Traveling with kids is a balance. When you’re ready to see the world with your littles you need to check your expectations. The pace two young adults sightsee looks a lot different than how a family of five sightsee. In some ways, though, it’s better. Kids will often make you take your time & soak in your surroundings instead of rushing off to the next. Also, having kids sometimes puts you in experiences you might have not chosen without them.
We always prepare for a trip by learning about our destination and it can be surprising what the kids end up being intrigued by. For our Japan trip the kids were fascinated by ninjas and samurais.
They’ve always been pretty anti-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (as a child of the 80s myself I cannot fully explain) but something about real ninjas absolutely captivated them. We decided to book an expericne to learn more. I can honestly say this wasn’t something I would’ve done if traveling without kids. It ended up being a really cool.
We booked tickets at the Samurai Kembu Theater. They offer a show or lessons. After some helpful answers on tripadvisor we opted for the show. We were treated to an hour long performance telling the story of samurai using traditional Japanese sword (Katana) & fan. The kids were pretty enthralled and on occasion a bit scared (mainly super sensitive E). The show was informational, at times pretty humorous, kind of suspenseful and very fun. It ended with a mini lesson and opportunity for pictures.
The rest of the trip I felt pretty safe surrounded by these samurais.
