Buying Diapers in Japan as Parents Traveling with a Toddler

Traveling to Japan with a toddler sounded exciting until we realized one small problem after arriving.

Diapers.

We had packed only a few because we thought,
“We’ll just buy them in Japan.”

Simple enough, right?

But once we actually got there, it was surprisingly confusing.

One thing we learned very quickly was that convenience stores in Japan were not reliable places to buy diapers.

We checked several stores near tourist areas late at night, but most of them did not carry baby products at all.

Eventually, we found that larger drugstores were much better options for buying diapers during the trip.

That was the moment we started panic-searching things like:

• Where do parents buy diapers in Japan?
• Which stores carry baby products?
• Are Japanese diaper sizes the same as Korean ones?
• Can you even find them easily near tourist areas?

If you are staying in bigger cities like Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto, stores like Akachan Honpo or Babies“R”Us Japan are probably the safest choices for parents traveling with toddlers.

We also noticed that some larger branches of drugstores such as Matsumoto Kiyoshi or Sundrug occasionally carried baby products as well.

One thing we noticed immediately was how compact and soft Japanese diapers felt. The packaging was also different from what we were used to in Korea, so choosing the right size took a bit of guessing.

It turned into one of those small parenting moments that sounds funny afterward, but feels stressful when you’re standing in a foreign store late at night with a tired baby.

If you’re traveling to Japan with a toddler, I’d definitely recommend checking nearby baby stores before your trip — or at least packing more diapers than you think you’ll need.