Nagasaki with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Nagasaki is a harbor town stacked up its hillsides, open to Europe when the rest of Japan was closed. Huis Ten Bosch is a full-size Dutch town, flat ground and canal boats, and castella sponge cake first came in through this port.
An aquarium keeping nine of the world's eighteen penguin species.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A hillside garden of nine Western houses above Nagasaki harbor.
Nursing room · Elevator · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
Nagasaki's oldest Chinese restaurant, and the place where champon was invented in 1899.
Stroller OK · Changing table · Elevator · checked Aug ’26
Kayaking takes children from age four, with a parent in the same boat and an instructor along, on weekends and public holidays from late April to late September. The virtual theater shows 3D films on one of the largest screens in Japan, and a child can draw their own penguin or fish and then watch it swim across the screen. Nine of the world's eighteen penguin species live here, so they can count them off one by one against the exhibits in the penguin information room.For kayaking, children from age four through elementary school need a parent in the same boat, and single kayaks are limited to junior high school students and older. It costs 1,090 yen an hour for a double and 730 yen for a single. Your feet and clothes get wet with seawater, so wear something you don't mind soaking or bring a change of clothes. Rain, strong wind, other weather conditions, or low tide can call it off. The showers at the marine experience building (200 yen for five minutes) and its free coin lockers are for kayaking participants only. Admission is free before elementary school and 400 yen for elementary through high school students.
At the Retro Costume Hall a child picks one outfit from a large rack of period costumes and wears it around the garden for photographs. There is also a VR experience, Glover's Nagasaki VR, and a free guided tour of the garden led by a history guide.For the guided tour, a notice dated 16 June 2026 is posted under the heading 'Guided tours suspended (summer period)'. Admission has two brackets: 1,300 yen general, meaning age 15 and over, and 650 yen for children, meaning elementary, junior high and high school students. Gate 2 does not take cards, so carry cash as well.
Champon was invented here in 1899 by the founder, Chin Heijun, and saraudon started here too, so you are sitting where the bowl in front of you was first made — a story a child this age can hold on to. They can also pick their own saraudon noodles, thick or thin.Private rooms are booked by phone or fax at least two business days ahead, for four or more people and only with a course meal (tel 095-822-1296, fax 095-826-7353, enquiries 10:00-17:00). A family with a 6-year-old and a 2-year-3-month-old was told in one of those large rooms that the children could run around. Closing days are about two Wednesdays a month, announced month by month, so check the notice for the month you are going.