Traveling to Japan with almost 3yo - dealing with time change

I have flown to Europe with my daughter multiple times since she was 2 months to visit family (she's 3 now). My advice would be to stay awake as long as possible during the day, keep the naps short and make every effort to get him/her on schedule. Needless to say the first few days will be rough sleep-wise until your little one gets on schedule. I"m not sure how you feel about TV but that could be your best friend when your toddler is wide awake at 2am and you're a walking zombie.

We went from Oakland to Japan with our daughter who was exactly your daughter’s age, and we all had an amazing time. I think we went for almost two weeks, split between Kyoto and Tokyo. I think we tried to be attuned to her body and what she needed, but she adjusted pretty easily. It was coming back that was hard. I think it took her two weeks to get over return jet lag. 

This may be a moot suggestion if you already bought your plane tickets but we try and always fly the Japan Airlines SFO-HND flight due to the timing. The flight leaves at 3pm and then lands at 7pm. (The ANA and United flights leave earlier, at 11am, which just ends up being more awake time on the plane for you and your child.) Our daughter naps in the car on the way to SFO, we make sure she walks and runs like crazy through the international terminal, get on the plane and eat the kids meal, watch iPad for a few hours, then passes out around 8pm California time. She sleeps for about 6 hours and then we land at ~7pm. We usually carry her through immigration and then she perks up for a few hours to see family/friends and hang out then goes back to sleep. Our daughter usually adjusts within a couple of days with a few early morning wake-up calls at 6am. I usually take some snacks, books and iPad so that we have stuff to keep us occupied in the early mornings while everyone else is asleep. (It's a little easier in summer since you can go walking around outside while it's still cool. Not so much in winter.) As you know, nothing is open in Japan until 10am so you just need to have things easily accessible to keep your daughter busy until family wake up and want to play with her.

Our daughter also is notorious for falling asleep at dinner around 5:30 or 6pm. We try and make sure that she gets something to eat (even if it's onigiri, fruit and a squeezee pack from the US) if dinner isn't ready. We also try to schedule dinners with friends with fellow young children the first few days because we find that our daughter is more likely to stay up and play with another kid. If it's just adults talking she'll fall asleep on one of our laps very quickly.

Coming back is difficult. Again, I'd choose the Japan Airlines flight on the way back since it leaves at 7pm. Eat dinner quickly, sleep, and get back to the Bay Area at 1pm. Do your very best to stay up until normal CA-bedtime and be prepared for a few days of early 4-5am mornings. We usually co-sleep with our daughter the first few nights back so that we can try and pat her back to sleep and preempt any *really* early mornings. During the day, we make sure we get outside and run and play like crazy to help adjust her (and our) bodies back to CA-time. 

Good luck! Traveling with kids is hard, but so rewarding!!

I have traveled with my now 6 year old to Asia seven times now, from when he was 20 months till now. The time change is really easy for younger kids, and going there will be easier than coming back. The hard part is traveling with a 2 year old--that's hard even without the time change! When you go there, hit the ground running and go go go. Go outside and get as much sunlight as possible, and eat meals at the local time, when everyone else is eating. Carry lots of snacks for the in between times if she's hungry, but her clock will reset faster if breakfast lunch and dinner is set to Japan time. Try to keep her awake as close to her regular nap, and if she does nap, wake her up after her usual length of napping. Don't let her sleep all day! She will be very tired in the evening, so try to keep her awake at least till she's had dinner. If she wakes up early the next morning, no problem! Just get up and go. The goal is to keep her awake and only let her sleep during normal hours, set at Japan time. Expect her to fall asleep on car rides and while you are walking around, cat naps are ok, but don't let her sleep all day. The same thing applies when you come back. Immediately set meal times and sleep/wake times to the local time, don't allow long midday naps (wake her after her usual time), and as much as possible, shoot for regular bedtime/wake up time. Coming back this means you might have to shake her awake in the morning. I find jet lag going to Asia to be quick and easy (2-3 days?), but coming back is much harder (5-7 days). Good luck!

ps. one thing i notice with people in Asia is that they like to have dinner late. Your toddler will be super tired the minute the sun goes down. Try to talk to the relatives and ask them to move dinner a little earlier just for the first few days. That way your baby can eat with everyone and then go down for an early bedtime.

We did this 14 years ago with a 23-month old. The hardest part was that I was newly pregnant and feeling tired and nauseated much of the time. But we just went with the flow, took naps if needed, and honestly, I don't remember it being all that difficult. I do remember coming home, arriving at SFO in the early morning and being so exhausted I could barely talk (probably due to pregnancy). We slept all that day and pretty easily adjusted back to our own time zone. It was a great trip and I would love to go back!

We travel to Asia frequently (at least once a year if not twice) with our kids (3 under 6) and have found that flying back to CA is tougher than going.  What has worked for us is the following:

- when flying to Tokyo, let your little one sleep their normal schedule on the airplane (if your flight is overnight).  They may be up and not fall asleep right away because of the excitement especially if they haven't flown before.  Be prepared to not get much sleep (I say this because our youngest at 1 was an awesome sleeper at home and decided not to sleep at all on a 14 hr flight to Asia).  Even after 3 I've found out you never know what's going to happen.  We try to fly to Asia overnight so our kids can sleep and when we get to our destination, it's usually early in the morning.  Then we have our kids stay up that day with an afternoon nap no longer than 3 hours.  Then we try to keep them up past dinner (sometimes they don't make it).  That way, they can get on schedule as quickly as possible.  

- when traveling back, when flying overnight, you usually land just after dinner.  So our strategy is to keep our kids up past midnight.  We usually go have a late dinner say around 10 PM (In and Out!) and then let the kids play (they're usually excited to be home) until they look really tired then I stick to our usual evening routine - bath, story, bed.  That helps them get on track more quickly.  

With events, we try to plan things early in the morning and nothing too late in the evening.  With meals, we try to stick to regular mealtimes in the country we are at.  They'll be hungry earlier in the morning so make sure you pack some snacks for those first few days when they wake up early and are hungry (because it's lunchtime in the US).