Nagoya with a toddler (2–3) 4 spots
Nagoya is the big city between Tokyo and Kyoto, an easy place to break the journey. Its coffee shops throw in toast and a boiled egg with the morning coffee, and the castle wears golden fish along its roof.
Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium
An aquarium on the Nagoya port pier, where orcas train in public.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
A zoo with one of Japan's largest elephant houses, and a botanical garden on one ticket.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A science museum with a 9m indoor column of spinning air and 4m Tesla-coil sparks.
Nursing room · Changing table · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
A museum housed in the red-brick loom test factory Sakichi Toyoda built in 1911.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
At the Touch Tank on the 1st floor of the South Building, children put their hands on hermit crabs, starfish, and sea urchins that live on the coast near Nagoya, with volunteer staff helping them look. The stadium on the 3rd floor of the North Building runs a 20-minute dolphin performance, and there is penguin feeding time and the sardine tornado as well.The Touch Tank currently opens on an irregular schedule. You may re-enter as many times as you like on the day of your visit (a stamp is put on the back of your hand as you leave, up to one hour before closing), so you can step outside for a break. Food you bring in can be eaten at Shiokaze Plaza in the North Building (outdoors) and the stadium seating on its 3rd floor (outdoors, under a roof). Balloons, bouncy balls, and anything else that could fall into the animal pools are not allowed in, to keep the whales and dolphins from swallowing them. The route is long, so wear shoes that are easy to walk in.
Fureai Hiroba keeps goats, sheep and cattle. In the Forest of Small Birds and Squirrels, white-eyes and Japanese squirrels run loose inside the building, small moving creatures to chase with your eyes. And in the flower field of the botanical garden, which the same ticket covers, stands a three-lane petal slide shaped like a flower.Rental strollers cover children up to age 3 and cost 300 yen. There are two-seater strollers too, but only a few, and those can be reserved by phone. Most restrooms have a baby bed or a changing table, though some of the older ones do not, so check the official service map for the nursing spaces before you go.
The Water Plaza is laid out in stages, cloud, rain, river and sea, with an experiment to try at each one. The museum has 11 permanent exhibition rooms in all, and admission is free for junior high age and under.In the Discharge Lab two Tesla coils throw four-meter sparks with a loud crack, so warn a child who dislikes noise beforehand. The Sub-Zero Lab and the Discharge Lab both cap attendance and hand out numbered tickets, so pick yours up soon after you arrive. Every floor has restrooms, with multipurpose stalls, child-height urinals and baby chairs. Visitors are asked not to run inside.
Some exhibits move when you press a button, so a child can push it themselves and watch the machine in front of them start up. Operator demonstrations and video explanations run alongside.The restaurant Brick Age has a children's menu and children's chairs. Drinks may be brought in as long as they are capped, a plastic bottle or a thermos, and food is allowed if it fits in your bag, but you cannot eat in the exhibition halls; eating happens in the designated spots inside the building. Balloons, toys, hand carts and scooters may not be brought in, though strollers, wheelchairs and other mobility aids are fine. One family with a two-year-old went in at 15:00 and stayed the two hours until closing at 17:00.