Tokushima with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Tokushima is mountains dropping into a fast strait. Whirlpools spin under the Naruto bridge and you look down at them through a glass floor, and in August the Awa Odori dance is open to anyone who wants to join in.
A 450-meter walkway inside the Onaruto Bridge, ending in an observation room over the sea.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A museum of about 1,000 Western masterpieces reproduced full-size on ceramic panels.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A museum of the Awa Odori dance, with live troupes on its own stage year-round.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
They can walk the 450 m through the bridge girders to the observation room on their own legs. Under the glass floor panels is the Naruto Strait 45 m down, where the current tops 20 km/h at peak spring tide and the whirlpools reach 20-30 m across, said to be the largest in the world.Under-6s are free and elementary schoolers pay 260 yen. Advance online tickets let you skip the queue, though online sales stop at the combined ticket with the Eddy museum; the other combination tickets are bought at each facility's counter. The main exhibits are labelled in foreign languages as well as Japanese.
About 1,000 Western masterpieces from 26 countries at original size, along a route of roughly 4 km they can walk themselves. Photography is allowed - no strobe, flash or tripod - so they can stop and be photographed at whichever painting they like. An audio guide is 500 yen from the museum shop on B3.Admission is 3,300 yen general and 550 yen for elementary through high school; no rate for preschoolers is listed. One adult may bring up to six preschool children, and because the building is vast you are asked to stay with them at all times. Tickets are sold only until 16:00 (open 9:30-17:00), so start in the morning if you mean to walk the 4 km. Same-day re-entry is possible - do the paperwork at the B3 information desk on your way out.
The third-floor museum was renewed with digital technology in February 2024, adding an Awa Odori VR corner and game-like content where you dance and beat the instruments. In the shows, the audience participation corner teaches the steps from the stage and everyone dances. The fifth floor of the same building is the base station of the Bizan ropeway; about six minutes up, the summit looks out over the Tokushima plain, the Yoshino River and, far off, the Onaruto Bridge and Awaji Island.Tickets for all three — the show, the Awa Odori Museum and the Bizan ropeway — are sold at the tourist information corner on the first floor. Reservations are taken only for groups of 20 or more, so individuals simply come for a show time (daytime 40 minutes; evening from 20:00, 50 minutes). The museum is 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for elementary and junior-high students; on the ropeway an elementary-school child pays 500 yen one way and 800 yen return. The building closes on the second Wednesday of February, June, September and December.