This is not a diary type entry like my last few ones. But a guide for friends who will be travelling to Tokyo with children, two groups in June and more in the future I'm sure. I will post links and some photos later on. Just remind me if I don't get around to it....
Jetlag:
Flying from the west coast and arriving in Tokyo is not that bad. You'll find yourself waking up early and getting sleepy early. If possible, try to delay bedtime as late as possible the few days before your trip. On the plane, try to make them take a nap. If not, drug them. LOL It's actually a trick of the trade being a traveling family. My friend Beth can talk about various brands including one to avoid that actually made her daughter more hyper... But anything with a drowsy warning should suffice. If possible, book a early flight because you'll arrive in Tokyo with enough time to explore which will make you stay awake. Unfortunately most flights touch down around 5 pm which is when you are the sleepiest and makes the travel from Narita Airport into the city a challenge. The Limousine Bus is great if you are staying at a major hotel because it takes you right there.
Food:
Japanese convenient stores will be your best friend. Certainly there are MacDonalds around town but the conbini as they are called here provide a low impact culinary adventure. They are also open 24/7 so if you find yourself wide awake and hunger at 5 am, they will be your only choice. You can get fries and fried chicken, egg salad sandwiches, ham and cheese burritos. But along with something familar, why not try a salted salmon (it's cooked) rice ball? It's called "sha-kay onigiri" and you can't go wrong with it. Or a bag of mysteriously flavored potato chips... Or try an ice cream. If something is weird-tasting, chances are you have only set yourself back a buck. Conbini food is surprisingly tasty, you can eat it back in your hotel room, and cheap.
A day out in Odaiba:
Warning: Nothing in Odaiba is open until 11 am!!! so the idea of getting an early start there backfires. It is nevertheless a wonderful place to spend a day.
From the Sheraton Miyako Hotel, you should take the complimentary shuttle bus to Meguro Station. It is a small and management station. Take the JR Yamanote train to Shimbashi Station and transfer to the Yurikakome Line. Shimbashi is a larger station but there is only the Yamanote and Yurikakome Lines and the transfer is well-marked in English. The Yurikakome is a scenic monorail ride, from Shimbashi to Odaiba, you loop around the Rainbow Bridge and the view of Tokyo Bay is spectacular. Try to get a seat in the first car. Better yet, in the first row. If you have time, wait one train to ensure first row seats. Odaiba can be three really great day trips but I will only introduce two this time. The wonderful thing is that there are guides and maps in English of most places so be sure to ask for them.
SEASIDE ODAIBA: Get off at Odaiba Kaihin Koen Station and following the walkway and it will take you the Decks Tokyo.
Take the escalator to Muscle Park. It's a great, zany athletic amusement park but as a parent, you have to warn your kids that most of the games are not aimed at children. So despite being cute and colorful, they are aimed to attract athletic adults. Some games end incredibly quickly as well. But how could $7 end in 6 seconds??? What I do with my kids is limit them to a couple of games. Then bring them to Kids Park, an inflatable jungle gym where they can move and sweat out their frustrations. On the weekdays, Muscle Park is empty so there are no line ups, yet it's also kind of lonely. On the weekends, it is busier and filled with fun energy. Sasuke Park is fun to watch on the weekends because there are often guys who can complete it showing up which generates excitement.
Joypolis:
After a while at Muscle Park, go down to the second floor and walk along the outside wooden deck of Decks to enjoy the view of fake waterfront... the water isn't fake but the beach is.... Oh there's a Statue of Liberty somewhere there... don't ask why. Then head into Joypolis, Sega's virtual reality amusement center. If you spend an entire day here, buying a all-day pass is worth it but if you are just passing through, purchasing individual tickets is good enough. The most popular ride is a giant snowboard simulation game and even on weekdays (unlike Muscle Park) line-ups can be as long as 40 minutes. The other rides are also fun, but if you only have time (and money) for one, there is nothing else like the snowboard thing anywhere else.
New Sony high tech museum:
Walk along the outside deck again and enter the next building which is called Aquacity. I know little about the new museum because it's been completely renovated and due to open early June. It is Sony and should be exciting for all ages and all exhibits should come with English instructions. The old one was lots of fun and this should be even better.
For lunch: Check out the upper theme floors of Decks. The Showa floor is Japan of the 1960s. Lots of fun to just look around. First generation pinball games. There are eateries but Showa food is hardly gourmet. It's poor people food, high-calorie food. Tomato sauce was too expensive and spaghetti is covered in ketcup. Get the picture. All meat is processed fish... Go one floor up and it's the Hong Kong replica floor. It's bizarrely authentic looking. There are some inexpensive, decent Chinese restaurants here which is what I would recommend. As for my family, we usually have Indian food (LOL) or the American buffet at the regular restaurant floor. There are Japanese noodle shops on the regular floor which should be decent.
