Ask parents which destinations work well with small children and Japan rarely gets mentioned. It should. A travel writer who has taken her daughters to more than two dozen countries ranks Japan among the best of the lot, especially for babies - and her youngest now packs an imaginary suitcase and announces she's off to Japan. That's the kind of enthusiasm no marketing budget can buy.
The appeal starts on the street. Japanese cities are famously clean and safe, and the infrastructure for families is genuinely excellent. Train stations and shopping malls commonly have private nursing rooms fitted with comfortable armchairs for feeding and proper changing facilities. Locals, meanwhile, tend to be warm and openly affectionate towards children - expect to hear the word kawaii (cute) a lot, usually directed at your kids as a compliment.
Where the country really earns its reputation with parents, though, is at the top end of the hotel market. Condé Nast Traveller UK has rounded up ten family-friendly properties across the country, vetted by journalists who have actually stayed in them. The headline picks: Capella Kyoto takes the crown for city stays, the Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo is the luxury play, and the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi wins for children's facilities - the category that matters most when you're travelling with a toddler and a baby.
The list mixes big luxury names with smaller boutique options, chosen for design, location, service and sustainability credentials as much as for family kit. The practical upside for parents travelling light: Japan's high-end hotels provide the gear you'd otherwise haul through an airport - cots, feeding equipment and the rest - so you can arrive with far less luggage than a typical family trip requires.
What makes Japan work with children goes beyond the hotels. Trains become an attraction in themselves, food is an adventure that most kids embrace, and virtually everything a child encounters - language, scenery, smells, the rhythm of the city - is new enough to spark their imagination. For a certain age of traveller, that novelty is the whole holiday.
For parents weighing up destinations, the case is simple: few countries combine this level of safety, cleanliness and everyday family infrastructure with this much genuine strangeness and delight for young minds. It's not a budget option, and the flagship picks in Tokyo and Kyoto sit firmly in luxury territory, but if you want a long-haul trip with a baby that doesn't feel like an ordeal, Japan deserves a spot near the top of the list.
The full ten-hotel list is regularly updated as new properties open, so it's worth checking before you book - but the short version is that Tokyo and Kyoto anchor the picks, with the Four Seasons Otemachi the one to beat for facilities and the Capella the city bolthole of choice.
Via Condé Nast Traveller UK
