Tokyo Toy Museum
A toy museum inside an elementary school built nearly ninety years ago.
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Tokyo Toy Museum
SaveA toy museum inside an elementary school built nearly ninety years ago.
Craftspeople made the toys from the wood of their own regions, and children pick them up.
MoreWhat kind of place
The museum is housed in a Shinjuku elementary school built nearly ninety years ago, and its staircases and corridors still look the part.
Volunteers in red aprons, called toy curators, are out in the rooms when you need to ask something.
The collection is meant to be handled: the Good Toy room lines up prize winners going back to 1985 that you can actually play with, and the game room sorts mostly German board games by difficulty.
Among the pieces is a rocking horse modeled on Queen Elizabeth II's horse Tinker Bell, one of only a hundred made.
The museum took the Grand Prix for 2023 in the Children in Museums Award, an international prize for hands-on museums for children.
With kidsThe part that matters
The museum fills a Shinjuku elementary school built nearly ninety years ago, its staircases and hallways left as they were, and because the passages are narrow, strollers cannot come inside — you fold yours at the entrance and ride the elevator up to reception on floor A-2.
Shoes come off at the door of the wooden play room, where your child can climb into a wooden sandbox holding 20,000 hardwood balls.
Babies and toddlers have a room of their own, floored in solid cedar, with the nursing space inside it; children three and over cannot go in, siblings included, but you can also nurse on the benches on any floor with a nursing cover, which the museum lends.
Eat before you go in, because nothing may be eaten inside apart from water or tea on the corridor benches, and on weekends and public holidays there is no re-entry to step out for lunch.
The museum suggests 90 to 120 minutes and last entry is 3:30 p.m., so arriving by early afternoon leaves you the full stretch instead of a rushed half hour.
Sources and evidence (4)
- A room-by-room round of the old school. Strollers cannot come in, so bring a carrier; free play is outside the entrance.source
- The 0-to-2 room runs in one-hour slots, changing is beside it, strollers stay outside. A 7-month-old lasted two hours.source
- No eating inside, so eat around it: Oslo Coffee before, Ichigaku ramen after — the ramen shop is tight with a stroller.source
- Subway only, through back streets. Fire Museum is five minutes away, Shinjuku Gyoen eight; entrance lockers are free.source
By age0-1 / 2-3 / 4-6
- Ages 0-1The Baby Wood Play Room is only for children aged 0 to 2 and their guardians. Solid cedar from ten regions of Japan makes the floor warm enough to need no underfloor heating, and the art piece Sugi Kodama puts the beauty of wood within reach. The Forest of Toys is a wooden room you enter with your shoes off, where a child can play in the wooden sandpit filled with 20,000 hardwood beads from Hokkaido.Under 6 months is free and children from 6 months through elementary school are 800 yen online (1,000 yen at the door); even those admitted free need a ticket issued. Strollers cannot come inside because many corridors are narrow, so they are folded and left at the parking spot by the building entrance (ask at reception if your baby is asleep). There is one nursing space, inside the Baby Wood Play Room, and you tell a staff member when you want to use it. Even when the room runs on timed swaps, diaper changing and nursing are available at any time. With a nursing cape you can also feed on the benches on any floor, and capes are lent out. There are two diaper changing tables: in the Everyone's Toilet beside the 1F entrance, and at the diaper changing corner just outside the Baby Wood Play Room.
- Ages 2-3The Baby Wood Play Room is open to a child through age 2. In the Forest of Toys there is Acorn Pond, made of Kiso cypress from Nagano, and the Abacus Hut from Banshu in Hyogo, all pieces made by craftspeople from the wood of their own regions. Toy Town Yellow is a room where a child plays out the path food takes through three areas, farm, shop and dining table, and the Pretend Farm, where the whole body goes into harvesting vegetables, is the favourite.The Baby Wood Play Room takes only children aged 0 to 2 with a guardian; a sibling aged 3 or over cannot come in. If you have an older child of 3 or more and a younger one of 0 to 2, agreeing in advance that the adults will split and take turns makes the day run smoothly. Eating and drinking inside is not allowed, apart from water or tea on the corridor benches. On weekends and holidays there is no re-entry, so it is safest to eat before you go in. The only toilet is the Everyone's Toilet beside the 1F entrance, which is why the museum asks you to go before entering; baby keepers are fitted in the men's and the women's toilets, one each.