FERRIS WHEEL SIDE OF ODAIBA:
The other side of Odaiba, Aomi, is connected to Decks with a covered passageway. It is about a 10 mins. walk so if you are insistent on the Ferris Wheel, then skip one of the above three activities. (I'd say Joypolis because it is so much fun and should be a full day trip itself.)
The Ferris Wheel offers see through bottom carriages which I have to say wasn't much of a thrill at all, but if someone insists... The view is spectacular on a sunny day, even Mount Fuji could be visible in the distant. Two other things to do on this side of Odaiba. One is the Universal Design Showroom (free admission) which has all sorts of funky and fancy gadgets. The other is Megaweb, the Toyota showroom where kids can build a hybrid go-cart (you pedal the first round to charge up the battery) FOR FREE. Kids even get their own little driver's license. Totally cool and did I mention it was FREE!!! This is only half a day of fun.
The other half should be spent at Miraikan, the ultimate science museum. You have to take the train one stop. There are 3-D theater shows with English headphones. A replica of a spacespace complete with straps to take a shower or use the toilet. The gift store has space food cubes, very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Lots of robots and stuff to fiddle around and look at. At 800 yen for adult admission, it's the price of one game at Muscle Park... So it is the more educational and much cheaper day at Odaiba!!
HARAJUKU/SHIBUYA
This trip should really be done on a weekend, preferably Sunday because that's when all the people are out. Take shuttle bus to Meguro Station, take the Yamanote line to Harajuku Station. Go towards Yoyogi Park. On the weekends, all the zany looking Gothic Lolitas are loitering around. Lots of kimono clanned families will be at Meiji Shrine. If you have an early start, go to the shrine first. The peaceful atmosphere in there contrasts the chaos on the streets is so very Japanese. Yoyogi Park is great for people watching. Street basketball, Brazilian capoeira groups, jugglers. It's Central Park.
If you are also planning to go see Muscle Musical, going from Harajuku is much more manageable. Shibuya station is so big and the streets so convulated -- I don't go to Muscle Theatre from Shibuya. It is across the street from Yoyogi Park. Use the big Olympic auditorium and the Cirque du Soleil tents as visuals, the theatre is now that small lane (no cars) on your left.
Muscle Musical is expensive and do I really think it's worth going??? I would say yes, but just once. It's good fun for the kids, the performers are very engaging. Though I wouldn't take my mom because she'd enjoy the spectacle of Cirque more.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can also check out Tokyo Tower which is about the only tourist attraction on the Mita subway line. (From Shiroganedai, take Mita Line to Onarimon and follow instructions to Tokyo Tower.)
The Ghibli Museum is also lovely especially if you have a Hayao Miyazaki fan. But if not, it's kind of far out and hard to get to and tickets have to be prepurchased.
To go to Asakusa which is a lot of fun as well and a good place to buy souvenirs. From your hotel, your best bet is to ask the front desk where the closest Asakusa Line subway station is and take a taxi there. It should be pretty close by. This will eliminate multiple changes of trains at a major station which can be pretty scary.
There is also Tokyo Disney Sea adjuncent to Land and it's the only Sea in the world. Though it's not quite as much fun as Land. Orlando visitors will say similar about the lesser parks.
Overall, I have to say that there are so many places to Tokyo to entertain people of all ages. A major problem is the price of things. We don't often go to amusement parks because with transportation and meals, a day out for a family for four can easily cost $300. For tourists, save and splurge here. These are great places that you may never go to again.
But for us, I am also wary of how some kids here are growing up expecting to be entertained rather than finding amusement themselves. We know kids, especially boys, who go to amusement parks and video arcades every weekend. In Tokyo, there are so many of them so close by they are hard to avoid and ignore.
So kids grow up having the attitude that the world must entertain them all the time or they're bored. Imagine a 9-year-old boy who got a huge Lego set for his birthday but then couldn't put it together so his dad did it for him!!!
So many kids can't line up and wait for a ride. When my kids visited Disneyland for the first time, they wanted to go to Big Thunder Mountain again and I refused to stand in line again. So they went by themselves and made up various versions of Rock, Paper Scissors for 45 minutes. Every other kid had portable game sets to play while waiting. My kids play sports, go to science workshops on the weekends. For a treat if they were good all week, they get $2 each for video games.
Anyways, kick my soapbox off and paying parents will appreciate the lower cost of entertaining kids elsewhere in the world (Yeah, like Minnesota right Heather?)
