Kid Approved : Tokyo

Japan is the number one destination that Trent and I would return to without kids. We fell in love with Japan. Well, I’ve been in love with all things Japanese since I was 7. I even had a Japanese tea party for my 7th birthday party! We have dreams of drinking whisky, meeting other travelers and locals, “bar hopping” down “drunkard alley”. Basically, all non-kid approved activities.

But lest you think our kids didn’t enjoy Tokyo… they loved it! Tokyo is a consistent response in their ever-changing answer to the question “Where was your favorite place to travel?”

Here are some of their favorites… in their own words!

WHERE TO STAY / WHAT TO VISIT

STAYING AT CANDEO HOTEL TOKYO ROPPONGI - “I liked the hotel. It was great! There were onsens at the top of the building. One was outside, two were hot, and one was cold. They were so relaxing.” (Trent)

VISITING TEMPLES: MEIJI JINGU & SENSO-JI - “We once got our fortunes. I got a good fortune. My brother got “The Best” fortune, twice. First, you pick a stick and look at the symbol. Then you find the box with the matching symbol on the stick. Then you read the fortune inside. If you get a bad fortune, you hang it on the line and leave it there.” (Olivia)

SHIBUYA CROSSING - “It was crazy, but even more crazy because we were crossing the busiest crosswalk in the world. I felt squished but it was kind of fun.” (Trent)

THINGS TO DO

CAT CAFE - (We visited Cat Cafe Mocha on Takeshita Street.) - “We got to wear cute, little car ears. It was amazing. We got to feed the cats. There was one big cat, that was very fat, and kept eating all of the food. We drank hot cocoa and brushed the cats’ fur.” (Olivia)

PLAYGROUNDS - “Tokyo’s playground weren’t as good as the ones at home, or in London. We went to a robot playground and one with bouncy ground. The robot park was by our hotel and had big play structures with a lot of slides.” (Trent)

WHERE & WHAT TO EAT

LUNCHES AT LAWSONS - “Oh that was fun. I almost always ate egg salad sandwiches.” (Trent)

PIZZA AT SAVOY - “Oh that was so fun. But I don’t remember much. I watched the guy make pizza.” (Olivia)

RAMEN - “I got $10 because I ate a whole meal with only chopsticks. The bowls had Hello Kitty on them and so did the chopsticks. Oh I love that place! I want to go back. I love Hello Kitty. I also got a gift with my meal. I got hair ties.” (Olivia)

KAITEN SUSHI (CONVEYOR BELT SUSHI) - “Conveyor belt sushi was so good. I ate the corn and rice sushi all the time. I liked that the food went around and you got to pick whatever food that you wanted. Usually we got so much food because we loved the corn one. We also like the tuna salad, egg, and crab ones.” (Olivia)

YAKITORI - “You had to take off your shoes and you got to sit down at a low table. It was so good! It was a bunch of meat and vegetables on sticks.” (Trent)

SWEETS & TREATS

JAPANESE CANDY - “I love the green tea Pocky and the marshmallows. They were so mushy! It was weird, but exciting to pick out new candy that we didn’t know.” (Olivia)

GREEN TEA ICE CREAM - “It was so good! It was so green. It tastes delicious.” (Olivia)

VENDING MACHINES - “They were big, you put money in them and you get something. They were easy to find because they were everywhere.” (Trent)

WHAT TO BUY

TOKYO HANDS (a huge department store) - “I found erasers that you could put together and take apart. They look like animals or food or an object. I like that you can put them together and take them apart.” (Trent)

SANRIO - “Everything there was so cute and had Hello Kitty on it. Because Hello Kitty is cute. I bought Hello Kitty chopsticks and a Hello Kitty stuffed animal.” (Olivia)

TOKYO DISNEYSEA

“Ahhh. My favorite ride was the Flounder’s Flying Fish Ride. I ate a candy, ice cream shell. It was so good! I had been wanting to eat it for so long. I saw it on a Youtube video.” (Olivia)

“The loopy-loop! We found a loopy-loop ride and I wanted to ride it so bad. I rode it five or six times. In the beginning there was a lot of turns, but the loopy-loop was awesome. Don’t go on the Indiana Jones ride. It’s scary!” (Trent)

Want a full rundown of our two days at Tokyo Disneysea. You can read all about it here.

I know they’re my kids, but I loved hearing about their time in Tokyo in their own words. See, traveling with kids isn’t so hard. They’re easily impressed with little things. Getting a fortune, a drink from a vending machine, and, of course, some candy!

Is taking your kid(s) to Tokyo on your travel dream list? What else do you want to know about our time there?