Kid-friendly places in Tokyo

Inside are a Noh theater, a Japanese garden and a jazz club, every guest room is on a high floor, and west-facing windows see Mount Fuji on a clear day.

Kids get a Kids Passport with coloring and puzzles when they arrive, and the 20-meter heated indoor pool is up on the 39th floor.

Artificial mist rolls through the Meiji-era garden like a sea of clouds, with a three-story pagoda rising above it and a thousand lights after dark.

Steps from Hie Shrine, with the subway connected underneath and a building designed by Kengo Kuma.

The big Roppongi Hills hotel, with an indoor pool, and the Mori Tower, the cinema and a dozen places to eat right outside the door.

Renovated rooms and lobby, a 7-Eleven under the hotel, and a giant playground a few minutes' walk away.

Apartment-style rooms with a kitchen and a fridge, which with small kids in Tokyo is the whole point, a quiet walk from Shibuya station.

Tatami suites up on the high floors with their own washer-dryers, bunk-bed family suites, and connecting apartments for eight adults and four kids.

On the 38th to 43rd floors, with living walls of plants and a family package with an in-room kids' tent and wooden toys.

Bill Granger's Australian café on the third floor of the Decks seaside mall, with a terrace and his famous scrambled eggs.

The Happy Baby plan puts a bottle sterilizer, baby bath and step stool in the room, and there are kids' yukata and babysitters who come to you.

Bunk beds in most apartments, and two connecting rooms that sleep eight adults and four children.

Nine room types, from a Pokémon room with loft beds to high-floor city view suites with their own washer-dryers, near department stores and anime shops.

Bunk-bed family apartments, a Pokémon room and a 78-square-meter pair of connecting Japanese rooms, close to Ameyoko and the Tokyo National Museum.

A train view family apartment with a bunk bed, a concept apartment built around a counter kitchen, and Ueno Park right over the bridge.

Family rooms with a bunk bed and a sofa bed, a Grand Japanese room with futons that sleeps six, and an IH kitchen and washer-dryer in each.

Rooms from 36 square meters, all on the 30th to 36th floors, including 46-square-meter twins with an extra bed.

Suites and family rooms that each have a kitchen, several set up with bunk beds and suites sleeping up to six, and a top-floor bath looking out on Shinobazu Pond.

Tatami-floored Moderate rooms you take your shoes off for, 42-square-meter Deluxe rooms on the 9th and 10th floors, and an amenity bar with extras for kids.

Kids ride a free slope car up the hill to a playground, a retired D51 steam locomotive and an old Tokyo streetcar, with three museums close by, one all about paper.

Strawberry, banana or pineapple pancakes with whipped cream and macadamia nuts, eggs Benedict, and 28 seats out on a terrace.

Every room is a two-bedroom suite, the biggest a 74-square-meter Japanese suite with doors to open or close and a concept suite with a projector for movies.

Two Japanese-style rooms joined by a door, each with its own bathroom, sleep eight adults and four kids, and high-floor rooms look over the city.

Each apartment has a bunk bed, and the river view ones look out over the Sumida, with Skytree and the aquarium close by.

A Pokémon room where 100 Pokémon greet you, loft-bed apartments, and a concept apartment designed with a Japanese artist and hung with original art.

Ukiyo-e prints hang in a concept room drawn from Edo-period picture books, alongside a Pokémon room and loft-bed and tatami apartments.

Family apartments with bunk beds, a tatami apartment, and a 60-square-meter deluxe Japanese one that sleeps six adults and two kids.

You can book a whole floor of three rooms, two of them tatami, that together sleep 12 adults and 6 children.

Apartments with full kitchens, from a family room with a bunk bed to a 75-square-meter ninja room for eight with shuriken and scrolls.

Tatami rooms with futons that sleep five, up to a Park Side Suite that sleeps six, every apartment with its own kitchen and washer-dryer.