- Ages 4-6Every day a child can make one toy for free, from everyday materials such as paper cups and milk cartons. Toy Town Red lines up spinning tops, regional folk toys and a hut of interlocking wood, and runs events including warabe-uta songs, tosenkyo fan-throwing handed down from the mid-Edo period, and tea gatherings in the Yotsuya-an tea room. The Good Toy exhibition room holds award winners going back to 1985 and they are there to be played with, and the game room arranges mostly German board games by difficulty.The Itonokoya workshop, where a powered scroll saw turns domestic cypress into wooden toys and handprints, starts from 4th grade of elementary school (Tuesdays and weekends, paid, first 25 people on the day). Until then, there is the free craft session held every day. The official FAQ puts a visit at 90 to 120 minutes; opening hours are 10:00 to 16:00 with last admission at 15:30, closed Thursdays. No eating or drinking inside apart from water or tea on the corridor benches, and no re-entry on weekends and holidays, so eat before you go in. The museum notes that spring break, Golden Week, summer break and winter break are expected to be busy. The building is a school built nearly ninety years ago, with the stairs and corridors of that time left as they were, and if anything troubles you the Toy Curators in red aprons are there to ask.
By weatherRain, heat, cold
- Rainy dayThe venue is the elementary school building itself, built nearly ninety years ago. Toy Forest with its wooden ball pit of 20,000 beads, the Baby Wood Play Area for ages 0 to 2, and the daily craft-making are all rooms inside that building.
- Hot dayNot checked yet
- Cold dayNot checked yet
Time needed1.5–3 h
How was it with your kids?
Not greatGreat
Family checks✓ easy for your family
- ElevatorElevator：with conditionsconditions
- Stroller OKStroller friendly：none
- RentalStroller rental：not checked
- NursingNursing space：with conditionsconditions
- ChangingDiaper changing table：with conditionsconditions
- Family WCFamily restroom：with conditionsconditions
- Own foodOutside food allowed：none
- EnglishEnglish support：not checked
Tap a mark for details
* Other not checked (6)
Steps & slope caution, Kids' toilet seat & step stool, Diaper disposal bin, Child switch (rider swap), Indoor / outdoor, Official family-friendly certification
Green = we confirmed it. Gray = not checked yet. Gray with a line through = the place does not have it.
Worth a look before you go
First-hand
A room-by-room round of the old school. Strollers cannot come in, so bring a carrier; free play is outside the entrance.
A Day Out at the Tokyo Toy Museum
Japanese · opens translatedGuide
The 0-to-2 room runs in one-hour slots, changing is beside it, strollers stay outside. A 7-month-old lasted two hours.
Even a baby under one can play safely: an outing report from the Tokyo Toy Museum
Japanese · opens translatedFirst-hand
No eating inside, so eat around it: Oslo Coffee before, Ichigaku ramen after — the ramen shop is tight with a stroller.
Going to the Tokyo Toy Museum with a child (the weekend edition)
Japanese · opens translatedFirst-hand
Subway only, through back streets. Fire Museum is five minutes away, Shinjuku Gyoen eight; entrance lockers are free.
The Toy Museum in Shinjuku: a visit report and the points that matter with children
Tokyo Toy Museum · Links & reads ▾
＋ Add a link
Where to go next
With a baby (0–1)
- Shinjuku Gyoen National GardenGardenStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table10 min walkA former imperial garden of 58 hectares, holding three garden styles in one plan.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building ObservatoriesStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table2.4 kmA free observatory 202 meters above Shinjuku, on the 45th floor of Tokyo's city hall.
- National Museum of Nature and ScienceScience museumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table6.0 kmA national museum shown at full size — dinosaur skeletons, a life-size blue whale.
- Meiji JinguShrineStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table2.6 kmA shrine wrapped in 700,000 square meters of forest, founded in 1920.
- Sunshine AquariumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table4.4 kmAn aquarium on a rooftop in Ikebukuro, with two indoor floors and an outdoor garden.
- Ueno ParkCity parkStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table5.4 kmOne of Japan's first public parks, with the zoo and museums inside its grounds.
With a toddler (2–3)
- Solamachi Tabe-Terrace Food CourtFood courtStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table8.5 kmA food court at the foot of Skytree: udon, ramen and rice bowls at one table.
- Tokyo National MuseumNational museumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table6.0 kmJapan's oldest museum, six buildings on one site, showing almost only real objects.
- Pokémon CafeCharacter cafeStroller friendly5.2 kmThe first permanent Pokémon cafe, in a department store near Tokyo Station.
- Shibuya Scramble CrossingStroller friendly3.7 kmShibuya Crossing is a road junction outside Shibuya Station, where over 1,000 people cross at once.
- teamLab Planets TOKYONursing spaceDiaper changing tableKids' toilet seat & step stool7.9 kmA digital art museum in Toyosu that you enter barefoot and walk through water.
- Sumida AquariumAquariumStroller friendlyNursing spaceElevator8.5 kmAn aquarium at the foot of Tokyo Skytree, built so you get close to the animals.
For a meal
- Solamachi Tabe-Terrace Food CourtFood courtStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table8.5 kmA food court at the foot of Skytree: udon, ramen and rice bowls at one table.
