To answer the question of "Family friendly things to do in Tokyo". Here are the things I'm currently looking into. These are not the typical things many people would recommend. Most of below ideas are more focused on "entertainment" value than traditional "cultural" value. (We are going to Kyoto for a few days to do the cultural things there.) I have two 9 year old girls to entertain.
- Ninja restaurant There is one in NY and Kyoto also
- Cup Noodle Musium You can actually make your own customized cup noodles. They provide English instructions (so I heard.)
- The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel It looks super cool - looks like the underground thing in the Lord of the rings. Only caveat is that you have to have at least one Japanese speaker in your group due to the safety concerns. English page
- Sumo wresting practice tour (Azumazeki group) When we'll be there, they'll be in the middle of the tournament so I'm not sure if they will be practicing in house.
- Skytree
- Ebisu Yokocho Collection of small traditional restaurants
- Omoide Yokocho The same
- KidZania The place kids can pretend to become any profession they want to be, like a police officer, a cook, a flight attendent, etc
- Ninja restaurant There is one in NY and Kyoto also
- Cup Noodle Musium You can actually make your own customized cup noodles. They provide English instructions (so I heard.)
- The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel It looks super cool - looks like the underground thing in the Lord of the rings. Only caveat is that you have to have at least one Japanese speaker in your group due to the safety concerns. English page
- Sumo wresting practice tour (Azumazeki group) When we'll be there, they'll be in the middle of the tournament so I'm not sure if they will be practicing in house.
- Skytree
- Ebisu Yokocho Collection of small traditional restaurants
- Omoide Yokocho The same
- KidZania The place kids can pretend to become any profession they want to be, like a police officer, a cook, a flight attendent, etc