Pull-Up Diapers for Babies and Toddlers in Japan

Last Updated on October 11, 2024 by Kay

As promised in my review of baby diapers in Japan, here’s a look at M-size pull-up or pants-type (パンツタイプ) diapers in Japan.

In Japan, you’ll find that diapers come in tape-type (テープタイプ) or pants-type (パンツタイプ).

You likely used tape-type on your newborn and in the first few months of their life. These have tabs on each side that you attach to the front of the diaper. However, as your baby gets older and more active, you may want to think about switching to pants-type diapers (which I’ll refer to as pull-ups from now on), which you slip your baby or toddler into like a pair of underpants.

This video by the Japanese diaper brand Merries gives a nice explanation about how to put pull-ups on your child, and it has English subtitles as well!

Most pull-up diapers in Japan are available starting from S-size (4-9 kg) and are great for babies when they start to:

• become more active (turning over, crawling, standing, walking, etc.)
• pull off the tape from tape-type diapers
• try to escape or flip over during diaper changes
• feel uncomfortable and need more room and flexibility than tape-type diapers provide
• experience more leaks when wearing tape-type diapers

As a quick overview, here are the typical diaper sizes in Japan, which are written on the bottom corner of packages. The maximum weight may vary depending on the brand, but in my experience, I’ve found that I graduated my daughter to a larger size far before she hit the weight limit for a particular diaper.

My husband and I decided to start using pull-up diapers when our daughter started walking at 10 months old and weighed around 8.2 kg, although I wish I had tried them earlier to be honest. I was worried about the baby peeing while I put on a pull-up diaper (hasn’t happened so far, though!) and I found it annoying to have to completely take off her pants during diaper changes (it’s not that bad now that I’m used to it).

To start the process, we decided to get a box of M-size pull-up diaper samples from Amazon Japan and then see what fit our daughter the best. (The box we got that contained Merries diapers is no longer available, unfortunately.)

After that, we bought packages of our favorite diapers to try out longer-term, which I also tested in a similar fashion to the newborn diapers by looking at their absorbency. Therefore, this review will be broken into two main parts: the Amazon diaper samples and their fit on our daughter, and then a more detailed look at several M-size pull-up diaper brands in Japan.

If you’re interested in any of these diapers, click on the name or image of the package to be taken to their Amazon Japan page.

Amazon Japan Diaper Sample Box

This trial box was a great way to try out M-size pull-up diapers without having to invest in a package and possibly waste diapers if they didn’t fit properly. The box contained five brands of M-size pull-up diapers as well as a sample of Meiji’s ステップらくらくキューブ cubed formula for children ages 1 to 3.

Where to Buy Diapers in Japan for Babies and Toddlers

Now, before we dive into the different types of diapers available for babies and toddlers, I thought I would share where you can buy diapers in Japan:

• Baby stores like Akachan Honpo and Babies R Us (read my guide for all the types of stores that sell baby and toddler products!)
• Drug stores (ドラッグストア) like Welcia, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Kokokarafain (ココカラファイン). Note that small drug stores in stations might not carry diapers.
• Large grocery stores
• Daiso (100 yen store) — they carry one brand called GOO.N, which I’ll introduce below
• Some convenience stores
• Online on sites such as Amazon Japan and Rakuten

As you can see, there are plenty of places where you can buy diapers, which is great when you’re traveling or in a pinch!

Overview of Pull-Up Diapers for Babies and Toddlers in Japan

I should note that there were no leaks when our daughter wore the diapers above and she was able to move around quite easily. However, at 8.2 kg at the time and 70 cm tall, she was (and still is) fairly average-sized when it comes to Japanese babies, with chubby thighs and a round belly, and slightly below the world average according to WHO. Provided this, a different diaper may work better for your baby depending on their body shape and size.

As mentioned earlier, the box that I got is no longer available but there is another one on Amazon Japan that is similar but doesn’t have Merries diapers and instead comes with a small pack of Pigeon baby wipes. I highly recommend getting this box if you want to see what kind of pull-up diapers work best for your baby before committing to an entire pack.

くらべるおむつBOX Mサイズ

Testing Pull-Up Diapers in Japan

After narrowing down the samples, we decided to buy packages of Merries, Genki, and Pampers diapers — Merries and Genki because they fit our daughter the best and Pampers mainly because we were long-time fans and still wanted to give it a shot.

I also picked up a package of moonyman エアフィット diapers on sale as it wasn’t included in the Amazon box and I was curious about it since it tended to always be sold out at the drugstore near my house. We were also in process of trying to figure out which 12-hour diaper would work best for our daughter overnight so we included those as well in the test, bringing the total diapers in this test to seven.