- Pokémon CafeCharacter cafeStroller friendly5.2 kmThe first permanent Pokémon cafe, in a department store near Tokyo Station.
For sights
- Shinjuku Gyoen National GardenGardenStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table10 min walkA former imperial garden of 58 hectares, holding three garden styles in one plan.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building ObservatoriesStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table2.4 kmA free observatory 202 meters above Shinjuku, on the 45th floor of Tokyo's city hall.
- National Museum of Nature and ScienceScience museumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table6.0 kmA national museum shown at full size — dinosaur skeletons, a life-size blue whale.
- Meiji JinguShrineStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table2.6 kmA shrine wrapped in 700,000 square meters of forest, founded in 1920.
- Sunshine AquariumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table4.4 kmAn aquarium on a rooftop in Ikebukuro, with two indoor floors and an outdoor garden.
- Tokyo National MuseumNational museumStroller friendlyNursing spaceDiaper changing table6.0 kmJapan's oldest museum, six buildings on one site, showing almost only real objects.
Piggyback Japan guides
- A Rainy Day in Tokyo with Small Children
Four indoor places that work when the forecast turns — with the closing days, the reservation traps and the one that will not let a stroller inside.
Where it is
4-20 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0004source
Before you go
- The venue is the old school building itself, which the museum describes as an elementary school built nearly ninety years ago, and its staircases and corridors still look the part. Volunteers in red aprons, called toy curators, are out in the rooms if you need to ask something.source
- The wooden play room (Omocha no Mori) is entered with shoes off. Inside, a wooden sandbox holds 20,000 balls turned from Hokkaido hardwood, a pond of wooden acorns is built from Kiso cypress grown in Nagano, and an abacus hut comes from Banshu in Hyogo, each piece made by craftspeople of that region out of that region's wood.source
More notes (6)
- The baby room (Akachan Mokuiku Hiroba) takes only children up to two and the adults with them, and it is built out of solid cedar from ten parts of Japan, warm enough underfoot that no floor heating is needed, with an artwork called Sugi Kodama there to be touched.source
- The yellow play room (Omocha no Machi Kiiro) follows food from farm to shop to table across three areas of make-believe, and the most popular corner is the pretend farm, where pulling a vegetable out of the ground takes a child's whole body; the marble run called Kugelbahn and the science toys are in the same room.source
- The red play room (Omocha no Machi Aka) is given over to Japanese play, with spinning tops, folk toys from around the country and a hut of interlocking wooden puzzles, plus events that run from old children's songs to tosenkyo, a fan-throwing game handed down since the mid-Edo period, and tea gatherings in the tea room Yotsuya-an.source
- A free toy-making session runs every day, one toy per visitor, out of everyday materials such as paper cups and milk cartons. A separate workshop, Itonokoya, opens on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays: children from fourth grade up cut Japanese cypress into a toy or a handprint on a powered scroll saw. It costs money and takes the first 25 who sign up that day.source
- The collection is deep and hands-on: the Good Toy room lines up award winners going back to 1985 that visitors can play with, the game room presents mostly German board games sorted by difficulty, and the rocking horse is modeled on Tinker Bell, a horse belonging to Queen Elizabeth II, one of only a hundred made worldwide.source
- The museum's English page states that it was awarded the Grand Prix for 2023 in the Children in Museums Award, an international prize for hands-on museums for children.source
Basics
- Fee：Online: ¥1,100 for adults (junior high school students and older), ¥800 for children (6 months to 6th grade). At the door: ¥1,300 and ¥1,000. Free under 6 months. Free for the holder of a disability certificate or MIRAIRO ID, with companions paying. A weekday half-year passport is ¥3,900 for adults and ¥2,900 for children, ¥200 off for Shinjuku residentssource
- Hours：10:00-16:00 (last entry 15:30). Closed Thursdays; when a Thursday falls on a public holiday the museum opens and closes the next day instead. There are also maintenance closures in February and September and a year-end and New Year closure. Re-entry is allowed on weekdays only — not on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays — and the museum adds that there are further exceptions, such as the Obon holiday period, and asks you to check the ticket site for detailssource2
- Time to allow：1.5–3 hsource23
- Booking：The official online ticket is ¥1,100 for adults and ¥800 for children, ¥200 cheaper than at the door. You can buy at the door, but sales there also stop once the day's planned number of tickets has gone. Visitors who enter free still need a ticket issued. You can cancel yourself until 9:59 on the day of your visit (not for tickets paid at a 7-Eleven counter). Groups of 12 or more must apply as a groupsource23Official booking site ↗
- Note: strollers cannot be brought into the museum — the official FAQ explains that many of its corridors are narrowsource
Basics in detail (6)
other
- Strollers cannot be taken inside, which the official FAQ puts down to the number of narrow passages.source
- Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with last entry at 3:30 p.m., closed Thursdays, and when a Thursday falls on a public holiday it opens and closes the next day instead; there are maintenance closures in February and September and a year-end and New Year closure, and re-entry is allowed on weekdays only, not on weekends or public holidays. The museum notes exceptions such as the Obon period and points to its ticket site for the details.source
