[japantourist1980]

Hello,
My wife and I took a 1 week trip to Japan a few weeks ago, and my wife was so impressed that she wants us to spend next summer there. For this latest trip, we left the kids with grandparents and went on our own, but I was wondering if taking 2 small children (3 and 5 years old) for an extended trip would be feasible (among other questions). I searched the forum and didn't see anything that addresses this issue, but if I missed anything please let me know!

So, I guess I will organize this post according to what we are looking for in a vacation spot, and questions we have. Any suggestions as to where might be a good place to live for a couple of months given these issues would be greatly appreciated!

LOOKING FOR:
1. Kid friendly area: In Japan, are there lots of activities that are good for kids? For example, story time at a public library, mom playgroups, children's museums, etc. Given we can't bring our kids' toys, books, etc., my wife wants to be able to keep the kids busy without planting them in front of the TV/ipad. I will be working M-F 9-5 as usual, so it is important to her that she has things to do with the kids during the day.
2. City feel: We live in a small town, so for vacation we would like to change it up a bit. We aren't really interested in staying on the beach or in the countryside.
3. Decent access to Tokyo: We don't necessarily want to live in Tokyo, but may want to take day trip now and then.
4. Walkability: We're looking for a neighborhood in which you can get around by walking, preferably near public transportation which would allow us to get to other parts of the city.

QUESTIONS:
1. We did a quick search and it seems like local rental agencies have places that are MUCH cheaper than what you can find on AirBnB. Can foreigners use these agencies? Is there some sort of "catch", which would explain why they are so much cheaper?
2. What is kindergarden like in Japan? How much is it? Would they accept kids on a short term basis (i.e., a month or 2)? We aren't sure that we would want to do this, but we were thinking it might be nice to expose the kids to pure Japanese language environment. Or would they just get bullied for being different?

So these are our issues/questions...or at least those I can think of right now. The trip will be a year from now, so we are still at the very preliminary planning stage. Any suggestions as to a particular city/neighborhood?

Thanks in advance!