This is even better for kids than the nursing rooms in all the department stores. There are play areas that you can bring baby to play with toys, crawl around, play with other kids, and if they are bigger even some organized activities like painting and making crafts. And it is all free. The first one we went to was in Shibuya, about a ten minute walk from the JR station. This one is quite large; about five stories. It is open every day until about 6 PM, and the main area of interest to a ten-month old was a large, padded play area with foam obstacles to climb on, wooden push-toys (I don’t know what you call these things), and other amusements. It is really a great way to get baby out of the house to somewhere fun, to meet other parents (if only my Japanese wasn’t so crap) and kids, play with toys that you don’t own, and in general let baby go crazy in a semi-baby-proofed room.
The other jidoukan we went to was actually right across from the monthly mansion we are renting in Nishi-shinjuku. This one is also free, but you have to fill in a form first with the child’s name, address and contact information before you can go in. But once you have that filled in, you can go any time. In Toronto evidently there are similar places but they are much smaller.
There is a listing of all of them on the Tokyo Metropolitan Children’s Hall web site.