The Newcomers (12-Hour Type)

Additive-free (Scent-free, Paraben-free) Diapers in Japan

If you’re looking for gentle diapers for sensitive skin and without additives (無添加, mutenka), you may want to consider the following:

moonyman (ムーニーマン) エアフィットパンツ

Pampers (パンパース) 肌へのいちばんパンツ

Natural Moony Man Organic Cotton (ナチュラルムーニーマン オーガニックコットン)

Two of those will be reviewed in this article while the tape-type version of natural moony man was reviewed in this article.

Also, note that all of these diapers come in tape-type as well.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Cost per Diaper

I checked the online price per diaper for one package (pkg) and/or box of the following diapers from popular retailers for baby products in Japan. Keep in mind that these prices are subject to change, for instance if there’s a sale.

In general, Mamy Poko tends to be the most budget-friendly diaper while Pampers 肌へのいちばん is the most expensive.

Tips to get cheaper diapers:

• Sign up for store mailing lists, download their app, friend them on LINE, and make a point card
  Stores like Babies R Us, Akachan Honpo, and Nishi Matsuya （西松屋） have frequent promotions and discounts for diapers, which you can find out about right away if you sign up for their mailing list, download their app, or add them on LINE. You can also sometimes get exclusive discounts or coupons if you sign up for a Babies R Us or Akachan Honpo point card (if you’re currently pregnant, you’ll also get free diaper samples as well as other goodies if you sign up so if you haven’t already, I highly recommend it). Even if you don’t have a Babies R Us store nearby, the online store (as well as Akachan Honpo) offers free shipping if you buy a certain amount so it’s worth looking into.
• Check online flyers for stores
  As mentioned above, stores have promotions on diapers and if you don’t want to sign up for their mailing list, take a look at their online flyer to see the latest deals.
• Join Rakuten Mamawari
  Rakuten Mamawari （楽天ママ割) offers coupons as well as special discounts. You can also enter to try to win a box of samples, which are given to 150 lucky winners every month.
• Buy in bulk
  When you buy diapers in packs, the diapers tend to be cheaper, especially if a store is having a promotion. For instance, Babies R Us had a promotion where if you bought four boxes of diapers (containing three packs of diapers each), you would get ¥300 yen off per box and get a free package of Pampers diapers of your choice. The M-size Pampers はじめての肌へのいちばん diapers I bought at the time ended up costing only ¥14 per diaper!

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Dimensions and Weight

*Measured from the top to the bottom of a diaper

Pampers肌へのいちばん was the longest diaper, followed closely by moonyman and Pampers さらさらケア. These diapers would be suitable for babies with long torsos. Merries and Genki! were the smallest in length.

Despite being fairly small in size, Merries was the heaviest out of all the diapers, weighing almost 10 grams more than the lightest diaper, Pampers さらさらケア. This is something to consider if you’re looking at portability. In terms of whether a heavier diaper will restrict movement, I haven’t seen my daughter have any trouble walking around in Merries.

Merries also claims to be breathable and based on personal experience, my daughter hasn’t had any problems (increased fussiness, rashes, etc) while wearing these diapers. It may be heavier but I believe the weight is due to its absorbent padding, which has done a great job at keeping my daughter dry.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Elasticity

We looked at the elasticity and quality of the elastic at both the waist and leg cuffs. We stretched the waist of each diaper and then measured the diameter, and then the circumference of the leg cuffs.

Pampers, Mamy Poko, and Merries had the stretchiest diapers although they didn’t beat the other diapers by much. Moonyman had the biggest waist before stretching while Pampers were the smallest, so Pampers might be a good choice for more slender babies.

In terms of the leg cuffs, Mamy Poko and Pampers さらさらケア had the widest, which may be a problem if you have a baby with more slender legs as it could lead to leaks, while Merries, moonyman, and Mamy Poko were the stretchiest.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Feel

As with the newborn diaper test, we looked at how the inside of the diapers felt rather than the outside.

Here is how we ranked the feel of the inside of the diapers and the waist, from best to worst:

1. Whito
2. Genki!
3. moonyman
4. Merries
5. Pampers肌へのいちばん
6. Pampersさらさらケア
7. Mamy Poko

As mentioned earlier, Whito felt incredibly soft both inside and out while Mamy Poko was quite hard.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Liquid Test

For the liquid test, we poured 100 ml of salty-dyed water onto each diaper and waited for 30 seconds before seeing how well the diaper absorbed the liquid by pressing a small sheet of paper towel onto the diaper and also feeling it with the back of our hands. We repeated this twice, pouring a total of 300 ml onto the diapers.