The chain's first store in Japan, on an avenue of ginkgo trees more than 100 years old, with an open terrace where dogs are allowed.

A comfortable, comparatively affordable Akihabara stay that works for groups of four or five, near anime and manga shopping.

Yuzu shio ramen in a clear golden broth made with spring water, with no artificial colorings or chemical seasonings.

Blue Bottle's first café outside the US, opened in 2015.

East Wing rooms of 37 square meters that sleep up to five, with a bubble bath in the tub and a mini fridge.

Pancakes and egg dishes at breakfast, and two outdoor terraces, in the grounds of Daikanyama T-SITE.

Japanese-style rooms, and connecting rooms for up to six with two bathrooms and an inner door you can close at night, a five-minute walk from the station.

A playground to visit for the playground itself, with big structures and lots of ways to climb.

Apartment-style rooms that sleep up to five, each with its own washing machine, and game consoles kids can borrow.

Rooms for two or four, a shared kitchen and lounge, and free candy for kids in the lobby each evening, across the road from Parco's Pokémon and Nintendo stores.

Once a forestry research nursery, now big old trees with trunks over three meters around, an adventure playground and a wading pool with animals set in the stone.

Free rides on a mini steam train, a tricycle yard, a sandbox and a covered kids' house with a ball pit, for kids up to the early grades.

Japanese-style rooms with tatami in some, and Luxury Corner Twins with two queen beds that push together and a balcony all the way around.

Bubble tea and a place to sit down between indoor attractions.

There's a fountain plaza with a carillon, a campground of 18 sites, a basketball court and a pool of its own.

About 60,000 square meters of lawn, a playground with three big play structures and a net jungle gym, and a bird sanctuary you watch from an observation hut.

A 12-meter Godzilla head looms over the eighth-floor terrace, and the 30th floor is all Godzilla, rooms included.

Thick lawns over gentle hills, a playground where kids with and without disabilities play together, a cycling course and an art museum.

Kirby's fluffy pancake and Waddle Dee burgers, with plates you can order as souvenirs, like the star-shaped glass one a dessert comes on.

Three children's parks with squirrel, pig and horse play equipment, a splash pond for kids up to third grade, and a cycling center, on 1964 Olympic grounds.

A Kura Sushi designed by Kashiwa Sato, with a wall of colorful paper lanterns and a giant ukiyo-e panel.

Rows of poplars and a metasequoia grove along a reservoir, with a bird sanctuary for birdwatching and about 14,000 irises.

Simple rooms a 12-minute walk from the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, a universal room that sleeps three, and natural-yeast bread in the lobby every day.

Built as a large disaster-prevention base, with lawn and sports plazas, a barbecue area you reserve, and the old Komatsugawa lock gate in the Wind Plaza.

Local treats around the clock, a 13th-floor lounge looking out on Senso-ji and Skytree, a playroom, and neighborhood walks with the OMO Rangers.

A sandy beach recreating the old Omori shore, a 30-meter roller slide, and a museum next door on the seaweed farming the shore was once famous for.

Locals call it Robo Robo Park for its colorful robot tower inspired by tin toys, at the south end of Roppongi Hills.

Connecting twin rooms, pajamas to wear in-room, and a simple buffet breakfast from the café next door, right at the main crossing.

Suites that sleep up to six, a restaurant looking out at Skytree, and a free shuttle to Disney for guests, with the airport limousine bus stopping at the door.

Twin rooms that convert to sleep four, a kids' room and a bath house with a sauna, nine minutes by train from Maihama, the Disney resort's station.

A broad artificial-grass slope kids sled down, a pond area for water play, several playgrounds and about 1,000 cherry trees.

A playground with a splash zone in summer, a short walk from the Lalaport mall.

Udon made in-house in giant bowls, up to triple the noodles at no extra cost, six-person booths and window counters over Sukiyabashi Crossing.

Hills, a stream and a pond, with a sandbox, spring riders and a wooden play structure, and the metropolitan central library inside the park.

