Japan for kids and the kid-at-heart: 6 must-visit places in Tokyo and Kyoto

Japanese cities, like Tokyo and Kyoto, are traditionally known for shrines, temples and historic cultural sites. But as the birthplace of anime, manga and, of course, Pokemon, Japan is also a pop culture powerhouse and a hotbed of kid-friendly activities, from practising ninja skills to spending time with Snorlax.
For a family trip, “the beauty of Japan is you can walk five steps and easily attract the attention of a child,” said Ramesh Krishnan, who goes by the name RamKy and whose company, Japan Unfiltered, specialises in candid tours of Tokyo, Mount Fuji and other destinations.
“It could be a capsule toy-dispensing machine, a karaoke bar with interesting desserts on display or even the peppy music heard playing inside train stations.”
Here are six stops on a family-oriented tour of the country’s most-visited cities.
1. TOKYO KIRBY CAFE
Securing reservations at this wildly popular concept cafe at the base of the Tokyo Skytree can feel more difficult than scoring front row seats to a Taylor Swift concert, but fans of Kirby, the lovable pink blob that first appeared on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992, keep trying. Reservations for the next month are released online on the 10th day of the month at 6pm Japan Standard Time.
Even if you get the timing right, the site routinely crashes. But you can skip the red tape and grab a table using the Kirby Cafe Bot, an online service that scores reservations for US$7.50 (S$10) per person for up to eight guests.
Once in the door, you’ll be treated to food, decor and all things Kirby: Eat Kirby burgers sandwiched between smiling pink buns, playful pizzas topped with star-shaped fried eggs, and Whispy Woods feast plates featuring Kirby’s enemy, an apple tree, whose trunk doubles as a ramekin containing potato salad.
Tip: Pair your meal with a visit to the Skytree – at 2,080 feet (634m), it’s the world’s tallest free-standing tower and offers unending 360-degree views of Tokyo from its glassed-in observation deck.
Kirby Cafe:Tokyo Skytree Town, Solamachi, East Yard 4F, 1-1-2 Oshiage, Sumida City; entrees between 1,200 yen and 3,980 yen, or between US$7.50 and US$25.
Tokyo Skytree: Adults from 1,800 yen, children12 to 17 from 1,400 yen, children 6 to 11 from 850 yen.
2. POKEMON CENTRE TOKYO DX
Of Tokyo’s four Pokemon Centres, this one in the Nihonboshi business district is one of the biggest, but the main draw is the Pokemon Cafe, yet another concept cafe for which it’s nearly impossible to get reservations. For this one, you have to go online 31 days before your visit precisely at 6pm Japan Standard Time.
Or you can just pay: A service called Reserve Japan will do the heavy lifting for a whopping US$24.90 per guest (your kids will thank you). At the cafe, you can drink yellow-tinted, Pikachu-themed lemon soda floats and frothy lattes served in red and white pokeball cups before digging into dishes like Snorlax’s Full-Belly Naptime Lunch Plate, featuring a shrimp rice pilaf inside a dish that resembles the fat, sleepy Pokemon (also served with grilled chicken, fried potato and a salad partially made of carrots cut into Zs to mimic snoring).
When your dessert is done, browse the center’s stock of merchandise: Plushies, bedazzled iPhone cases, travel accessories such as eye masks and neck pillows or quirky food items like Pokemon-shaped pasta.
Pokemon Centre Tokyo DX: Nihombashi Takashimaya S.C. East Building（5F) 2-11-2 Nihombashi, Chuo-ku; entrees between 1,540 yen and 2,420 yen.
3. TEAMLAB BORDERLESS
When the international art collective known as teamLab opened the world’s first digital art museum in Tokyo in 2018, it quickly became the world’s most visited single-artist museum, surpassing Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum in its inaugural year. The museum is now in a sprawling 75,000 sq ft space in the Azabudai Hills neighborhood. Visiting the kaleidoscopic space is like stepping inside a video game.
Constantly moving and continuously changing, exhibits of video and light are projected onto walls, ceilings and floors, made more alluring with the addition of mirrored surfaces that infinitely reflect the digital images. Scent, too, plays a big role in the mazelike museum since each room has a unique smell to complement the exhibits.
Kids will love “Sketch Ocean,” where sea creatures they’ve colouredare scanned and swim in a gigantic digital aquarium, or the somewhat clumsily named “Universe of Water Particles on a Rock Where People Gather,” where little ones can slide feet first down an indoor “boulder” covered in a brilliant waterfall of light cascading over its angled slopes.
teamLab Borderless: Mori Building, Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B B1 1-2-4 Azabudai, Minato-ku; adults from 4,000 yen, children 13 to 17 from 2,800 yen, children 4 to 12 from 1,500 yen.
4. AKIHABARA
This bustling neighbourhood in central Tokyo is the epicentre of otaku culture – devoted anime enthusiasts flock to its shops, arcades and gaming centers. Here you’ll find soaring multimedia stores like Yodonashi-Akiba, a nine-storey mega centre with an entire level devoted to toys, video games and gacha machines (hand-cranked vending machines that disperse collectible miniatures in tiny capsules); superstores like Animate, a 16-floor behemoth selling manga, merch and all things anime; and Super Potato, a vintage video game shop where you can buy retro gaming consoles and play on the collection of 80s- and 90s-era arcade games.
Claw machine devotees will love Gigo Akihabara 1 with hundreds of prize-grabbing games. And don’t miss Don Quijote, a popular discount chain jam-packed with animé-inspired souvenirs, obscure Japanese candy and inexpensive duffel bags to bring all those new toys home.
Akihabara is in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, reachable by the JR Yamanote Line, Chuo-Sobu Line, Keihin-Tohoku Line, Tsukuba Express Line and the Tokyo Metro Hibiya subway line.
5. KYOTO TOEI KYOTO STUDIO PARK
In a commercial neighbourhood on the outskirts of town, Toei, a movie producer specialising in period dramas known as jidaigeki, has built a set and theme park where families roam replicas of streets from the Edo period, when Kyoto was the capital.
It’s also where Japanese kitsch comes alive, since you can transform yourself into a traditional geisha or samurai; watch live ninja shows before chucking the throwing stars called shuriken in the dojo; and explore dozens of exhibits dedicated to popular Japanese movie and television characters, including a 50-foot-tall statue of an EVA from the mecha anime series Evangelion, whose giant purple hand is perfect for photo ops.
Toei Kyoto Studio Park: 10 Uzumasa Higashihachiokacho, Ukyo Ward; adults, 2,400 Japanese yen, children, from 1,200 Japanese yen.
6. GEAR SHOW
In an abandoned toy factory somewhere in the fictionalised future, four robots continue to work. They discover a doll that gives each of them special abilities – mime, break dancing, magic and juggling – which help them become more like human beings. This is the plot of Gear, a wildly entertaining nonverbal theatrical production that’s been running since 2012 in a building near the Nishiki Market.
Akin to a gritty, off-Broadway play, Gear features a revolving cast of 29 actors in five roles – a nod to the casting of traditional kabuki theater. That is just one of the uniquely Japanese elements producer Keito Ohara has embedded within the show, which, in the absence of dialogue, uses music, sound and audience interaction to tell its story. It runs for 90 uninterrupted minutes.
Gear: 56 Benkeiishicho, Nakagyuku; Adults from 3,600 yen, children 13 to 17 from 2,600 yen, children 4 to 12 1,200 yen, children under 4 not admitted.
By David LaHuta © The New York Times Company
The article originally appeared in The New York Times.