Then we poured 15 ml of water once down the back of the diaper while holding it at an angle to see how well it would protect against leaks when a baby is lying down. We also checked the condition of the diapers, both inside and outside, one hour later.

We decided to split the performance of the diapers in the liquid test into two categories: how dry they felt 30 seconds after absorbing 100 ml at a time and how dry they felt after absorbing 300 ml of liquid for one hour.

Dryness After 30 Seconds

Dryness After 1 Hour (300 ml)

1. Pampers さらさらケア
2. Merries
3. Whito
4. Pampers 肌へのいちばん
5. Genki!
6. Mamy Poko
7. moonyman

None of the diapers had liquid escape from the back, surprisingly, although Pampers さらさらケア was close. Both Pampers diapers were slow at absorbing liquid; however, after one hour, Pampers さらさらケア was the driest diaper. The diaper felt cold, though, which could bother your baby when they’re sleeping and cause them to wake up.

Similar to the newborn diaper test, Merries had a few visible droplets on the surface even after one hour. Despite this, however, it overall felt very dry, almost like fabric.

Moonyman and Mamy Poko claim to be 12-hour type diapers but I would not recommend using either overnight based on this test. Whito, despite being quite wet when 100 ml of liquid was poured onto it, surprisingly became quite absorbent with larger volumes. Genki performed quite consistently throughout as it was not the best but not the worst.

We did not look at how long it took for the wetness indicators to change (although they all changed color within 10 seconds). Moonyman was the most difficult to see while both Pampers diapers were the easiest.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Tape

Lastly, we looked at how well the tape at the back worked when it came time to dispose of the diaper. Pull-up diapers are supposed to be rolled up and then sealed using the tape.

We experienced no issues with the tape on any of the diapers as all were easy to use and kept the diapers sealed. Merries diapers had wider tape that was a bit shorter than the others but that wasn’t a problem.

Pull-Up Diapers in Japan — Overall Ranking

Based on everything we looked at above, here is our overall ranking of the above pull-up diapers in Japan from best to worst:

1. Merries
2. Genki!
3. Pampers さらさらケア
4. Whito
5. moonyman
6. Pampers肌へ
7. Mamy Poko

Genki! is cheaper than Merries and softer; however, Merries was more absorbent and it felt much nicer than Genki! after 100 ml to 300 ml of liquid was absorbed, both after 30 seconds and after 1 hour. When our daughter started getting bigger, Merries also fit her better than Genki!.

Pampersさらさらケア was in third place for how dry it felt after 1 hour and its affordability in comparison to Whito, another 12-hour diaper that absorbed well but was quite expensive.

Moonyman ticked off a lot of boxes for a good diaper (absorbs quickly, cheap, and soft); however, it did leak from the leg cuffs when our daughter wore it overnight and didn’t handle 300 ml of liquid very well. The sides can also be difficult to rip and are the last thing you want to deal with if you have a fussy baby who hates diaper changes, and the wetness indicator is hard to see.

Pampers肌へのいちばん was a huge disappointment due to the cost and its failure to absorb as well as some of the other, more affordable diapers.

Mamy Poko, although the cheapest, ranked the lowest in several categories that we looked at. It’s not a horrible diaper, though, and if it fits your child and your budget, then it’s perfectly fine to use.

In general, I am impressed with the overall quality of Japanese diapers. At 13 months at the time of writing, our daughter has never experienced any leaks during the day with the diaper brands we have tried. But of course, all babies are different and time can only tell what will happen in the future.

I should also note that although she was only 8.5 kg and hadn’t reached the M-size weight limit yet, we decided to transition her to L-size pull-ups, specifically Merries, as we feel that she’s becoming too big for M-size diapers. (Interestingly, L-size Merries do not have the quilted lining, which I really loved on the M-size diapers, so I wonder if that would change how it absorbs and feels after liquid is poured onto it.)

If you’re interested in getting free samples of pull-up diapers, you can try applying for some on each brand’s website (some are listed in this article).

Interestingly, my daughter’s new daycare used… Merries pants-type diapers for all the toddlers!

Update:

Soon after I wrote this article, we began using オヤスミマン as overnight diapers. I will not be testing this diaper as it is quite expensive; however, I feel like it’s worth the price because of its absorbency and fit. Baby A has slept through most nights while wearing オヤスミマン. It is much cheaper on Amazon Japan than in stores, especially when there’s a sale! (Sometimes Nishimatsuya has it marked down to 899 yen a pack).

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