Scrambled eggs and the rest of Bill Granger's Australian all-day menu, with a terrace and plenty of indoor tables in the Takashimaya mall.

Free, with Japan's money shown in order through its history and a corner where you feel how heavy 100 million yen in bills is.

Vintage Norwegian furniture, light-roasted coffee and baked goods, Norwegian brown cheese, and cocktails.

A free zoo with red pandas, Humboldt penguins and guinea pigs to pet, beside the park's Japanese garden.

Kids ride loaner bikes and tricycles past real traffic signals here, and a junk park holds a steam locomotive, a Toden streetcar, trucks and boats.

Pony rides, rabbits and guinea pigs to pet for free in the children's animal corner, and boats out on Benten Pond.

Ten solo flavor-concentration booths plus 38 regular table seats, with a kids' ramen and children's bowls and cutlery.

There's a giant Ferris wheel, a play area for under-sevens with nets and slides, a bird sanctuary with viewing huts, and the aquarium in the middle.

Exhibits on the latest science and technology, a Dome Theater with full-dome 3D films and a planetarium, and a Curiosity Field for kids and parents.

A vegetable café in Komazawa Olympic Park, with big salad bowls and handmade dressings, a vegan menu and high-protein plates.

Picnics and shade tents on a wide grassy field, and a fountain and sprinklers kids play in through the summer.

A playground with lots of climbing and slides, contained and very clearly built for kids.

The train theme is the fun part here, with play equipment for preschoolers who love vehicles.

Eevee's colorful fruit pancake, the Pika Pika Parfait and other character plates, at tables you can only get with an advance reservation.

A patrol car, a police motorcycle and the helicopter Harukaze up close, uniforms for kids to try on for photos on the bike, and free entry.

A Sanrio cafe on the ground floor of a building by Ueno Park, with the characters on the plates and drinks, a kids' menu and plushes to borrow for photos.

A mini steam train that does three-minute laps, a real D51 locomotive in the traffic plaza, a play park and an outdoor pool.

Next to Shinagawa Aquarium, with a lake of seawater drawn in from the canal and an outdoor pool.

Two grassy hills and a big meadow along the Edogawa embankment, with a children's playground, a dog run and ball fields.

Pasta and other familiar dishes for cautious eaters, and apple pie to finish.

Free, with an outdoor exhibit on the Kanda aqueduct that includes a stone conduit rebuilt from the original.

A grill in business since 1930, known for its hamburg steak under a ladle of homemade beef stew.

The zoo, the national science museum and four more museums, and Shinobazu Pond, with lotus in summer.

A pond you can fish in, a big windmill, a splash pool for kids, play areas and a bird sanctuary.

Big wooden climbing structures, a Tarzan rope, a woodworking room and play leaders on hand, in an adventure playground run by the ward.

A cycling center with a cycling yard for little kids, fountains, basketball courts and a dog run across 54 hectares, on the site of the 1964 Olympic Village.

A pond near the Akatsuka castle ruins, next to a free local history museum with a late Edo-era farmhouse on its grounds.

One of Tokyo's biggest indoor play spaces, split into an ocean, a toy forest, a colorful town and a station, with a crawling garden just for babies.

A bakery in a renovated warehouse, baking bread from scratch all day, with deli sandwiches and cakes from its kitchen and a terrace on the canal.

An Italian café-restaurant that welcomes children, with family tables, sofa seats and high chairs.

A gun battery the shogunate built after Perry's ships came, with cannon sites along the shore, the barracks site, a powder magazine and old cooking hearths.

Free, with seven old fire engines in the basement, a retired fire helicopter at the entrance, another out on the fifth floor, and an Edo-era diorama.

Toddler play equipment, a plaza for ball games and a Japanese garden modeled on the Tama River and Mt. Fuji, plus a lookout where you can see the real Fuji.

Four floors of toys, with Plarail and Tomica on three and a 36-meter slot car track on four.

