As the original scheduled date for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo approaches, we thought it would be fun to take a virtual trip to Japan to learn more about the country, culture, history, and, of course, the food! Only one of the Family Standard Time family members has been to Japan (several times), so it has long been on our family’s travel bucket list. Learning about a destination remotely is a great way to “travel” from afar or to prepare for a real future visit.
We have compiled a list of resources to learn about Japan, popular places that can be visited or toured remotely, activities to do at home, food to try, and more. Think of this Family Standard Time Adventure Guide as a road map for creating an adventure that fits your family best. In the end, whatever path you choose, the road should lead everyone to the same place, and that’s making memories with your family! You may choose to spend only a few hours on one or two activities, select more to do over a few days, or pick even more to do over the course of a full week.
When you’re finished, use the Family Standard Time Adventure Scrapbook template pages below to help everyone remember your time together. Over time, you’ll be able to put all of the completed pages together to create a Family Standard Time Adventure Scrapbook of your own!
Gather the family and let’s go to Japan!
A Little Bit About Japan
Japan is an island country off the eastern coast of Asia with a population of approximately 126 million people. There are actually almost 7,000 islands that make up the country, but four of the main big islands contain most of the major cities. Honshu is the largest of the four islands and is where the country’s national capital, Tokyo, one of the world’s most populous cities, is located. Hokkaido is the next largest and northernmost island. Kyushu is the third largest and southernmost of the main islands. Mount Aso, the world’s largest active volcanic crater is located on this island. Shikoku is the smallest of these four main islands and most of the land is mountainous.
Encyclopedia Britannica has a lot of great information that you can read through as a family to learn more about the country, the climate, the people, the economy, the government, the culture, and so much more.
The Places
There are a lot of very popular tourist destinations in Japan. Many of them even offer virtual tours or live video to be able to explore and learn more about the attraction from the comfort of your own home.
View of Mt. Fuji from Hayama
National Museum of Nature and Science (Note: If you have VR goggles, the new VR experience is supposed to be really cool.)
Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall and Museum
Shinkansen (bullet trains)
Japanese Gardens and Cherry Blossoms
We love the beautiful plants and gardens of Japan so much that they deserve a subcategory for themselves. From bonsai to cherry blossoms, the nature and beauty, along with their symbolisms, many of Japan’s most famous plant life are almost magical. There are a lot of Japanese gardens around the world in other countries, so you may be able to find one near you to visit. They are often peaceful places and beautifully maintained. Earlier this year, we visited the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego’s Balboa Park and spent several hours exploring and taking pictures.
According to the National Park Service, cherry trees were gifted to the United States by the People of Japan in 1912 as a symbol of friendship. The cherry blossom is honored in Japan as a symbol of human life as it blooms. Many books can be found at your local library, book store, or online about this beautiful tree, the first plantings in Washington D.C., the Cherry Blossom Festival, and more. Many cities around the country have parks full of cherry trees, so if you can plan a visit during their peak bloom time (it can vary anywhere from late March thru mid-May based on the local climate, but because of the popularity of the blooming you can often find a local bloom tracker, camera, or predictor), you’ll be treated to a beauty that would be a family photo backdrop perfection. Here are a few of the best places around the US for cherry blossoms.
Athens, OH – Ohio University
Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Dallas, TX – Dallas Arboretum
Los Angeles, CA – Descano Gardens
Newark, NJ – Branch Brook Park
Philadelphia, PA – Fairmount Park
Seattle, WA – University of Washington
Washington, DC – The National Mall
This is a great article about some of these locations, along with several more!
The Food
Preparing a themed meal, getting takeout from a local restaurant, or trying popular snacks can be a fun way to experience a different culture. It can also be a great way to expose kids to different foods and flavors than they might be used to. There are lots of Japanese cuisine options to explore, but here are a few ideas to try with your family!
Sushi & Sashimi – Even if you aren’t a fan of raw fish, there are plenty of options to try. California Rolls and Shrimp Tempura Rolls have been favorite “first sushi” experiences for our kids. Sushi is often served as a roll with seasoned rice, a variety of fish and/or seafood and vegetables, and nori (seaweed). Sashimi is a beautifully cut piece of raw fish or seafood. And it’s always fun to try out using chopsticks! If you’re adventurous, you can often find cuts of select raw fish from seafood markets or stores locally and make your own at home. The rice is often the key, but this sushi rice recipe is very easy to follow.
Ramen – One of the most popular foods in Japan is ramen. Ramen shops in Japan are often very small, and the best ones usually have long lines well before they open in order to secure a seat inside. Making ramen at home is fun because you can do it very simply with a basic package from the grocery store or make it more gourmet with traditional toppings.
Homemade Ramen 
Traditional Ramen in Japan
Curry – Many cultures have curry as a staple cuisine, and Japanese curry uses a blend of Indian spices, but it is a bit thicker and sweeter than Indian curry. It usually contains potatoes, onions, carrots, and some sort of protein. We recently discovered a Japanese curry mix at a local grocery store that is available in several spice levels and makes it super simple to enjoy a delicious Japanese curry meal at home! It’s so easy that a separate recipe post isn’t needed because the directions are right on the box of the curry mix!
