Photo: Romp Photography
Hi! My name is Kate Neath, founder of Tokyo Urban Baby.
My goal is to help you enjoy Tokyo with your baby!
I have been living in Japan for over 10 years, and I know how hard it can be to travel here and find your way around Tokyo. With the ever-present language barrier, combined with the unique Japanese culture, etiquette, and customs, I understand it can feel quite daunting.
Throw a newborn baby and children into the mix, and it can feel impossible!
That’s why I created Tokyo Urban Baby.
Tokyo is actually one of the most baby-friendly cities in the world. And it is my goal to help you discover all it has to offer.
I know how it feels to be pregnant and raise a baby in this busy city. I have been through it all – trying to carry a pram down the stairs at the train station, trying to find a baby nursing room, wondering where all the baby-friendly cafes are in Tokyo. The list is endless!
Tokyo Urban Baby is all about helping you, whether you are living in Japan or visiting here for a holiday, to navigate and enjoy Tokyo with your baby with the least stress and the most fun!
How did I start Tokyo Urban Baby? I first created Tokyo Urban Baby in January 2012. My baby was 3 months old and I was keen to get out of my apartment every day, at least for a few hours to get some fresh air and some exercise.
At first I didn’t know where to go – where do I change my baby’s nappy? Where can I breastfeed?
My first outing was a disaster – I was perched on the edge of a stool in Sega Fredo coffee shop in Naka-Meguro, trying to breastfeed a suddenly crying and hungry baby, and then trying to change a pooy nappy on a small bench next to the sink in the cafe toilet!
After that experience, I started to research online in Japanese and do some exploring around the city, and gradually my list and knowledge of all the hidden baby-friendly places grew.
I wanted to share all these finds with other parents in the same situation as me, so I started Tokyo Urban Baby with video tutorials, maps, and photos to make it as easy as possible to find all these wonderful baby-friendly places.
Gradually word spread among my friends about my new blog, and then I started to receive emails and questions from overseas.
Before I knew it, Tokyo Urban Baby had grown to over 20,000 pageviews per month with readers from Japan, America, UK, Australia, Singapore and more!
After 6 months I was eager to expand Tokyo Urban Baby and teamed up with my friend and respected professional IT expert, Tomoko Momose, to start an online shop and develop Tokyo Urban Baby into a bilingual online resource.
Photo by ROMP Photography
We also developed events for all our readers in Tokyo with guest speakers and giveaway prizes. Below is one of my favourites.
TV Reporter for NHK World Tokyo Eye
In July 2013 I was contacted by NHK World, the international broadcasting service of Japan’s public TV broadcaster NHK, to be a reporter for their program Tokyo Eye.
NHK World had come across my videos and tutorials on Tokyo Urban Baby, and invited me to join the Tokyo Eye team as a TV reporter to show overseas visitors all the great sightseeing spots in Tokyo. See photos of the show here!
TV reporter for Tokyo Eye, NHK World
You can see the Tokyo Eye video here on youtube!
ELLE Maman
Tokyo Urban Baby has also been featured in ELLE Maman magazine in Japan!
Featured in ELLE Maman magazine!
I am so thrilled with how Tokyo Urban Baby has grown and all the exciting opportunities it has created.
And I LOVE receiving all the emails and questions from readers of Tokyo Urban Baby, and helping you all with your travels and living in Japan with your babies.
I look forward to continuing to share all my favourite baby-friendly places in Tokyo with you all!
Want to ask me a question?
Please email me at kate@tokyourbanbaby.com
Want to know more about me?
Here is a bit more about my background in Japan:)
- Marketing Manager at the No. 1 ecommerce company in Japan (2015-present)
- 5 Years Marketing for an Australian company based in Tokyo
- Ph.D. Animal Science from Tsukuba University, Japan
- Graduate of Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC)
- Fluent in Japanese
- Coordinator of Tokyo Pregnancy Group (TPG) in 2011
- Founder of Tokyo Urban Baby, established in Jan 2012
ケートニース博士：
- 日本で５年間マーケティングに従事
- 筑波大学大学院で動物学のPh.D.を取得
- ジャパンマーケットエクスパンションコンペティション (JMEC)修了
- 日本語堪能
- 東京アーバンベイビー設立者
ブログ：
- ２０１２年１月に開設 日本での子育てについての情報を提供
- 初年度100,000ページビュー、その後もアクセス数は伸び続けています
- 閲覧数の多い国：日本、アメリカ、オーストラリア、イギリス、シンガポール
- オンラインショップ: ２０１２年９月に開店
Hi Kate!!
I just came across your blog( sigh! Why didn’t I earlier). It’s heaps of useful info I’d been longing for. Everything n anything a non Japanese mum requires in Japan. Kudos to u for the effort!
Keep the posts coming..
Cheers:)
Ena
Thank you Ena! It’s wonderful to hear your feedback!
I just came across your blog and so happy to find it! We moved to Tokyo few months back and very slowly settling in…Your blog is beautiful and helpful for other mums like me who spend hours researching before the big move!!
Thanks Ritu for your message! Hope you are enjoying Tokyo:)!
I’m on a university faculty in the US and I spend a lot of time in Japan doing research. I’ll be in Tokyo with my daughter– my first time to Japan with a baby. I’m exited, anxious and afraid. I’m glad I found your blog–actually I was introduced to it– before the move! I think this is going to help me navigate Tokyo for six months with my daughter who will be a year old.
Hi Petrice, Thank you for your message. I’m so glad Tokyo Urban Baby is helping you with your trip to Tokyo with your daughter! Hope you have a wonderful time!