Wide, breezy waterfront paths and open lawns for scooters, bikes and a picnic.

A 40-obstacle field athletics course modeled on local historic sites, with a stretch over a pond, plus a separate free toddler course.

An earthquake simulator, a smoke room, a storm of wind and heavy rain to stand in, and a VR disaster experience for second graders and up, all free.

Free, and kids ride out five kinds of earthquake (from age 3), find their way through smoke and try disasters in VR.

Minerals, fossils, animal specimens and century-old university furniture from the University of Tokyo's collections, plus a small chamber of curiosities.

A round playground, a ginkgo avenue, a reconstructed Nara-period thatched house and a Paleolithic site, on hilly ground along the Shakujii River.

Small children get a shallow splash pool and a 607-meter cycling course with rental bikes, plus a tree-ringed lawn and a white prewar building at the main gate.

There is a little play area upstairs plus stroller access and simple food like mini pasta and banana bread.

A Pick a Brick corner, a counter for building your own minifigure from parts, and a play table to sit down and build at.

Shelves deep in picture books and children's books, with original picture-book artwork always up on the walls.

Free, with about 300 preserved parasites over two floors, and the ones that infect people upstairs.

A life-size blue whale and a D51 steam locomotive outside, and a T. rex and a Triceratops inside.

Sand and a rocky shore wrapped around a cove, with lawns, an observation deck, the Skywalk, and sunset and night views across the water.

Specialty coffee roasted right in the shop, in a renovated traditional house steps from the station.

Tomica cars and Plarail trains that pop out on a 3D screen, digital mini games, and a super-size Plarail diorama out front.

Pokémon goods with a Pokémon Card Station attached, and Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe in the same mall.

Formal, landscape and traditional Japanese gardens, about 900 cherry trees, and a greenhouse of more than 1,000 tropical and subtropical species.

Lawns looking across Tokyo Port to Rainbow Bridge, with ships for the Izu islands and big container ships going by, and a barbecue area.

More than 60 vegetables, soups, desserts and drinks on the salad bar, next to grilled steaks, on the hotel's second floor.

Walk-around VR into future space travel, a spaceport-style hall you can touch, listen to and even smell, and a café under projected starry skies.

A 17-meter copper cask covered in hand-finished cherry blossoms, beans roasted on site, and a tea bar on the second of four floors.

Free, with exhibits on the history of anime and how it's made, a booth to try dubbing, a theater showing anime and a library of videos to watch.

Magellanic penguins in a 350-ton open indoor pool, about 700 jellyfish, and a lab where you watch jellyfish being bred.

Penguins in a rooftop garden that look like they're flying over the city, plus great white pelicans and sea lion shows.

Ordering from the screen and watching plates arrive is half the entertainment, and there are plenty of non sushi choices.

Artworks that wander out of their rooms and into each other, and a Sketch Ocean where the fish kids color swim off into the sea.

Shoes and socks off to wade through knee-deep water where projected koi turn into flowers when they bump into you, then on through rooms of light.

A Le Corbusier building on the UNESCO World Heritage list, with Rodin's The Thinker outside and more than 6,000 works inside.

A mirror-paneled building by Kazuyo Sejima, with life-size replicas of the prints, art games and a model studio with figures of the artist and his daughter.

Free to walk in, with more than 20 rides, among them a coaster that races between the buildings and the Big O, a Ferris wheel with a hollow center.

Japan's oldest museum, founded in 1872, with samurai swords and armor and a garden with five traditional teahouses.

An original 1927 Ginza line car and the first Marunouchi line car side by side, and a driving simulator modeled on a Chiyoda line train.

Free, with hands-on exhibits about water and a tour down into the working Ariake water supply station it sits on.

Gorillas, Sumatran tigers, pygmy hippos and Asian elephants, plus a children's zoo section called STEP.

Kids work about 100 real-world jobs, from firefighter and surgeon to pilot and pastry chef, and get paid in kidZos to spend around town.

