Kids-friendly Japan trip - Tokyo toy exhibition for a big kid!

While I was doing some research for our Japan trip, I found some information about the "Tokyo toy exhibition" held during our stay. I talked about it to Paul and he was so excited. Some of you might already know, he loves toys! When we got married and he moved into my little apartment in St Kilda East, he was allowed to bring only 3 toys with him and he struggled;-)

It was open to the public just on 11 and 12 of June, and our option was just the 11th, which was the next day after our Hakone trip. I thought it might be difficult for Nico, but we decided to go there. Personally I wanted to see Paul's happy face:-)

Going to central Tokyo with a toddler is quite tiring. My parents live about 30km away from central Tokyo. To get to Shinjuku, which is one of the biggest stations in Tokyo, it takes about 30 mins by train, and to get Tokyo station or Tokyo Bay Area where the exhibition was held, it takes more than 1 hour.

To avoid the rush hour we left my parents' home around 10am and aimed to come back before 5pm. It actually worked very well for us, because Nico had a morning sleep all the way to our destination in his pram and had an afternoon sleep all the way back home. We didn't have to struggle with a noisy kid in a quiet train - Japanese trains are really quiet!

 We arrived at Toyosu Station, which we had transit around 11.30am, so we decided to have lunch at Toyosu shopping centre. We wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant, but the restaurant was very small and we couldn't go in without folding our pram - Nico was still sleeping - so we decided to go to a bakery and have lunch outside. It was actually very good choice and we really enjoyed it!

Nico slept really well so we could actually enjoy shopping there too.

look at this shop name;-)

 After lunch and shopping, we got on the Yurikamome Line. I always thought this was a monorail but when I actually read about it, I found it's different. It runs on an elevated path all the way so there's no traffic lights, crossings or jams and with the special techniques they use, there's no vibration or sound and it's very quiet. It's all automated so there's no conductors or drivers too! It's a bit like a future train:-) If your kids love trains, they will love the Yurikamome line!

the view from Yurikamome

 When we arrived at Tokyo Big Sight, there were many families and toy-loving adults. The queue looked long but the venue was massive so we could enter smoothly. (It was free event so we didn't have to queue to buy tickets!)

 There were so many booths with the newest toys. Nico and Paul were excited trying all the different toys, but it was really hard for us to take him to the next booth - he didn't want to leave the toys he was playing with! Small companies were selling toys at the booths with special exhibition price but big companies like TOMY were just showing the newest ones coming in September. We didn't buy any toys there -which was very good for us;-) - but got some ideas for Nico's birthday and Christmas.

It was quite tiring with the massive venue and crowds, but we all had a wonderful time. I really loved seeing Paul and Nico's happy faces.

At Tokyo Big Sight, they have interesting exhibitions all the time, so if you're going to Tokyo, it worth checking what's on there. Even if there's nothing, traveling around this Tokyo Bay Area is quite interesting. The big fish market will move to this area (Toyosu) in November too. You will see a futuristic side of Tokyo there:-)

With love,
Allie