Before I take you on this trip, I’d like to briefly introduce myself and my family. I’m Charlotte, Dutch, and Julien, French/Japanese, is my love. We got to know each other in Tokyo when I was studying there, but we fell in love when we met again in Paris, almost 10 years later. Since a few years we live in Rotterdam and Paris with our kids, L. (’19) and I. (’22) and our dog Michi.

Juliens family (the majority) lives in Japan. We raise our kids trilingual and we want them to keep feeling familiar with Japanese culture. Besides, Julien runs a gallery in Paris representing Japanese artists. Good reasons to go visit Japan several times a year! 

Being in and around Tokyo, I am often asked what it is like to travel there with (young) children. So often that I thought it could be nice to write about it. There are many guides on Tokyo, but none of them focuses on traveling with kids. 

Over the past few years I’ve learned a lot from traveling with my daughters. I had to adjust quite a bit but with the right attitude (‘Let it goooo’) I was able to enjoy this new way of traveling as I did before. The nights, which I used to love, became short, but the mornings got longer. And they are not too bad either. 

Besides creating Coffee and Lullabies, I’m involved with the gallery. Before that, I worked in cinema for 10 years as the artistic director of a film festival. I have always enjoyed writing. Whether it is about films, artists or adventures. In this guide, my love for story-telling, analogue photography and travelling come together. It seems like this project is meant to be and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do creating it.