yargbb

My husband is going on a business trip to Tokyo in January. The kids (7 and 10 and fabulous travellers!) and I will be taking advantage of this opportunity to visit Japan. Our stay will be 1 week, maybe as long as 2. What are the must see/do things, taking into account the season and the ages of our children?

Thanks in advance!
Stephanie

Florence

Bonjour Stephanie,

A few ideas:

- showrooms (Sony, Toyota, ...),
- museums: Shitamachi (near Ueno park), Edo-Tokyo, combined with a visit of the sumo museum and maybe a stroll in Ryogoku go try to see sumo wrestlers, Sword museum near Shinjuku, and the top not-to-miss: Drums Museum in Asakusa, where you can actually (and are encouraged to) use the drums !

- aerial views: Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro, you can combine it with an afternoon at the aquarium and the planetarium), the top of the new City Hall in Shinjuku.

- flea markets, traditional shopping streets (Yanaka is good, with a mix of crafts and trad food - good place for "senbei", the rice crackers)

Buy the book "Tokyo for free", by Susan Pompian (ed. Kodansha). Enough ideas to make you want to stay much longer than one week, with addresses, phone nr and directions.

mrwunrfl

Ride the shinkansen (bullet train)!

Alec

Try Children's Castle near Shibuya. My kids enjoyed them when they were young.
Also amusement parks like Korakuen and Toshimaen.
Disneyland Tokyo and Disney Sea are expensive but won't disappoint them.
Ueno Zoo with a panda.

PeterN_H

Take the subway to Odaiba, which takes a spiral-shaped bridge, and is impressive ride in its own right. Amongst the attractions on the island is Venus Town, an indoor recreation of a Tuscan village (actually mostly shopping) whose lighting and painted ceiling change according to a rapidly accelerated passing day (a designer from Las Vegas was involved). There's also a car museum, the Fuji TV tower with exhibitions about TV programme-making and excellent views across Tokyo, a Sega World with various rides, and ferry links to various parts of Tokyo, which make a pleasant change in themselves.

Peter N-H
http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html

yargbb

Many thanks to all of you for your excellent suggestions! We were all very excited about this opportunity and are now even more so. My 7 yo son read about swords, drums and bullet trains and was thrilled beyond belief! (as if sushi for breakfast wasn't enough!)

Cheers,
Stephanie

Sydney2K

Take them to the Ghibli Museum. Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio who have made several internationally acclaimed films- "Spirited Away", for example, won the Best Animated Film Oscar this year. If you want to try some of his films, they are available in English dubs from Buena Vista in the US. They are definitely family-friendly.

The Ghibli Museum is a wonderful family museum that reflects the wonder and magic of his films. It has displays on how animation works, the work that animators go through from planning to film, and a small theatre that shows a short exclusive to the museum.

For more information:

http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/ticket_info.html
http://www.jtb.co.jp/eng/ghibli/TicketSystem.html