Stroller or Carrier in Japan? A Guide for Ages 0 to 2

The stroller is the bulkiest thing in your luggage, and for a trip to Japan the decision is not really about the stroller at all. If you are renting a car, bring it. If you are moving by train, plan to travel without one and line up a place to borrow one instead. Japanese stations mean stairs, transfers, and crowds, and a traditional ryokan is a shoes off, tatami and staircase building where a stroller simply cannot go.

The good news is that the answer is close to mechanical once you know your child's age, your main way of getting around, and the kind of place you are sleeping in. Here is how to decide, and how to borrow one in Japan if you leave yours at home.

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When in doubt: public transport means borrow, a car means throw it in the trunk. Our own train trips got about twice as easy the day we stopped bringing the stroller.

The decision chart: age by how you are traveling

Put your child's stage down the side and your main mode of transport across the top, and the choice narrows fast.

Two principles behind the chart

With a car, just bring it. Putting it in the trunk costs you nothing, so there is nothing to agonize over. With public transport, lean toward not bringing it. At every ticket gate, staircase, transfer, and rush hour platform, the stroller becomes a debt you keep paying, and it is brutal if one adult is handling two children.

If your child is three or older and still cannot walk a full sightseeing day, that is a different problem with different answers, and we wrote it up separately in what to use instead of a stroller for 4 and 5 year olds.

Car trip: bring it. Train or plane trip: leave it, and secure a place to borrow one before you go.

Trains, shinkansen, and flights: what it is really like

On trains and the shinkansen

If you are bringing a stroller onto Japanese trains, bring a lightweight model you can fold with one hand, and nothing else. There will be moments when one arm is holding your child and the other has to do everything, at a ticket gate, on a staircase, boarding a train that will not wait. A stroller you need two hands to fold will strand you.

On the shinkansen (Japan's bullet train), a folded stroller normally counts as ordinary luggage rather than oversized baggage, meaning it should fit in the overhead rack or at your feet. In busy travel seasons it is worth reserving seats in the last row of the car, where there is space behind the seat backs for larger items. In stations, look up where the elevators are before you arrive. Route apps can show step free paths, and station maps will tell you which car of the train stops nearest the elevator, which saves you walking the length of a platform with a folded stroller under one arm.

On flights within Japan

If your trip includes a domestic leg, for example Tokyo to Okinawa, strollers are generally checked free of charge at the check in counter, and most airports will lend you an airport stroller to use from the counter to the gate. That makes the usual pattern simple: your own stroller as far as check in, a borrowed one after that. Your stroller comes back at baggage claim at the other end, so keep the carrier with you in the cabin for the walk from the plane to the arrivals hall.

In a rental car

There is no decision to make, but there is one expectation to set. If you are staying at a ryokan or in an old hot spring town, the building is tatami and stairs and you take your shoes off at the entrance, so the stroller often cannot be used indoors at all. Go in assuming it lives in the car and never comes inside, and you will not be disappointed.

Age by age: the same decision, three different problems

Under 6 months: the value is that they sleep in it

The real enemy on a trip with a small baby is a wrecked nap schedule. Babies will sleep in a carrier too, but then the parent cannot move. A stroller that reclines flat means you can put the baby down once they are asleep, which is what makes a cafe stop or a sit down meal possible. This is the age when bringing a full size stroller in a car pays off the most. On a train trip, the cost of hunting for elevators outweighs it, and most families go carrier first.

6 to 18 months: your luggage peaks

Baby food, diapers, and changes of clothes mean this is the stage where you carry the most stuff of the whole trip. Here the stroller is not just transport, it is a cart. If you are torn, picture yourself carrying every bag you have, with no stroller, through a transfer. If that picture does not work, either bring it or cut the luggage. Once you are at the hotel it keeps working as a place to hang bags on an evening walk or a convenience store run, so this is the one stage where heavy but present tends to be worth it. The other way to solve it is to make the hotel carry the load, which we cover in choosing hotels that halve your luggage.

18 months to 2 years: they may refuse to ride

This is peak walking ambition. They will fight the stroller because they want to walk, then ask to be carried ten minutes later. Bring a heavy full size model at this age and you can end up pushing an empty stroller all day while carrying the child. If you bring anything, make it a light buggy, or skip it and combine a local rental with the carrier, so that being wrong costs you less.

At age 2: bring it, or go with a carrier or hip seat only

A two year old can walk, but not for a whole day. If your destination involves long distances inside the gates, a theme park or a big zoo, bringing the stroller is what saves your late afternoon, even if it sits empty for part of the day. If instead you are walking around a city or taking it slow at the hotel, a carrier or a hip seat is enough. Some properties lend strollers, so once your destination is set, check what the hotel already has and you may be able to drop one bulky item from the packing list. We work through how to build the trip destination by destination in how to choose destinations for a 2 year old.

Three situations we get asked about

An 18 month old, two hours on the shinkansen, then local buses

The most common setup, and the answer leans toward leaving the stroller at home. On the shinkansen it is awkward in the vestibule and at your seat, and on local buses you must fold it, which means one hand is permanently occupied. Carrier plus a rental on the specific days you need it, or a hotel loan, moves better. The exception is walking distance: if your days involve more than about 3 km of sightseeing on foot, a light buggy flips back to being worth it. Let the itinerary decide.

