Top things to do in Tokyo with Kids

Last Updated: June 4, 2023

Tokyo has to be one of the greatest cities in the world!

The sheer magnitude of it leaves you breathless (quite literally at times).

Mix that in with the crazy and weird, yet reserved and organised energy and it has one of the most interesting fusions you’re likely to come across in a major city.

And experiencing Tokyo with kids is all the more exciting. The city has some great experiences to offer little ones.

Where else can you be walking down the street and see a life size Godzilla looking over a building at you? Or learn how to throw ninja stars in a ninja house? Or see a giant robot?

Well you can do all this and more in Tokyo!

Throw some Ninja Stars at the Ninja Trick House

The Ninja Trick School is a cool little activity that your kids will really enjoy.

It’s a small little building and doesn’t look much from outside or even inside, but what they lack in size they make up for in enthusiasm!

We would advise to book before you go via the Ninja Trick House website.

Once you get there you’ll be taken through to the room and watch a short video before the activity begins.

The ninja teacher will then run through some basic ninja information and techniques which you’ll each get to have a go at in turn at some of the things (kids and adults).

Throwing ninja stars was our favourite and harder than it looks. We especially liked that they had special rubber ones for our toddler so no chance of any injuries!

Kids Quote: “I’m a ninja, hiyah!”

Aden, Age 3

The whole thing lasts under an hour, but is a fun little activity that gives you a taste of being a ninja. It certainly had an impact on our youngest as he has been obsessed with Ninjas ever since!

Learn the way of the Samurai at the Samurai Museum

Update: The Samurai Museum is temporarily closed. For further details visit the Samurai Museum Website.

Just round the corner from the Ninja School is the Samurai museum, you can get a guided tour every hour and they will take you round for about 45 minutes explaining the history of the Samurai.

It’s relatively small so you can easily break away from the tour and join back again, as I did with our toddler when he was getting a bit antsy. The tour is very good and you will learn some interesting stuff and our eldest found it particularly interesting.

You also get to try out some of the hats and put on a costume at the end as well as watch a small Samurai show (afternoons only) and take part if you’re lucky (as our eldest did!). So overall this is a nice little activity for a couple of hours or so.

Run from Godzilla in Shinjuku!

Tokyo is of course the home of Godzilla, and he is still lurking. His favourite place to hang out is at the top of the Toho Building in Shinjuku.

In-between the Ninja Trick School and Samurai Museum why not take a stroll with the kids and you may see him peering over the buildings looking for his next snack, just be sure to spot him before he spots you!

You can also actually go into the hotel and head up to the café to get a closer look if you dare! We didn’t as we thought this might ruin the magic slightly. But if you want to get up close and personal all you should have to do is buy something from the café.

Head to a Themed Café

Update: The Kawaii Monster Café was one of the victims of the Coronavirus Pandemic and is now PERMANENTLY CLOSED :(. As has the famous Robot Restaurant.

We would still recommend doing some sort of themed café. So you can still read on if you want to here what the Monster Café was once like and then find an alternative, or skip down to the next item.

Tokyo is full of crazy themed cafes. From Robots to Ninjas to Monsters to Snakes, there seems to be themed café for everything. However, they also aren’t cheap. So if you’re on a budget, we would suggest choosing just one that takes your fancy.

Kid’s Quote: “The Monster Café was cool, the food was a bit too sweet, but the decorations were fun and the toilet was really cool”

Laith, Age 9

We decided to go to the Monster Café for lunch one day. Lunch times are usually quieter and cheaper than the evening meals/shows at the themed cafes. And sometimes you can spontaneously turn up at lunch. But it’s advised to book ahead for evening meals and weekends at any of the themed cafes.

At most themed cafes there is often an entrance fee and sometimes a requirements on how much food/drink you need to buy.

This can sometimes vary though so check out the requirements before you go. They’ll also inform you at the door before you go in.

Once you enter, the fun begins!

The Monster Café’s rooms were bright with an array of crazy colours and weird looking sculptures all around the room. With different themed areas, although they all basically roll into each other.

In the centre is the stage where the hourly performances took place, in Japanese not English, but it really didn’t matter as it’s the visual aspect that was enjoyable with the colourful characters dancing and singing on the twirling stage!

Then came the eating. The food had more e’s and numbers than a periodic table, so it was definitely not a healthy eat out. But the kids obviously loved the novelty of the colours and presentations of the meals.

Take a trip over the Rainbow Bridge and see a Giant Robot

First you need to get over to Odaiba (Daiba for short) Island. A man made island with multiple attractions.

Just getting there is an adventure in itself. Take the driver-less train across the Rainbow Bridge (so called due to the way it is lit up at night).

Try to get a seat at the front as you can see through the window which is really great fun for kids imagining they are the actual driver! And the track performs a wide loop at one stage so you get a great view across the bay.

Once you arrive you can walk past the huge Gundam Robot. It lights up at 11 am, 1, 3 and 5pm. So try to time it around this.

At just shy of 20m tall it is a sight to behold and it’s just stood on the street so is completely free to view.

Visit a teamLab Museum

TeamLab are an international art collective and have various exhibitions, works and museums dotted about Japan and other parts of the world.

The teamLab Borderless interactive museum is arguably one of their best. It’s a museum like no other that you have likely experienced before.

The art is interactive and variable. It is mainly digital and moves around the museum and changes daily and even hourly.

Because of this there are no real maps or guides and you are actively encouraged to get ‘lost’ which we did several times. One warning that it is big and some areas are quite dark, so keep your little ones close, but once you negotiate that aspect it really is a lot of fun.

There are lots of fun areas for kids in the museum, our favourite area was where the kids get to colour an animal shape of their choice (such as lizards, frogs, snakes). Then, once coloured in, you take it to a member of staff who scans it in and then the picture will be uploaded with the other art in the room and come alive.

You can then go searching for your own picture and watch it walk, jump or crawl around the room! And as the floor is interactive you can even step on your (or anyone’s) animal and at will interact in some way! How cool is that!

The teamLab Borderless interactive museum in Odaiba closed in August 2022, but it is being re-located to Toranomon-Azabudai Project and is due to open in 2023. If it’s anything remotely the same as the one in Odaiba that we experienced, it will be well worth a visit!

In the meantime there is the teamLab Planets museum, that is open until end of 2023, to fill the gap until the new Borderless museum re-opens.

Climb Mount Fuji

Although not in the city, this is on the list as we did it as a 2 day excursion to and from Tokyo.

For this one it was just me and our eldest, who was 9 at the time, who took the relatively short trip from Tokyo to Mt Fuji and successfully climbed to the top of Japan.

Click here to read our detailed guide of Climbing Mount Fuji with Kids.