Mie with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Mie is ninja country and the home of Japan's most sacred shrine. Iga runs ninja shows and rents the costume in child sizes, and the old street outside Ise Jingu is lined with things to eat.
The only aquarium in Japan keeping dugongs, said to be the animal behind mermaid legends.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
Shima Spain Village (Parque España)
A 34-hectare theme park sharing its grounds with a natural hot spring and a hotel.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A farmhouse fitted with revolving walls, hidden stairs and trick doors, kept as a museum.
Nursing room · checked Aug ’26
With no set route, a child can choose which of the twelve zones to head for next. The Strange Creatures Laboratory gathers animals with odd shapes and odd ways of living, one corner is given over entirely to crayfish, and the Marine Gallery lines up 16 skeleton specimens of 15 species and 8 taxidermy specimens of 8 species.Admission is 800 yen for a preschool child (3 and over) and 1,600 yen once they are in elementary school. The aquarium is open every day of the year, 9:30 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:00, extended to 9:00-17:30 with last entry at 16:30 in the summer period from 1 to 28 August. One family with a 4-year-old and a baby went in at 11:55 and left at 16:50, so allow half a day. Tickets can be bought online as web tickets or at convenience stores.
Circus House is open to children up to 6. The rides with no height limit, the Fiesta Train, Gaudi Carousel, Amigo Balloon and Feliz Cruise, are theirs to choose and queue for themselves, and once they reach 110 cm they can also ride the indoor Steam Coaster Iron Bull. The Ice Castle, where you step into a world below freezing, has no height limit either.Two rides set a height limit: the indoor Steam Coaster Iron Bull needs 110 cm, and the suspended coaster Pyrenees needs 130 cm and age 10. Measure your child beforehand and there is no argument on the day. The passport covers admission, the free shows and every attraction; a one-day child passport (ages 3 to 11) is 4,100 yen. The park does not cap admissions even on its busiest days such as Golden Week and Obon, but the car parks fill and you may wait for a space. No paper guide map or show schedule is handed out, so check the official website or the official app.
Shuriken throwing costs 300 yen for six blades, at the range beside the ninja house. The shuriken are real ones, heavy in the hand, and you throw them following the staff's instructions. This alone needs no museum admission. Inside the ninja house there is audio guidance in English and Chinese, and the trick devices carry English captions.To try shuriken throwing, tell a staff member nearby; it can be called off in bad weather. The ninja demonstration show is only for museum visitors: you buy admission first, then pay 600 yen more at the venue. Individual reservations are not taken and seats go first come, first served, so a full house can mean you miss it. Credit cards are not accepted for the show, so carry cash. The show stage is outdoors but built for all weather, and you will want rain gear for the walk to it.