Homemade Japanese Curry
Mochi Ice Cream – Mochi is a soft, chewy rice-based dough that is wrapped around a ball of ice cream. They have become increasingly popular in the US and can often be found now in many grocery store chains. They usually come in traditional flavors like mango, green tea, strawberry, and vanilla, but some manufacturers have other fun and unique flavors to try too.
Candy – Trying out candies from around the world is not only a sweet way to end a meal, but it can be a lot of fun to try flavors that we might not be used to in a candy. Popular Japanese candies include Pocky, KitKat® (yes, the same KitKat® we know and love, but Japan has a lot of unique flavors that we don’t see in America), Hi-Chew, a lot of gummy candies, and more. You can often find a lot of these in many grocery stores or retailers that have an ethnic foods or candy section, but there are lots of online retailers that sell them as well. We recently bought some Ramune gummy candies from Target.com.
Ramune Soda – Ramune is a Japanese carbonated soft drink that comes in a variety of flavors. Not only are they fun to drink, but they’re fun to open because you have to press down on a plastic plunger to release a glass marble that seals the top of the bottle. Favorite flavors in our house are Original (lemon-lime), Grape, and Strawberry. But if you can find any of the more unique flavors either online or at a Japanese market, they can make for a fun taste test!
The Activities
Origami – The art of folding paper is probably the most well-known Japanese craft. Probably the most popular figure is the crane, which is a symbol of kindness, peace, and hope. If you don’t have origami paper at home, you can use what you have and simply cut it to be square – we find 8″x8″ or 10″x10″ easiest to fold for most of the beginner to intermediate figures. Origami.me is a great online resource for general information and folding instructions. To enhance the educational value of this activity even further, you can read “One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children’s Peace Statue” as a family to learn about the national campaign to make 1,000 paper cranes in honor of Sadako Sasaki and the hundreds of children who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Pokémon – We don’t think it would be possible or complete to learn about Japan without including Pokémon, or at least anime in general. Pokémon is short for “pocket monsters” and began in the early 1980s in Japan. From the anime, the movies, the games, the trading cards, the stores (there are Pokémon Centers all over Japan that sell Pokémon goods), the restaurants (yes, there is even a Pokémon Cafe with two locations in Japan), it is hard to miss Pokémon’s presence in pop culture today. You can pick up a couple starter packs of the trading cards from your local manga store, big box retailer, or online easily and challenge your family to a Pokémon tournament. Or download the mobile game sensation Pokémon Go for an augmented reality game that has encouraged many families to get outside and walk together. (Note: The game has modified itself a bit to encourage social distancing with the current pandemic to make the game more user-friendly in this environment.) Gotta catch ’em all!
Learn to Speak Japanese – There are many resources to learn a foreign language today. Kids are often familiar with Duolingo, which offers a free online platform and mobile app for small, easy to follow lessons to develop a simple understanding of the language. For a more in depth understanding, a more comprehensive program like Rosetta Stone® might be best, but can still be done online either individually or as a family.
Zen Meditation – The art of Japanese meditation dates back to Zen Buddhism, “a religion that offers a path to enlightenment through meditation.” Meditation has been shown to improve the ability to manage stress and anxiety, decrease depression, improve sleep, and more. Zen gardens and temples in Japan often offer meditation settings using nature to assist with enlightenment. Guided meditations have definitely become more mainstream as many people have taken on more mindfulness practices. Gather your family and share a few minutes of quiet relaxation. If you’re interested in a some simple mindfulness practices to do with children, check out “Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents).”
The Movies
In our family, a family movie night is a cherished weekly event and family standard. Adding a cultural-themed movie into the mix for this experience is not only fun, but can be immersive and educational at the same time.
The following is a great list of movies, including their rating, the year they were released, and the movie summary from the IMDb® website. Watch one or more of these to enhance your family’s time together on this adventure, celebrating Japanese culture.
Godzilla – NR – 1954 – “American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.” – Note: This is the original film in the long franchise history. With so many films available in the series, you can pick your favorite one or several for a Godzilla movie festival at home!
Grave of the Fireflies – NR – 1988 – “A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.”
Ramen Heads – NR – 2017 – “Osamu Tomita, Japan’s reigning king of ramen, takes us deep into his world, revealing every single step of his obsessive approach to creating the perfect soup and noodles, and his relentless search for the highest-quality ingredients. In addition to Tomita’s story, the film also profiles five other notable ramen shops, each with its own philosophy and flavour, which exemplify various different aspects the ramen world. Mixing in a brief rundown of ramen’s historical roots, the film gives viewers an in-depth look at the culture surrounding this unique and beguiling dish. This is a documentary record of 15 months in the lives of Japan’s top ramen masters and their legions of devoted fans.”
My Neighbor Totoro – G – 1988 – “When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.”
Pokémon Detective Pikachu – PG – 2019 – “In a world where people collect Pokémon to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu who seeks to be a detective.”
Spirited Away – PG – 2001 – “During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.”
Jiro Dreams of Sushi – PG – 2011 – “A documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.”