Marunouchi for Kids

We were looking for a close place to do a little sightseeing, where Grandma hasn’t been yet so we decided to go to Marunouchi and check out what’s there. The area is not one I associate with children so it was a bit of a challenge finding some place fun for Keiji and Arisa. But they were able to enjoy.

We skipped the Imperial Palace Grounds and just went window shopping instead. After lunch we stopped by the Maruzen store and found a great children’s book section there with a wide selection of English books and a little table with chairs. So Keiji enjoyed reading awesome pop-up books by Robert Sabuda.

Keiji found some globes on display and and he spent nearly an hour there. Near this globe section is a small gallery. At the time we went the exhibit was of handmade dolls, not the kind of dolls Arisa and other young girls would play with, but works of art. Some very gothic looking which looked like miniature versions of the Gothic Lolita girls in Harajuku. But the expressions on many of them were really so lifelike.

Afterwards we headed for the Shin-Marunouchi building. On the way there, all the open courtyard spaces with trees, benches, slopes and stoops between the buildings made good spots for running around. Many areas give you great views of the train tracks passing Tokyo Station so you often see the shinkansen pass by, which always gets Keiji’s full attention. If we had time it would have been nice to go to Tokyo Station and get the viewing ticket where you go to the tracks and see the shinkansen up close. That will be another time. Once inside the Shin-Marunouchi building, it was really not very exciting for Keiji and Arisa. Plus it was a Saturday so it was crowded and actually a bit annoying so we just breezed through the floors to see the shops, then went for tea when the kids fell asleep.