Tokyo: Married With Children

• Land in the early afternoon and have a Blacklane pickup. This is so important for families because Blacklane will provide car and booster seats upon request.

• Check into your hotel at 3 pm. Order room service or Uber Eats.

• At 7 pm, attend a private Samurai class for the whole family! This is great for the kids to burn off energy before bedtime.

• Morning: Breakfast at the hotel, followed by a private pickup tour of the city. Private tours are key when you have multiple children! You don’t want to have a potty emergency when there are other passengers on the tour.

• Afternoon: For lunch, stop at the Senso-Ji Temple. It has at least a hundred little shops and booths with street food and sweets! That way, everyone can get something that they like, and you can get a great photo in front of something culturally relevant.

• Evening: After your tour and lunch, enjoy a sushi-making class for the whole family! You eat what you make, so this kills two birds with one stone.

For older children

I decided to split the family. The oldest children (11 and 15) took the bullet train to Hiroshima with their mother. I had a private guide meet them and guide them around. I think it is so important for our youth to see historical places and understand the impact and consequences of these events that have shaped the world. However, this did not seem appropriate to bring a 3-year-old to.

For younger children

So, I scheduled the youngest children (3 and 7) to stay in Tokyo and enjoy lunch at a micro pig cafe, which is exactly what it sounds like. The cafe has tiny little pigs running around that you can play with! Really unique and fun. After lunch, I booked a Sumo wrestling show!

When you have a family with such great age differences, don’t be afraid to divide them, so everyone gets to do what they actually want!

This is a really special day.

If you are familiar at all with Samurai, you know that the katana swords are family heirlooms. They are meant to be forged together, and passed down from generation to generation. I found an incredible blacksmith who spent the day with the family, forging their very own katana sword. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The steel blade takes many weeks to properly harden, and then it is sharpened and shipped home to the family. So, don’t worry about trying to fly with one! This was such a cool experience, and the whole family was able to take turns working on various parts of the project.

For dinner, considering going to an Owl Cafe. Apparently the animal cafes don’t stop at micro-pigs! At the end of the day, it’s about what makes everyone happy.