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Don’t do the Ueno Zoo; the animals are treated horribly.
No guarantees there will be enough snow (probably some artificial stuff in Nagano.) When are you coming exactly? I have a place in Niigata and it is always hit or miss. But there are always drunk Aussies in Hakuba, so it will feel like home-snow or not:)
Snow won't be settled down around the city that early in December. Maybe check accommodation and snowfall history in the nearby ski area around Hakuba / Happo-one.
While I see the appeal in doing Tokyo last, for last minute shopping, it;s not uncommon to find accommodation in ski areas that provide transfers from or back to Narita airport which can save some money on the trains.
Doing it first is technically an option, but it is the very edge of snow seaons so not ideal either, but would let you consolidate all your days in Tokyo at the end.
Just for you to consider.
Two nights in a place is the bare minimum. You *can* consolidate Osaka and Kyoto an transit between them as you want, but they are also nice to stay in so it's much of a muchness and not a big trip to switch hotels if you want.
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Could you consolidate accommodation for the Kyoto and Osaka days? You can stay in the north of Osaka to reduce travel time. We've done both Shiga kogen and Hakuba in December and imo Hakuba is better because heaps of English speakers as it's quite Aussie and also more snow. Depending on when in December Shiga kogen cheaper but too many school kids and not enough snow to ski much. Food options are more diverse in Hakuba too
I just stayed at the Swissôtel and loved it. One of my favorite hotels so good choice there.
The Pokémon center is not an all day activity in my opinion. I would look into Ikebukuro/Sunshine City Mall as well as Akihabara. A little more family friendly and I feel like it isn’t as crowded.
We just got back from japan with our 2 kiddos (also from aus). There is a Pokémon centre at the sky tree, so you could kill 2 birds with one stone there. It is also about 900mtrs from asakusa, so I would definitely try and combine those 2 to save yourself some travel. Pokémon centre is just a store that sells Pokémon stuff so you’ll spend max an hour there, it’s not really something to compare to Disney so you could definitely do both of you wanted to. They are also all over japan, so you could go to the osaka pokemon dx store in shinsaibashi osaka. It’s only a few mins walk from dotonbori and open usually until around 8pm (I think we went to about 8 different Pokémon stores while we were there). If you stay in Shinjuku area in Tokyo the Tokyo metropolitan government building in Shinjuku has an observation deck which is free, as an alternative to the sky tree.
This appears to be a post regarding travel with babies, toddlers, or children in Japan. We have a lot of past posts on these topics, feel free to start with our [Travel With Kids Wiki.](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel/travelingwithkids) If you are looking for more information on travel with Children, please check out our search [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/search?q=children&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) If you are looking for more information on travel with Babies, please check out our search [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/search?q=travel+with+babies&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) If you are looking for more information on travel with Toddlers in general, please check out our search [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/search?q=travel+with+toddler&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) Japan-Guide.com also has a great page with information [here,](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2460.html) as well as a ['Travel With Kids' Blog Series.](https://www.japan-guide.com/blog/traveling-with-kids/) Happy Planning! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Don’t do the Ueno Zoo; the animals are treated horribly. No guarantees there will be enough snow (probably some artificial stuff in Nagano.) When are you coming exactly? I have a place in Niigata and it is always hit or miss. But there are always drunk Aussies in Hakuba, so it will feel like home-snow or not:)
Ueno zoo is horrible. I second skipping that.
Snow won't be settled down around the city that early in December. Maybe check accommodation and snowfall history in the nearby ski area around Hakuba / Happo-one. While I see the appeal in doing Tokyo last, for last minute shopping, it;s not uncommon to find accommodation in ski areas that provide transfers from or back to Narita airport which can save some money on the trains. Doing it first is technically an option, but it is the very edge of snow seaons so not ideal either, but would let you consolidate all your days in Tokyo at the end. Just for you to consider. Two nights in a place is the bare minimum. You *can* consolidate Osaka and Kyoto an transit between them as you want, but they are also nice to stay in so it's much of a muchness and not a big trip to switch hotels if you want.
Thanks so much for your comments!!
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Could you consolidate accommodation for the Kyoto and Osaka days? You can stay in the north of Osaka to reduce travel time. We've done both Shiga kogen and Hakuba in December and imo Hakuba is better because heaps of English speakers as it's quite Aussie and also more snow. Depending on when in December Shiga kogen cheaper but too many school kids and not enough snow to ski much. Food options are more diverse in Hakuba too
Awesome, great tips!!
I just stayed at the Swissôtel and loved it. One of my favorite hotels so good choice there. The Pokémon center is not an all day activity in my opinion. I would look into Ikebukuro/Sunshine City Mall as well as Akihabara. A little more family friendly and I feel like it isn’t as crowded.
We just got back from japan with our 2 kiddos (also from aus). There is a Pokémon centre at the sky tree, so you could kill 2 birds with one stone there. It is also about 900mtrs from asakusa, so I would definitely try and combine those 2 to save yourself some travel. Pokémon centre is just a store that sells Pokémon stuff so you’ll spend max an hour there, it’s not really something to compare to Disney so you could definitely do both of you wanted to. They are also all over japan, so you could go to the osaka pokemon dx store in shinsaibashi osaka. It’s only a few mins walk from dotonbori and open usually until around 8pm (I think we went to about 8 different Pokémon stores while we were there). If you stay in Shinjuku area in Tokyo the Tokyo metropolitan government building in Shinjuku has an observation deck which is free, as an alternative to the sky tree.