During our stay in Tokyo, we were pleasantly surprised with all the baby-friendly areas that we found. Here is a list of some of our favorite places we took Daren:
- Muji store, Shibuya – cool kids/baby clothes, and a play area
- Daikanyama T-site – Kodomo Beams, Bornelund toy store, Ivy Place restaurant, and more!
- Takashimaya – huge shopping center connected to Shinjuku station
- Kiddyland – very cool toy store in Omotesando
- Eggcellent cafe – great breakfast spot in Roppongi Hills
- Minoru Diner – baby-friendly restaurant in Ginza
- Meiji Shrine – outdoor shrine next to Harajuku station
1. Muji store, Shibuya location
Mujirushi (or more commonly known as Muji) has a giant store in the heart of Shibuya, just a few mins walk outside of the main train station. The entire 5th floor of the store is dedicated to kids/baby clothes, and includes a very nice play area for toddlers! Also on the same floor is a large changing area and nursing station which is really convenient.
Also, if you need to take a break from shopping, there’s a cafe on the 2nd floor which was surprisingly good! Directly connected to Muji is the neighboring Loft department store, which on its own is another huge multi-level department store with a variety of cool shopping!
The Muji play area
Daren enjoying the wooden egg pit in the play area
Just strolling around…
Shoes off in the play area!
The private nursing room
Lots of changing stations right next to the play area
Bel enjoying a meal in the Muji Cafe
2. Daikanyama T-site
About a 15 min walk from Ebisu station is Daikanyama: a cute, hip little area of Tokyo with a number of boutique shops all tucked away within a series of small narrow streets. And within Daikanyama, there is an area called “T-site”, that has a number of baby-friendly stores and restaurants. Kodomo Beams was one of our favorite stores that sold a lot of cute baby clothes, and the Bornelund Toy store was a great place to let Daren run around and play with all kinds of toys. There was also Ivy Place, a really cool baby/stroller friendly cafe that served some yummy food. Although the shopping seemed a little pricey in this area overall, Daren had a fun time window shopping and running around in this very baby-friendly environment!
Lots of (pricey) baby-friendly shopping in Daikanyama!
Checkin out the cool bags & wallets at the Head Porter store
Kodomo Beams was one of our favorite baby stores
Looking for baby gear inside Kodomo Beams
Having fun in the Bornelund toy store
Lots of fun stuff to play with!
Lunch at Ivy Place!
Taking a much needed shopping break in Daikanyama. Frozen fruit bars!
3. Takashimaya department store, Shinjuku location
Right next to Shinjuku station is a shopping center consisting of several department stores. Takashimaya, Tokyu Hands, Uniqlo, and the Kinokuniya book store are just a few of the stores that are all connected together within a huge behemoth of a complex. It just so happened to be raining the day we came here, so this area was perfect to spend a few hours shopping indoors while waiting out the rain.
The enormous shopping center
Shopping for… balloons!?
Lots of shopping choices!
Daren and Thomas!
Eating a meal in the Takashimaya department store. There was an entire floor conveniently dedicated to restaurants inside!
4. Kiddyland
Kiddyland is a toy store in Omotesando consisting of several floors packed to the brim with toys. Definitely the place to go if you’re looking for gifts for the little ones, or if you just want to feel like a kid again yourself! There’s plenty of Hello Kitty and Snoopy stuff, but also lots of other characters and toys. There was also a baby changing room located on the main level which came in handy.
Almost every toy character you could imagine was here!
Darth Vader!
The entire basement level was dedicated to Snoopy and the Peanuts gang!
The baby changing room inside of Kiddyland
Next door to Kiddyland was Island Vintage Coffee, Bel’s favorite place in Hawaii to eat Acai bowls! Although the building was not-stroller friendly (located on the 2nd floor with no elevator), the acai bowl was well worth carrying the stroller up the stairs 🙂
5. Eggcellent Cafe
Tucked away in Roppongi Hills is this super cool breakfast spot! Organic eggs, fresh juices, and a super kid-friendly environment made this place one of our favorites. There were also baby books and crayons for Daren that kept him busy while we ate in peace. Score! 🙂 The cafe was within walking distance to our first hotel (Grand Hyatt), so that was a plus also!
Eggcellent!
Drawing with Dad while waiting for breakfast.
A delicious breakfast! Pancakes with berries, eggs benedict with Maguro and bacon, fresh squeezed orange juice and a kale & fruit smoothie.
6. Minoru Diner
Another baby-friendly restaurant that we absolutely loved was Minoru Diner, which was located on the rooftop terrace area of the Mitsukoshi department store in Ginza. Ginza was a little out of our way from our hotel area, but once we came here we knew it was worth the trip. The restaurant was very busy with lots of other families waiting to get in. We must have waited about 30mins to get a seat, but there was an outdoor rooftop terrace that we enjoyed while we waited for a table. We ordered some potato croquettes and vegetable stew and they were really good. Each meal also comes with a trip to the salad bar, which had a variety of japanese-style items that were all delicious also.
A popular restaurant for families!
yum!
A very open and relaxed atmosphere
Running around outside on the rooftop terrace. The terrace gardens were very well-kept and stroller friendly!
7. Meiji Shrine
Meiji Shrine is one of our favorite places to visit in Tokyo (we were here the last time we visited before Daren was born). The shrine is located inside of Yoyogi park, right outside of Harajuku station. This time around, Daren added a prayer card to the prayer tree. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the busy city and spend time inside a peaceful and relaxing park.
Running through the park!
Adding a prayer card inside the shrine
