Best Train Attractions in Japan for Kids

Japan is a paradise for train-loving kids. Since trains are the main mode of transportation, even traveling between destinations feels like part of the adventure. Add in interactive train museums, train-themed attractions, and adorable character and animal train rides, and you’ve got the ultimate bucket list trip for any little train enthusiast. These train attractions are a big part of why Japan is one of our kid’s favorite places to visit. If your kid loves trains too, don’t miss these train attractions in Japan for kids.

Tokyu Train and Bus Museum

• Age Range: all ages!
• Location: in Kawasaki, about a 45 min train ride from Tokyo
• Cost: 200 yen for adults, 100 yen for children 3 and up, free for children under 3
• How to Get There: from Tokyo Station, take the Hanzomon (purple) subway line to Miyazakidai Station (stop DT12), about 45 min. We somehow got on an express train that skipped stop DT12, so we had to get off at stop DT14 and take the local train back 2 stops. Exit via the North Exit. The Tokyu Train and Bus Museum is directly connected to the train station.
• Hours: 10am – 4:30pm, closed Thursdays

The Tokyu Train and Bus Museum is a small museum just outside of Tokyo. There aren’t a lot of exhibits. But the ones they do have are all interactive, which is perfect for younger kids.

This train museum was wonderfully uncrowded when we visited on a Monday morning. There are many interactive exhibits, driving simulators, and interactive controllers for miniature trains, which makes it fun and exciting for train lovers of all ages. While the entrance fee is very affordable, you do have to pay extra for some of the simulators and train controllers.

Our kid was still a little too young to be interested in the simulators, but even the free exhibits were very interactive and engaging. My husband enjoyed controlling the speeds of the model trains in the diorama exhibit, while our kid loved climbing into the driver’s seats of the trains and buses on display and enthusiastically pressing every button and lever.

The museum itself is only two floors, so it’s not really a full-day activity. Also worth noting, most of the exhibits were entirely in Japanese, and the staff spoke limited English. I imagine that could make the simulators a little harder to navigate, but the train displays themselves were easy enough to enjoy without needing translations.

Thomas Land

• Age Range: best for 0-5 years old
• Location: in Kawaguchiko, a 2 hour bus ride from Tokyo Station
• Cost: entry is free, but pay for the rides
• How to Get There: From Kawaguchiko Station, take the Fujikyu Railway line to Fujikyu-Highland Station. This station is directly connected to Fuji Q Highlands Park.
• Hours: 9am – 7pm

Thomas Land is a small theme park within the bigger Fuji-Q Highland theme park. I think our kid loved Thomas Land more than Tokyo Disneyland. If you have a train lover, definitely bring them to Thomas Land! The rides are probably better for kids under 5. But that’s one of the reasons why our kid loved it here. Every ride was just his speed, there were no lines, and everything was Thomas the Train themed! There are also plenty of Thomas the Train photo ops throughout the theme park.

We went on Thomas’ Treasure Hunt, Harold’s Sky Patrol, Thomas and the Dancing Party, and Thomas and Percy’s Fun Ride. We also spent a lot of time in the gift shop, because they had a little interactive section with toy trains and tracks that kids could play with. Japanese kids have a well-deserved reputation for being extremely well-behaved, but after spending a lot of time in the gift shop, I can attest that they throw tantrums just like all our kids. Just goes to show that kids are kids everywhere, and big feelings are the norm, as exhausting as they are.

We had lunch at the restaurant in the theme park. Everything was Thomas the Train themed, as expected. We got one of the sets with a Thomas the Train souvenir plate that you can take home, and he’s still using that plate at home! The restaurant is super kid-friendly, with some tables even being kid-sized, which our little one absolutely loved. While we were eating, there were some kids celebrating a birthday, and the staff came around with a Thomas train and sang a few songs, adding some fun entertainment to our meal. The Thomas and Percy train ride goes right by the seating area of the restaurant, so it was super cute to see all the kids in the restaurant waving at the train every time it went by.

Read our complete guide to Thomas Land in Japan for even more details!

SCMaglev Train and Railway Park

• Age Range: all ages!
• Location: Nagoya
• Cost: 1200 yen for adults, 200 yen for kids 3 and older, 500 yen for school age children.
• How to Get There: from Nagoya Station, take the Aonami Line 10 stops to Kinjofuto Station. After exiting the station, turn left for the Railway Museum.
• Hours: 10am – 5:30pm, closed Tuesdays

The big draw of the SCMaglev Train and Railway Park is the exhibit on the Maglev trains, which we haven’t seen at any other railway museum. But besides that unique exhibit, there are also many simulators and famous retired trains that kids will love roaming around.

This interactive museum has a bunch of different trains and shinkansens on display that you can go inside. They also have a large train room for kids that like to watch electric train dioramas and a room with a Maglev train simulator. A highlight for older kids (and adults!) is a shinkansen and train simulator where you can experience what it’s like to be a shinkansen or train conductor. Another highlight of the museum is a kids playroom, where kids can play with plarail train tracks. Unfortunately, you have to make reservations for both the train simulator and the kids playroom. Reservations are first come first serve, and both were booked up by the time we arrived to the museum in the late afternoon.

