Travel with Children - Cribs in Japanese hotels

Not sure which forum to put this - here or Japan, let's start here.

We booked a short trip with 16 mo old to Tokyo but came across a rather unusual situation: as I contacted hotel to request a crib they advised me that their cribs are only allowed for infants up to 12 month old and instead we would have to keep kids in our bed (which is absolutely not an option for a number of reasons).

Can anyone comment on this - i have never come across this restriction in NA.

It is probably a smaller more light weight crib than we are used to here. The majority of Japanese families either co-sleep from the beginning or use a small crib/bassinet for very young infants then switch to co-sleeping until preschool/kindergarten age. It would be unusal for a family to request a separate bed for a toddler or preschool aged child.

We got one for our 18 months when we stayed at Ramada Osaka. I explained that our kids are very small (they were very small indeed), so it was no problem to get a crib. We'd like to have 2 but they only have 1 so we put the 33 months on the sofa. We turned the sofa around to make it into a crib. She had a good time sleeping there.

It is probably a smaller more light weight crib than we are used to here. The majority of Japanese families either co-sleep from the beginning or use a small crib/bassinet for very young infants then switch to co-sleeping until preschool/kindergarten age. It would be unusal for a family to request a separate bed for a toddler or preschool aged child.

Ya, that's true.
It's probably a cultural thing over there.
I'd request it anyway, and then decide further when you arrive.