Any good public baths in Tokyo for families?

For a family with kids that young, I'd skip LaQua and Thermae-Yu. LaQua is attached to Tokyo Dome City which is great for older kids but the bath area itself gets packed and the 2 year old won't have much to do. Thermae-Yu is more of a capsule hotel style place, not really set up for toddlers.

Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba is probably your best bet if you want something with entertainment built in. They have a little kid zone with yukata rentals and some games, plus the outdoor foot bath area lets the kids splash around without being in the main pools. It's about 2,800 yen for adults and kids under 4 are free. The only catch is it closes at 9pm on weekdays so you can't stay super late.

Another option is the Tokyo Toyoko area in Gotanda, which has a small sento with a kids play corner right next to the changing rooms. It's not fancy but it's local, cheap at around 500 yen per adult, and the water is nice and soft. The 5 year old can see the Fuji mural in the main bath while the 2 year old plays with the bins of toys they keep there.

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if you're near shinjuku, try the onsen at the tokyo dome hotel's spa is not the same as laqua but the hotel side has a family-friendly bath with a small kids pool attached. it's about 3,000 yen for adults and kids under 6 are free. the water's not too hot and they have a little slide thing that the 5 year old will love. the 2 year old can just splash in the shallow end while you keep an eye on them from the main bath

honestly, the best option for little kids might be the onsen in the shinagawa prince hotel's aqua park. it's connected to the dolphin show area so you can do both in one trip. the bath itself has a warm shallow pool that's basically a kiddie pool with a tiny waterfall. adults are 2,500 yen and kids under 3 are free. the water's soft and the whole place smells like yuzu which is nice

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I'd actually recommend trying a proper old-school sento like Jakotsuyu in Asakusa. It's got that classic vibe with the tiger painting and the water's pretty hot, but they have a shallow kids bath section that's cooler. The 2 year old can sit in there safely and the 5 year old will probably get a kick out of the big mural. It's like 500 yen per adult and kids under 6 are free, plus there's a little park nearby to burn off energy after.

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if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping

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kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.

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tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.

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