Guides · Families
Japan with kids: one house, not two hotel rooms
Most city hotel rooms in Japan are built for one or two people. Bring two or three children and you often need two rooms, with no kitchen and a shared coin laundry a few floors away. For a trip of two weeks or more there is a simpler answer: rent a whole house for the month.
Why hotel rooms are hard work for families
City hotels in Japan charge by the room but cap how many people can sleep in it, and the cap is enforced. Most standard rooms in city and business hotels take one or two guests. Rooms for three or four are rare, and fewer still take five.
The rooms are small, too. A standard double in a Japanese business hotel is often 11 to 17 square metres: the bed, a narrow desk and not much floor. Suitcases for a family of four leave little room to walk.
Young children can often share a parent's bed for free, but the rules change from hotel to hotel. Some stop at age two, others allow it until a child finishes primary school. The same family can fit one room at one hotel and need two at the next, and two rooms next to each other are not always guaranteed.
Then there is daily life. A business-hotel room comes with a kettle and a small empty fridge, not a kitchen. Washing machines are coin-operated and shared, usually in a room every few floors. Breakfast, laundry and bedtime all happen around a room designed for a business trip.
What a house changes
- Bedrooms with doors. The children can be asleep by eight while the adults still have a living room and a lamp on.
- A real kitchen. Breakfast at home and simple dinners from the supermarket, so the convenience store becomes a treat rather than a plan.
- A washing machine of your own. A month of children's clothes stops being a logistics problem.
- Room to spread out. Kichi Itako is 116 square metres over two floors, about the floor area of seven to ten business-hotel doubles.
- One base. Unpack once, learn the neighbourhood, and take day trips instead of changing hotels every few nights.
- Parking where it matters. Kichi Itako has space for two cars, one of them under cover.
The honest maths
Two hotel rooms, or one house for the month
When a family needs two rooms, the hotel bill doubles and the space doesn't. A whole month at Kichi Itako costs roughly a third to a half of two weeks in two rooms, and it comes with a kitchen, a washing machine and a living room.
Hotel figure: two typical mid-range city doubles over 14 nights, at the rate our homepage uses for one. Kichi Itako: ¥120,000 rent with utilities and wi-fi, plus the one-off ¥30,000 cleaning fee, paid up front. Kichi pricing is monthly only.
Which Kichi suits a family
Kichi Itako is the family house. Three bedrooms, living and dining space and a tatami room over two floors, on its own plot facing open fields in the lake country of southern Ibaraki. Utilities and wi-fi are in the monthly price, there is no deposit, and Narita Airport is close. A car makes the month here, and we can help you sort one.
Kichi Narao, on the Goto Islands, is about 150 square metres over two floors above a working harbour, with room for a family or a group. It is opening soon.
Kichi Otsu sleeps two or three, so it suits a couple better than a family. For a big family or two families together, Kichi Myoko sleeps ten across five bedrooms, ten minutes from the Myoko Kogen ski lifts, with a dining table long enough for everyone.
Coming for two or three weeks?
Every Kichi is let on a fixed-term lease of at least 30 days. The minimum applies to the lease, not to your calendar: book the month and use as much of it as you like. Even if you only stay two or three weeks, a month at Kichi Itako costs less than two weeks in two hotel rooms.
We ask for at least three weeks' notice before move-in, so the house can be set up fresh for you. More on that in how it works, and on the wider choice in where to stay in Japan for a month.
Ready when you are
Bring the family. Book the month.
Tell us your dates and who's coming. A human replies within a day.
Questions
Questions people ask
Can a family of four or five share one hotel room in Japan?
Only if the children are young enough to share a bed. Some hotels allow one child per bed, so a twin room can take two adults and two young children. Rooms for three or four are rare, and a family of five usually means two rooms.
Do young children stay free in Japanese hotels?
Often, if they share a parent's bed, but the rule depends on the hotel. Some stop at age two, others allow it until a child finishes primary school. Check each hotel's rule before you book.
Is renting a house cheaper than hotels for a family in Japan?
For two weeks or more, usually. Two weeks in two mid-range city doubles runs to about ¥280,000 to ¥420,000. A whole month at Kichi Itako, with utilities, wi-fi and the cleaning fee, is ¥150,000.
We only need two or three weeks. Can we still rent a Kichi?
Yes. You book a 30-day lease and use as much of it as you like. The lease and the rent cover the full 30 days whether you stay twelve nights or thirty.
Will we have a kitchen and a washing machine?
Yes. Every Kichi has a real kitchen, a washing machine and proper bedding, with wi-fi installed and tested.
How many people can a Kichi take?
It depends on the house, and occupancy is set in the lease. Kichi Itako has three bedrooms, and Kichi Narao is built for a family or a group. Tell us who is coming and we will match you to the right house.