Going out and about with Finn

This is my mum’s picture; I didn’t take Finn to Shibuya and I hardly have time to take photos while carrying him. I did, however, take him to Tokyo with my parents when he was almost 2 months old. It worried me, but it proved much easier than I thought. 

For the first month or so of Finn’s life I was both itching to take him outside and too scared to go too far. I took him to the convenience store and back, or for a walk around the nearby park. After a couple of weeks of only doing that, my mum and dad came over from Britain and we planned to take him out around Nagoya, and to Tokyo for a couple of days. 

There was an interesting parallel, since my mum and dad were traveling to completely new places, too. Finn was experiencing so many new things and reacting to things differently than I thought he would. He was really good while moving, and only got fussy after a couple of hours (or if we weren’t moving around). 

There were enough changing rooms and feeding rooms in the city, in fact, many more than I thought! 

This is an example of one place in Matsuzakaya. There are cubicles for breastfeeding mums that are wide enough for push chairs. There’s also a large area for changing nappies, bottle feeding (including hot water and microwave etc) and children’s toilets. I didn’t take a picture because there were a lot of mums out there and it seems a bit rude. 

I’ve never been into one of these places in Britain so I have no idea how they differ. 

After going out a couple of times in Nagoya, we took the bullet train to Tokyo and stayed there for three nights. 

The bullet train was easier than I thought. The seats have enough leg room to wedge the pushchair in there, but I guess there are some carriages where you can stand them somewhere. I couldn’t find anywhere else I felt comfortable leaving it so we just kept it in front of us.

(When traveling from Britain to Nagoya via Osaka I remember putting my luggage in a wide space at the back of one bullet train carriage, but for some reason I couldn’t find it again? I dunno)

We went to our hotel by taxi, which wasn’t too bad. We weren’t actually far from the station, but it took about 20 minutes by car (1,500 yen I think). 

I’d previously requested a baby crib/bed for the hotel, but I was only just told that they didn’t have one when checking in. I’d booked a long time in advance so I was a little peeved, but they made a little baby futon style area on my double bed and he was very comfortable like that. Actually it served better than a crib, I think. It was a good job I’d booked a double room, because otherwise there wouldn’t be enough space. 

I occasionally bottlefed Finn, and using the microwave and fridge etc there was easy enough. The staff were super nice, too, so I really enjoyed the hotel. I spent a long time there, because of a typhooooooon. 

I used an app to find places to breastfeed and change Finn. It’s called Mamamap, and it saved my life! I often fed publicly though, like on the bullet train and in restaurants. It made me quite nervous, but once you start it’s fine. At the end of the day, the baby has to eat. I found that people didn’t care so much about it, and also, I felt much better about doing it in Tokyo for some reason. I have no idea why. 

I use a cover that I bought on Amazon (no picture though). I’d kind of prefer not to, because Finn gets super hot underneath it. At the same time I don’t want people looking at my boob. If it came to it, I would feed without a cover (and actually the first time I breastfed publicly I didn’t use a cover, I wore a T-shirt and a vest underneath. I pulled the T-shirt up and pulled the vest down so I was covered as much as possible.)

Just an example of how foggy and nasty it was in Tokyo! I took Finn to Akihabara, Ueda (after getting lost),Yasukuni, and that’s about it really. It was either too rainy or too busy to take him to many other places.

So Yasukuni is probably not the most typical place to take a baby, but it has the war museum, and my parents were interested in that too. 

Coming home to Nagoya was the hardest part of the trip. It was so busy in the station that I got so squished (while holding Finn). I was quite angry with people on the train, because despite it getting gradually less busy the further down the line we went, people were still not paying attention and pushing into Finn’s side. I’ll talk more about this later.

We took Finn around Nagoya for the rest of my parents’ stay. We considered Kyoto, but I figured it would be too difficult to take Finn there, and my parents didn’t want to go alone. 

But we went around the shops in Nagoya and to the castle! 

Taking Finn out with my parents was great, and even though taking him to Tokyo was a huge step from taking him to the park and back, it made me more confident. Once you get out, everything can be dealt with. It’s easy to worry about every single possible problem, but your head changes once you’re outside, and you just deal. I worried about language problems while I was out with Finn because I would most likely be asking for things I never usually ask for (eg asking the taxi driver to help me set up the stroller while I was holding Finn) but there was no problem once it was done. And if there is a problem, it can be sorted somehow. 

So it’s getting colder here, and since my parents went home I’ve been happier taking Finn out more (even if it’s a little rainy). I usually carry him and use an umbrella. 

Recently, when taking the Meijo line, I waited for my train (at the front of the queue) and waited patiently for passengers to get off before I stepped on (as usual). It was super busy, and the staff started to close the doors before anyone had even managed to get on the train. All of a sudden, the huge line of people behind me panicked, and pushed past me. I was one of the last to get on because people were in such a rush, and also, many people decided to stand at the door and block it (instead of moving inside the train).

I tried to get on, but no one would give me any space (not a full train btw). The doors closed on me, and hit Finn’s side. I was furious and shouted at the main woman who wouldn’t move despite me asking her politely (and clearly having a baby).

That’s not a normal situation, but it’s a great example of how stupid and nasty people can be. I was at the front of the line, pushed to the back, and forced off a half-full train because no one would allow me on. And my baby got stuck in the door. In the future I guess I should expect no one to move for me hahaha. 

I had no such problem in Tokyo, even in rush hour. People often stood up and let me sit down! Is Nagoya just rude or something?  

So if you’re reading this, remember to step aside to let people on a train. Especially mums, but mainly because if you don’t, they will definitely shout at you (cos I would, and did). So don’t get shouted at. Let people on trains after you rudely push past them. Yay. 

Rant over!