- Online it is 1,100 yen for adults, meaning junior high school age and up, and 800 yen for children from 6 months through elementary school, while at the door it is 1,300 and 1,000 yen. Under 6 months is free, a visitor showing a disability certificate or MIRAIRO ID enters free although a companion pays, and a weekday half-year pass runs 3,900 yen for adults and 2,900 yen for children, 200 yen less for Shinjuku residents.source
- Buying online costs 1,100 yen for adults and 800 yen for children, 200 yen less than at the door, and although the door sells tickets too, it stops once that day's planned allocation runs out. Visitors who enter free still need a ticket arranged. You can cancel on your own until 9:59 a.m. on the day of your visit, unless you paid at a Seven-Eleven counter, and parties of 12 or more have to apply as a group.source
- The museum closes for maintenance from Monday, September 7 through Friday, September 11, 2026.source
- Re-entry is suspended over the Obon period, Monday, August 10 through Friday, August 14, 2026, and note that the English version of the same notice gives the period as August 8 to 17, so the two do not agree.source
Once you've decided
evidence & sources (10)
- Official: Stroller friendly, Diaper changing table, Nursing space
- Official: Stroller friendly, Diaper changing table, Family restroom
- Official: Nursing space, Outside food allowed, Best-fit ages (guide)
- Official: Best-fit ages (guide)
- Official: main site
This toy museum sits inside an elementary school built close to ninety years ago. Children leave their shoes at one wooden room and play in a sandbox of hardwood balls. Craftspeople across Japan made the room's toys from the wood of their own regions. A pretend town runs from farm to shop to table, and children harvest the toy vegetables. Another wooden room in the same building belongs to babies and their parents. Volunteers in red aprons, whom the museum calls toy curators, walk the rooms and answer questions.
| Stroller friendly | No | Strollers cannot be brought inside, because many of the corridors are narrow. You fold yours and leave it at the stroller area by the building entrance. If your baby is asleep, or your child uses a stroller because of a disability, ask at reception | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diaper changing table | Yes (2) | Two places: the accessible restroom beside the first-floor entrance has a changing table, and there is a changing corner just before the baby wood-play room | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
| Nursing space | Yes (1) | One nursing space, inside the baby wood-play room; tell a staff member when you want to use it. Even while that room runs on timed slots, diaper changes and nursing are available at any time. With a nursing cover you can also use the benches on each floor, and covers can be borrowed | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
| Family restroom | Yes | The accessible restroom beside the first-floor entrance is for anyone — men, women and wheelchair users. A baby seat is fitted in the men's and in the women's restroom, one each. Note that this is the only restroom in the museum, and the official guide asks you to go before you come in | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jp |
| Elevator | Yes | There is an elevator at the back left as you enter the building; visitors with a stroller or in a wheelchair take it up to reception on floor A-2 (the stroller itself is then left at the entrance parking — it cannot come into the museum). Wheelchair users can enter the museum | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
| Outside food allowed | No | You cannot eat or drink inside, apart from water or tea on the corridor benches. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays there is no re-entry, so eat before you go in | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
| Steps & slope caution | Not checked yet | There is an elevator and wheelchair users can enter, but the museum occupies an elementary school built nearly ninety years ago, and stairs and corridors from that time remain as they were. Strollers cannot come inside. The museum says plainly that this may be inconvenient in places, and asks you to call a staff member if you need help | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jp | |
| Kids' toilet seat & step stool | Not checked yet | ||||
| Diaper disposal bin | Not checked yet | ||||
| Stroller rental | Not checked yet | ||||
| Child switch (rider swap) | Not checked yet | ||||
| English support | Not checked yet | ||||
| Indoor / outdoor | Not checked yet | ||||
| Official family-friendly certificationExtra info — guide only | Not checked yet | ||||
| Best-fit ages (guide)Extra info — guide only | Yes | The museum says it is a place anyone from 0 to 99 can enjoy. Two rooms are narrower than that: the baby wood-play room is for children aged 0-2 with a parent, and children aged 3 and over cannot enter even as siblings; the powered scroll-saw workshop starts at fourth grade of elementary school | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jpart-play.or.jpart-play.or.jp |
| Crowding (guide)Extra info — guide only | Yes | The museum states that spring break, Golden Week, the summer holidays and the winter holidays are expected to be crowded | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jp |
| Stroller access notesExtra info — guide only | Yes | Strollers are folded and left at the area by the building entrance. Reception is on floor A-2, and with a stroller or wheelchair you take the elevator up to it | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | art-play.or.jp |
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