Tokyo Station Guides for Families

Asakusa Station

Taito, old-town Tokyo

Asakusa is one of the easiest Tokyo neighbourhoods to visit with small kids: it is flat, walkable, and the temple area has clean nursing rooms and stroller-friendly chain restaurants a few minutes from the station.

Shinjuku Station

Shinjuku, west-central Tokyo

Shinjuku is easy for families once you ignore the scary station map and anchor on the department stores: Takashimaya Times Square and the Lumine/NEWoMan buildings have excellent baby rooms and a huge range of kid-friendly restaurants above the station.

Ueno Station

Taito, north-east Tokyo

Ueno is one of the best full-day stops in Tokyo with kids because the zoo, a huge park, and family restaurants are all within a flat walk of the station.

Shibuya Station

Shibuya, central Tokyo

Shibuya is doable with small kids if you use the new tower buildings as your base: Shibuya Hikarie and Scramble Square have excellent baby rooms and family dining above the station, and Miyashita Park gives you green space with lift access.

Ginza Station

Chuo, central Tokyo

Ginza is one of the easier upscale areas to visit with small kids: it is flat, the sidewalks are wide, and the department stores — especially Ginza Six — have some of the best baby rooms in Tokyo.

Ikebukuro Station

Toshima, north Tokyo

Ikebukuro is a strong rainy-day pick with kids because Sunshine City — a huge covered complex with a rooftop aquarium — is a short walk from the station, and the Seibu and Tobu department stores have solid baby rooms.

Akihabara Station

Chiyoda, central Tokyo

Akihabara is more of a fun walk-through than a full day with little kids, but it slots in easily: Atre (on the station) and the giant Yodobashi store both have baby rooms and family restaurant floors, and the main street is flat.

Tokyo Station

Marunouchi, central Tokyo

Tokyo Station is easier with kids than it looks: it is a self-contained city with baby rooms in Daimaru and Gransta, dozens of kid-friendly restaurants underground, and a whole souvenir arcade (Character Street) that keeps small children happy.

Harajuku Station

Shibuya, central Tokyo

Harajuku works with kids if you split it in two: skip the narrow, packed Takeshita Street with a stroller and stick to the wide, flat Omotesando avenue and the parks.

Roppongi Station

Minato, central Tokyo

Roppongi has a nightlife reputation, but by day it is one of the easier upscale areas with kids: Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown are two huge, step-free complexes connected to the station, both with excellent baby rooms, family dining and open lawns.

Odaiba (Daiba / Tokyo Teleport)

Minato / Koto, Tokyo bay

Odaiba is arguably Tokyo’s most stroller-friendly area with kids: it is a purpose-built bayside district of wide, flat walkways and huge malls (DiverCity, Aqua City, Decks) that are all step-free, air-conditioned and full of baby rooms.

Tokyo Skytree / Oshiage Station

Sumida, east Tokyo

Tokyo Skytree is one of the easiest big attractions to do with kids because the whole base is Solamachi — a modern, step-free mall with an aquarium, a planetarium, endless baby rooms and family restaurants, all indoors.

Shinagawa Station

Minato, south Tokyo

Shinagawa is the most practical family base in Tokyo: it is a Shinkansen stop, a 15-minute train from Haneda Airport, and the station buildings (Atre, Wing) have baby rooms and dozens of easy restaurants without ever going outside.

Toyosu Station

Koto, Tokyo bay

Toyosu is a modern, flat, purpose-built waterfront district, which makes it one of the easiest areas in Tokyo with a stroller.

Ryogoku Station

Sumida, east Tokyo

Ryogoku is the sumo neighbourhood, and it is an easy half-day with kids: the Kokugikan arena is two minutes from the station, the area is flat, and it is quiet outside tournament days.

Nakano Station

Nakano, west Tokyo

Nakano is the calmer, more manageable version of Akihabara: the anime and retro-toy shops of Nakano Broadway sit at the end of a flat, covered shopping arcade five minutes from the station, so it works in any weather.

Kasai-Rinkai-Koen Station

Edogawa, Tokyo bay

Kasai Rinkai Park is the best pure-park day in Tokyo with small children: a huge, flat bayside park with an excellent aquarium, a big Ferris wheel and endless lawn, right outside the station.

Kinshicho Station

Sumida, east Tokyo

Kinshicho is where Tokyo families quietly recommend visitors stay: one stop from Tokyo Skytree, a few minutes from Akihabara and Tokyo Station, with far cheaper hotels than central Tokyo and a station surrounded by big, step-free buildings.

Shimokitazawa Station

Setagaya, west Tokyo

Shimokitazawa is Tokyo’s vintage-and-indie neighbourhood, and it is more manageable with kids than its reputation suggests — the redevelopment along the old railway line added wide, flat, open-air walkways and lawns right by the station.

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station

Koto, east Tokyo

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa is the calmest half-day in this guide: a flat, low-rise canal neighbourhood with a beautiful traditional garden, a large contemporary art museum with excellent family facilities, and the cafés that made it Tokyo’s coffee district.

Futako-Tamagawa Station

Setagaya, west Tokyo

Futako-Tamagawa is where Tokyo families with small children actually spend their weekends, and it shows: a big riverside park with open grass on one side of the station, and a modern step-free shopping complex with some of the best baby rooms in the city on the other.

Ebisu Station

Shibuya, central Tokyo

Ebisu is one of the calmest central stops with kids: a grown-up food neighbourhood whose family anchor, Yebisu Garden Place, is reached from the station by a covered moving walkway — no stairs, no crowds — and holds open plazas, restaurants and baby facilities.

Daikanyama Station

Shibuya, central Tokyo

Daikanyama is Tokyo’s most pleasant slow morning with a small child: low-rise, tree-lined, lightly trafficked streets ten minutes’ walk from Shibuya, anchored by the T-Site bookstore village — whose children’s book corner and terraces genuinely welcome families.

Jiyugaoka Station

Meguro, south-west Tokyo

Jiyugaoka is Tokyo’s sweets town — a compact, low-rise neighbourhood of patisseries and dessert cafés that happens to be genuinely easy with kids: flat streets, light traffic, and everything within ten minutes of the station.

Tsukishima Station

Chuo, Tokyo bay

Tsukishima is a food pilgrimage that works with kids: Monja Street packs dozens of monjayaki restaurants into one flat, old-Tokyo shopping street, and the dish — a savoury batter cooked on a griddle at your table — is theatre a child can watch.

Kagurazaka Station

Shinjuku, central Tokyo

Kagurazaka is a lovely grown-up neighbourhood — stone lanes, French bakeries, an old geisha quarter — that you should visit with kids in carrier-and-croissant mode, not stroller-and-checklist mode.