours are vegetarian or Jain, read our guide to eating veg and Jain in Japan before you go. It covers hidden fish stock, what's safe at the convenience store, Jain-friendly restaurants and the dehydrated meal packs worth carrying. A familiar Indian dinner every few days also does wonders for morale.

The things parents love most

In my experience, it's rarely the famous sights. It's the onsen, Japan's hot spring baths, especially after a day of walking. If public bathing feels like too much, many ryokans have private baths you can book by the hour. It's the bullet train gliding past Mt. Fuji. It's feeding the deer in Nara, which is flat, gentle and endlessly funny. It's a tea ceremony in Kyoto, a slow kaiseki dinner with a yukata on, and a boat ride on the river in Arashiyama. And, every single time, it's the convenience store.

Plan for one highlight, one rest and an early night. Your parents will remember the trip, not the number of temples.

Our family trips to Japan are built exactly like this: comfortable hotels, an easier pace, luggage taken care of, and enough free time that nobody comes home needing another holiday.