Tokyo Toy Museum: A Magical World of Play and Discovery for Kids
The Tokyo Toy Museum is definitely worth visiting, particularly if you’re exploring the busy city with kids in tow. This charming museum is located in a former elementary school and features a number of hands on experiences for kids including a room specifically for kids that are 2 and under and a giant wooden playground for kids of all ages.
There’s also a really unique toy shop on site which contains a whole range of traditional Japanese toys available for purchase. Whilst the Tokyo Toy Museum is worth visiting at any time, it is particularly a great rainy day activity for kids as the entire complex is undercover. There’s actually so much to do in Tokyo with kids – it is a fantastic destination for families.
What is the Tokyo Toy Museum?
The Tokyo Toy Museum is part museum, part playground containing over 10,000 toys, many of which are local toys from Japan. The museum is three levels with plenty of rooms and activities in each area to amuse the kids, but the experience is equally as fun for adults.
Located in the old Shinjuku Kuritsu Yotsuya Elementary School, the Tokyo Toy Museum takes advantage of the former classrooms to create different hands on spaces for children to play and explore. It is definitely one of the best things to do in Tokyo if you’re travelling with children.
How to get to the Tokyo Toy Museum
The Tokyo Toy Museum is located a short walking distance from the Yotsuya Sanchome station which is serviced by the red Maranouchi line direct from Tokyo Station. The total trip from Tokyo Station to the Tokyo Toy Museum will take under 30 minutes and cost around 180 JPY per person.
If you’re staying in the Shinjuku area, then you’re even closer – catch the red Maranouchi line train from Shinjuku station and alight at Yotsuya Sanchome. Door to door, this trip will take around 10 minutes and cost 180 JPY per person. You can even walk to the Tokyo Toy Museum from Shinjuku as the walk is only around 25 minutes.
Getting tickets for the Museum
Whilst you can absolutely purchase tickets at the door for the Tokyo Toy Museum, I do recommend being organised and pre-booking online to get a discount of 200 JPY per person. Online an adult ticket costs 1,100 JPY and a child is 800 JPY. Infants under 6 months are free, but everyone else needs to have a paid ticket.
What to expect at the Tokyo Toy Museum?
There are multiple rooms and activities at the Tokyo Toy Museum and all except the infant room are accessible to all visitors. Here’s some of the highlights.
Infant Room
If you have a young child that is 2 years old or under, then you will be able to join a play session in the babies room of the toy museum. This lovely room is full of gorgeous wooden toys and several staff members who play with your children and help them learn how to use the toys in the room. This is a timed room visit, so once the session finishes, then you need to leave the room and start exploring the rest of the museum.
Toy Forest
This was our favourite section of the museum and definitely one of the main reasons I believe the Tokyo Toy Museum is worth visiting. The toy forest is a giant wooden adventure playground full of activities to explore. There are little alcoves with toys to play with, a large two-level structure for kids to practice climbing up and down and a ball pit full of wooden balls that our daughter was keen to dive right into. You can spend as long as you like in this section of the museum and it is a great chance for your kids to play with other visitors including groups of Japanese school kids that drop in.
Toy Exhibition Room
The Toy Exhibition Room was another favourite for our daughter. The staff in this room were super hands on and helped the children pick various toys on display that they would like to play with. Our kiddo was obsessed with a little toy dog that you could pull around after you and the Toy Museum staff gave her such a memorable experience, playing with her and helping her walk the dog. There are so many toys in this room to choose from and some great ideas for gifts for kids for Christmas and birthdays!
Toy Workshop
For older kids and adults, this toy workshop is a great activity room that provides the opportunity to make a toy to take home. Our daughter was too young to really enjoy this, being a very busy toddler, but this would be very cool for older visitors to create a unique toy to take as a souvenir.
Where to stay in Tokyo?
Fortunately the Tokyo Toy Museum is really close to one of my favourite areas to stay in Tokyo, Shinjuku. With that said, Tokyo has many great neighbourhoods to stay in and explore. I’d always recommend looking for accommodation in the Shinjuku, Shibuya or Ginza areas as you’ll be close to lots of attractions. The Hilton Shinjuku is a great option located near to the Toy Museum.
However, on our last visit we stayed near the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station at the Ascott Maranouchi and the accommodation there was fabulous. It was also one of the few Japanese hotels that permitted our toddler to use the hotel pool which was a great post-afternoon nap option after a busy morning of exploring.
Booking.comOther kid-friendly activities in Tokyo
Tokyo is full of amazing experiences that your kids (and you) will adore. It’s hard to go past a trip to Tokyo Disney or Tokyo Disney Sea where the whole family will love experiencing a very unique Japanese-style Disney park. We also loved the teamLab Planets installation, which immerses you into a world of sound, art and texture and is a sensory experience everyone will love. There’s also the Tokyo Fire Museum and the Tokyo Police Museum, both offering opportunities for kids to learn and dress up as police or fire people. Kids will also really enjoy the views from the Tokyo Skytree where you can see all the way to Mount Fuji on a clear day.
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