Ibaraki with a toddler (2–3) 3 spots
Ibaraki is home to the Ushiku Daibutsu — at 120 meters, the world's tallest bronze statue. An elevator carries you up to its chest, and the Oarai aquarium keeps more shark species than anywhere else in Japan. It suits kids who love big things and families who want an indoor plan in reserve.
A 237-hectare park on the Pacific coast, with nemophila in spring and kochia in autumn.
Stroller OK · Changing table · Elevator · checked Aug ’26
The world's tallest bronze Buddha, 120 meters high, standing over a Pure Land garden.
Elevator · checked Aug ’26
Dinosaurs move in the exhibit halls, and 39 acres of park start next door.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
The park's own picks for families with small children are three places: the water play area, Tamago-no-mori and the great meadow. Balance bikes such as LikeaBike or Strider may be ridden on the park paths with a parent alongside. Ride tickets at the Pleasure Garden fairground sell from 100 yen up, so you can take one ride at a time rather than committing to a day.The loaner stroller seats a child up to age 2, so bring your own for a three-year-old. The Seaside Train charges from age 3 at 600 yen for a day pass, and the Pleasure Garden day pass is the same 4,400 yen from age 3 as for an adult, so for a handful of rides the 100-yen ride tickets suit better; they never expire but are not refundable. Balance bikes are not allowed on the cycling course, the BMX course, Miharashi Hill, the parking lots, or anywhere with slopes and undulation. Admission is free for junior high school age and under.
Fureai Garden Terrace has a lawn: a place where children play freely, with rest space beside it. At Totonoi Cafe they meet goats, ducks, and miniature pigs, open 11:00-16:00 and closed Fridays. On Sundays and holidays the petting zoo opens, with feeding at a charge. Children of 3 and under pay nothing, for the statue or the garden.The petting zoo opens on Sundays and holidays only and is closed in February and December, running 9:30 until 30 minutes before the park closes, with feeding at a charge. Totonoi Cafe closes Fridays, and the monkey stage is dark on Fridays and in poor weather. Last orders at the Tone restaurant are 13:30 on weekdays and 14:30 on weekends and holidays, so eat early. Hitachi no Sato sells soft serve whose flavour changes with the season: melon, strawberry, pear. In the flower field of about 10,000 square meters you can pick flowers in spring and autumn; the nine kinds including poppies and baby's breath from mid-April to late May and the cosmos from early to late October may be picked, while the cherry and moss phlox of early to mid-April may not.
On the Yume Plaza, hands-on stations let a two-year-old act out how animals and birds move, with no reading involved. Water runs in the stream and fountain on the Water Plaza from about June through September, and is off the rest of the year.Two families wrote that the moving dinosaurs scared their two-year-old, so if yours cries in the first hall, make it a park day instead. Shoes that slip on and off save a struggle at the trampoline.