Flying to Okinawa, then driving

Here bring it is the default. Check it at the counter so you are hands free in the air, then it lives in the rental car trunk. Beaches and big resort grounds involve more walking than people expect, and a stroller you already know how to fold earns its place. The risk is damage in the hold, so use a transport cover if you are worried, or travel with a cheap second stroller you would not mourn.

Two children, a baby and a 3 year old

With two adults, the standard split is baby in the carrier, older child walking with turns in the stroller when they fade. With one adult, a double stroller is overkill in Japan; a stroller board that the older child stands on is the better answer. Most boards are rated from around age 2, and they solve the wants to walk but is tired problem without either carrying or strapping in the older child. For the walking design for older kids, see stroller alternatives for ages 4 to 6.

How to borrow a stroller in Japan

If you chose not to bring one, you have three places to borrow, plus one trick in between.

First choice: your hotel

Hotel loans. Among the properties listed on Kids Stay, more than 160 hotels and ryokan lend strollers. Some restrict them to use inside the building, while others let you take them out for the day, so check the facility page. The catch is that stock is limited and reservation is usually required, so ask when you book rather than at check in.

Attractions and shopping centers

Theme parks, large shopping malls, zoos, and aquariums almost always have strollers to rent on site. Most of them are the lightweight type intended for babies who can already sit up, and they come with minimum age and maximum weight limits, so they are not a solution for a very small baby.

Baby gear rental delivered to your hotel

For longer stays, baby equipment rental companies can deliver a stroller straight to where you are staying. For a week at a time this is often cheaper than buying, and many of these services will ship to a hotel. Confirm with the property first that they will accept a package for you.

The in between option: send it ahead

Japan's luggage delivery services sit neatly between bringing and borrowing. Ship your own stroller ahead to your first hotel, travel to it hands free, then use it for the rest of the trip or ship it onward. It costs money, but having both hands available while moving with a child is usually worth a few thousand yen. Ask the property in advance whether they will hold a delivery that arrives before your check in date.

The classic failure is a loan that exists but runs out. During Japanese holiday periods, attraction rentals can be gone by late morning, so if your plan depends on borrowing, lock in the hotel loan at the time of booking.

If you are bringing it: the night before, and the day itself

How pleasant your trip is with a stroller is mostly decided by ten minutes of preparation the night before.

The night before

• Wipe the wheels and frame. Those wheels go at your feet on a shinkansen and into a baggage hold. One pass with wet wipes and you can stop worrying about what they touch
• Add a name tag. At airport check in, at a theme park stroller lot, and at a hotel cloakroom, identical black strollers really do get mixed up
• Strip the accessories. Hooks, cup holders, and hanging toys are the first things to fall off during folding or handling. Take them off and put them in a bag
• Practice folding once. Can you fold it one handed while holding your child? The ticket gate is a bad place to find out

On the day

Look up elevator locations before you reach the station, not after. On the shinkansen, aim for a window seat toward the rear or a seat with the storage space behind the last row. At the airport, you can normally keep using your stroller right up to security, so ask at the check in counter whether you may take it to the gate; staff will either arrange that or hand you an airport stroller.

The carrier is standard equipment either way

Stroller or no stroller, a carrier is non negotiable for travel with a child up to about age 2. You walk much farther than you do at home, and nap timing becomes unpredictable.

Two carriers save your evenings

On a trip without a stroller, carrying a main carrier with a waist belt plus a compact second carrier lets two adults trade off, which is what gets you through the late afternoon meltdown. A light, foldable model works best as the backup.

Think about it together with your luggage

The wider approach to traveling light, including hotels with generous baby gear loans, is in choosing hotels that halve your luggage.

FAQ

QDo we need a stroller for a 6 month old on a first trip to Japan?

If you are driving, bring it and relax. If you are on trains, a baby this age is still light and naps happily in a carrier, so a carrier alone works. For the wider picture of a first trip, start with our complete guide to a first hotel stay with a baby.

QOur 2 year old walks, but asks to be carried constantly. What do we do?

This is the hardest age to call. If your days are walking heavy sightseeing, secure a local rental or a hotel loan. If your days are mostly relaxing at the hotel, you can go without. Carrying a 12 to 15 kg child all day is not realistic, so make sure you have a fallback somewhere.

QWhat about rainy days?

A stroller with a rain cover is bulky, and the parent still has one hand on an umbrella. If rain is likely, a carrier with a raincoat for the adult is far more mobile that day. Better still, base yourself at a property with indoor options such as a kids space or a pool, so a rainy day does not require a long journey at all.

QWill our hotel store the stroller when we are not using it?

Almost all hotels and ryokan will hold it at the front desk or cloakroom, including before check in and after check out while you are out sightseeing. Even at a ryokan where it cannot come inside, staff will normally make space for it by the entrance, so just ask.

QCan we use a stroller inside the building?

At a Western style resort hotel, usually yes. At a ryokan, you take your shoes off at the entrance, so a stroller normally cannot be used indoors at all. If your stay is tatami based, ask where you can park it as well.

In short

The rule is simple: in a car, bring it. On public transport, leave it and secure a place to borrow one. If age is what has you stuck, a baby under 6 months makes a stroller worth bringing because you can put them down asleep, from 6 to 18 months decide based on whether you need a luggage cart, and after 18 months assume they may refuse to ride and travel light. And the best place to borrow is your hotel. Pick a hotel that lends strollers at the booking stage, and you delete one huge item from your luggage while keeping the mobility you need once you are there.