Dozens of character shops in the basement under the station, from Pokémon, Kirby and Ultraman to Tomica and Plarail, Lego and the TV networks' own stores.

Character goods from Monster Hunter and Capcom's other games, plus limited goods you can only buy here.

An earth-themed indoor play area with a kids' garden for ages up to twelve and a separate baby garden for the youngest.

A kids-only bakery where children go in on their own, pick their own baked treats and get their change back.

A whole store built around children's books and toys, good when you want something more thoughtful than souvenir shopping.

A kids' park and cafe with open play from babies through elementary school age, and a separate kids' room for toddlers and preschoolers.

Three linked bookstore buildings, a Starbucks where you can sit and read the first-floor books, and a toy shop among the shops outside.

Japan's biggest Disney Store, and the only one in the country where you can order custom D-Made goods in person.

Kids can try a hands-on palanquin and rickshaw, and there's a full-size copy of the Nihonbashi bridge and a life-size kabuki playhouse.

A traffic playground with small roads, crossings and signals where kids learn the rules of the road on bikes and pedal cars.

Beef cutlet fried to order and served medium rare, which you finish on a little hot stone at the table until it's done the way you like it.

Craft supplies, science kits, stationery and odd little gadgets can keep curious kids browsing far longer than expected.

A Bornelund indoor play world with attractions best for kids three and up, every child coming in together with a grown-up.

Five floors of character shops, from the Snoopy Town shop in the basement and Chiikawa Land to Pokémon and Sanrio.

An indoor amusement park for families, big enough to roam, with play for ages from babies up to about ten.

Tokyo's streets rebuilt in LEGO in Miniland, a coaster and a shooting ride, a 4D cinema, NINJAGO City Adventure and a DUPLO playground.

A digital play park where kids move through interactive projections, with kids and grown-ups going in together.

Dolphin shows with water curtains and LED screens, a 20-meter tunnel tank of manta rays, and a carousel and pirate-ship ride, all inside a hotel.

A bakery and an in-store coffee roaster on the ground floor, MUJI Books upstairs and a diner in the basement, all under the MUJI Hotel.

An indoor athletic park with a warped wall, trampolines, bouldering and parkour, plus a junior area and a soft play space.

Japan's first Nintendo-run store, with the consoles, games and accessories alongside Nintendo's own original goods.

Pokémon goods on the sixth floor of Shibuya PARCO, the same floor as Nintendo TOKYO.

About 80,000 kinds of stationery and lifestyle goods, in a store that has been open since 1987.

Tiny Totoro-shaped cream puffs, a very cute snack stop.

About 7,000 square meters of miniatures, from Kansai Airport to the Evangelion hangar, and a 3D scanner that makes you a 1/80 figure for the scenes.

A traffic park with a miniature road course and signals where kids ride bikes and go-karts.

An indoor play park with a giant jungle gym, ball pool, trampolines, a bouldering wall and ride-on games, plus a pretend-play corner.

The science of salt and the world's salt resources on one floor, and the story of tobacco, from the Maya site of Palenque to the Edo period, on another.

Twelve real engines and cars, a steam locomotive that spins its wheels and blows its whistle in a show, and three simulators with real driver's seats.

Under a 30-meter glass dome on the bay, with bluefin tuna circling a doughnut-shaped tank, penguins outside and puffins on a seabird cliff.

Observation decks from 340 to 350 meters, one level with a glass floor to stand on, and a corridor at 450 meters with views all the way around.

A main deck at 150 meters, a Top Deck tour up to 250 meters, and an open-air staircase you can climb to the main deck.

An old elementary school where each classroom holds a different kind of toy, from traditional Japanese ones to board games, and a separate play room for babies.

Painted illusions you pose inside for photos, an Edo-themed gallery, rooms that make you look giant or tiny, and a treasure hunt for hidden items.

Tiny cars everywhere, plus store exclusives for a vehicle-obsessed child.