Hi Kate & Momoko, Thank you so much for doing what you do. My 8 week old has been hospitalized for the past week with whooping cough （百日咳）, and during that time we were afraid my wife would develop mastitis （乳腺）for a SECOND time. Then we googled Oketani Method. She didn’t think we would find anything, let alone in English, but we found your youtube video! She went, and it was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much.
I hope your wife and baby are okay:(!! I remember whooping cough spreading quickly around Australia earlier last year – I had been visiting my family in Sydney with my son (he was only 4 months old at the time) and I was really worried he would get it. I really hope your baby is okay….
Thank you so much for your message about the Oketani video. I’m so glad it helped! The Oketani massage is really amazing.
Wishing a quick recovery for your family,
Kate xx
Thank you Kate for this wonderful website! We moved to Tokyo 2 months ago and I have used your website countless times already! It has been a HUGE help. We have a 9-month old baby. Thank you, thank you!!!
Thanks so much for your message Alexis! So glad Tokyo Urban Baby is helping you and your baby settle into Tokyo:))!!
Hi Kate,
Im peruvian but living in france. i have a 8 half month baby (half French half Peruvian). I just came to your videos on YouTube while I was looking for some tips regarding traveling with a toddler. We are planing to go Peru when Louis will be 13 months and your tips are so simple and easy!!! They helped me a lot. At the end it doesn’t seem so difficult to travel with a toddler for a 20 hours trip 🙂
Hope it is going to be good for us 🙂
Congrats for the blog and the online shop too.
Bisous
Massiell
Thank you Massiell! All the best with your flight:)!! Warm wishes, Kate
Hi kate..ur site is very helpful specially for us gaijins….thank you sooo much and all the best …and kate can you join me in the group..would love to attend all your programmes and would also love to volunteer if need
Thank
Shweta
Hi Shweta, Thanks for your message!
Tokyo Urban Baby doesn’t have any activities coming up at the moment, but if you would like to join a group with other mothers in Tokyo, I highly recommend the Tokyo Mothers Group! There are hundreds of members in the Tokyo Mothers Group and they have lots of regular activities to join. They also have a closed group on Facebook, so you will need to become a member in order to see all the posts. Here is the link to the Tokyo Mothers Group Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/190112384422830/
Tokyo Mothers Group website:
http://www.tokyomothersgroup.com/
Hope this helps and Merry Christmas!
Best wishes,
Kate
Hi Kate, Thank you so much for a lot of information! I will take our baby ( now 5 months old ) to see my family in Tokyo this summer and I am excited! We’ve not gone back to Japan in 5 years so that we both work full time and it’s hard to take a long vacation….but since my son was born, it’s even busier and I have never been sitting and relaxing until I actually go to bed! He started waking up a couple of times at night because he’s now growing a lot…raising a kid is tough, but it’s really worth it. I love motherhood! I love to see my son’s smile when I come home from work every day. Anyway, I want to take him a lot of baby-friendly places that you recommend. Also, it’s helpful for us to learn how to raise my son as bilingual kid. It’s the hardest part because there is no one who speak Japanese around me so I speak English all the time and my husband cannot speak Japanese…..so I want to give my son an opportunity to learn Japanese from other kids while we are in Tokyo.
You work full time now, I know it’s hard, but we are not the only one.
BTW, I am glad to know your website to have our trip with a baby to Japan a lot of fun!
Hi Makiko, thanks so much for your message! I completely agree:) When I finish work, I practically run to the station to catch the earliest train I can, just so I can see my son and his smiling face again! It is so hard going to work everyday, but thankfully he enjoys his nursery school and seems to be happy. Hope you have a wonderful trip to Japan and all the best! Kate xx
Hi Kate & Momoko,
Thank you so much for sharing all the information. Wish, I found your blog earlier and not during the time I’m googling for organic food in Japan 😉
I told my Japanese friend that expecting about your website and she’s eager to look for it.
Tonight is our last night and I really loved how Kyoto and Tokyo, for me both are baby and stroller friendly….even sometimes I’m using Ergo baby.
Can’t wait to visit Japan again, so I could bring my LO to the places that you recommend.
Thanks.
xoxo
-amy-
Hi Amy, thank you so much for your message! So glad you had a wonderful time in Japan with your baby. And thanks for sharing Tokyo Urban Baby with your friends!! Have a wonderful last day and safe trip back home:) Hope you can visit Tokyo again soon! Best wishes, Kate
Hi Kate,
I came across your video on YouTube while I was searching for tips on traveling with baby/toddler. Thanks for all your great tips and your children are so adorable. I’m currently living in the Bay Area in US but my husband and I lived in Tokyo for two years back in 2005. Our boy/girl twins are 9 months old and they are half Chinese (Hong Kong) and half American. I would like to see if you are interested to share some of your experience on raising bilingual children. Will you send your children to local Japanese school or international school ? Do you have difficulty in getting your children to speak and learn English or Japanese? I would love to get some of your insight and experience.
Thanks,
Yung Yung
Hi Yung Yung, thank you for your message! Here are some posts about raising our children to be bilingual:
http://www.tokyourbanbaby.com/2014/02/raising-a-bilingual-child-in-japan-our-favourite-english-kids-programs-on-youtube.html
http://www.tokyourbanbaby.com/2013/05/how-to-raise-a-bilingual-child-in-japan-7-tips-from-experienced-father-jc.html
We have not decided on which school to send our children to yet. Our son currently is able to switch between the 2 languages – Japanese with Daddy (and at nursery school) and English with Mummy. We hope he will continue to do so! My next big challenge to encourage both of my children to talk with me in English. I have heard it can be difficult to maintain as the children get older. Fingers crossed they continue to enjoy and see the value in speaking both languages:)) Hope this helps and all the best! Kate xx
What a great resource in English for all of us with kids in this area! Thanks so much for what you do.
Thank you Tracy!