For more kid-friendly things to do in Nagoya, check out our Nagoya with kids itinerary!

Kyoto Railway Museum

• Age Range: all ages!
• Location: Kyoto
• Cost: 1500 yen for adults, 200 yen for children 3-6, 500 yen for children 6 and up, free for children under 3
• How to Get There: from Kyoto Station, take the JR San-In Line 1 stop to Umekoji-Kyotonishi Station.
• Hours: 10am – 5pm, closed Wednesdays and New Years Holidays (12/30-1/1)

If you visit one railway museum in Japan, make it the Kyoto Railway Museum. There is a shinkansen playground on site, a real steam train you can ride, a working roundabout and roundhouse, simulators, and a free plarail play area. Our kid spent hours here and we didn’t even see all the exhibits before closing time.

The Kyoto Railway Museum is a must do for kids and train lovers of all ages. Our kid had an absolute BLAST here. One of the main attractions here is that the museum has a working roundabout and the opportunity to ride a real steam train. You can walk into the cab of many of the trains in the roundhouse. There are also driving simulators and many interactive exhibits. You do have to pay extra for the steam train and the driving simulators, but the fees are pretty affordable. Our kid wasn’t interested in the driving simulators but was beside himself with excitement when riding the steam train.

Other huge hits with kids at this museum are the train-themed playground next to the steam train outside and the indoor Plarail toy train play area. Since we don’t have Plarail tracks in the US, my kid was completely obsessed with building tracks and playing with the toy trains there. The play area is included with admission, so there’s no extra fee or timed reservation required. I could see it becoming a little chaotic on busy days with kids fighting over tracks and trains. But when we visited there were only a handful of kids playing, so there were plenty of pieces for everyone.

Besides the play area, there are train dioramas, trains on display where you can go inside the locomotive, and exhibits about building trains, how they work, and train safety. Many exhibits were hands-on, so there were plenty of buttons to press and levers to pulls. Kids especially loved the train crossing gates that came down periodically and the exhibit where they could purchase their own ticket from a ticket machine and put it through a ticket gate.

One of the coolest things that we just happened to see was the turntable for the roundabout in action at the end of the day. Shortly before museum closing, the museum staff drive the steam locomotive onto the turntable and spins it around to park it away for the night. I am not even a train enthusiast but this was very entertaining to watch. Needless to say, our train-loving kid was enthralled. He plays with a wooden Thomas the Train turntable and roundabout at school all the time, and seeing a lifesize version happening in front of him in real time was mindblowing for him. This was one of those “this is why we travel with our kid” moments.

The Railway Museum in Omiya

• Age Range: all ages!
• Location: Saitama City, about an hour from Tokyo
• Cost: 1600 yen (1500 yen if purchased in advance) for adults, 300 yen for children 3-6, 600 yen for children 6 and up, free for children under 3
• How to Get There: take the train to JR Omiya Station, transfer to the New Shuttle and get off at Tetsuo Hakubutsukan Station.
• Hours: 10am – 5pm, closed Tuesdays and New Years Holidays (12/29-1/1)

Full disclosure – we haven’t made it to The Railway Museum in Omiya yet. But it’s at the top of our list for our next Japan trip! The museum is filled with beautifully preserved steam locomotives, retired Shinkansen bullet trains, and historic railway cars that you can actually step inside. But what really caught our attention are all the hands-on activities. Kids can try train driving simulators, operate miniature trains, and younger kids have train-themed play areas. All things that could keep our kid occupied for hours. Since the simulators and miniature trains require advance reservations or lottery, it’s probably better to visit on a weekday when it’s less crowded.

Ride the Shinkansen

Riding the Shinkansen isn’t just the fastest way to travel between cities. It’s a bucket list experience for train-loving kids! After learning all about the bullet trains at Japan’s railway museums, our kid couldn’t wait to ride one himself. The whole experience of seeing the shinkansen glide into the station, getting train bentos to eat on the long train ride, and just watching the scenery whizz by was so exciting for our kid. He still gets just as excited every time we ride one.

• If you want to buy shinkansen tickets ahead of time from overseas, the easiest way is to book them through Klook.
• Another option is to book directly through the Smart-Ex website. However, note that it is a little picky about accepting foreign credit cards. I had to try a couple different cards before the transaction processed successfully.

Check out our Japan travel tips with kids for more details on how to navigate public transportation in Japan with kids!

Ride the Panda Train

The Panda Train is one of many themed trains in Japan. And in my opinion, is the cutest! Certain trains on the Kuroshio Ltd Express running from Shin-Osaka to Kii-Katsuura in Wakayama are decorated as cute panda trains. This train ride was our kiddo’s favorite activity from our trip to Japan. As a bit of background, Adventure World in Shirahama (a lovely beach town a couple hours from Osaka) used to be home to several pandas, and since Japan loves pandas, some of the Kuroshio Ltd Express trains were decorated to look like pandas too.

Ride the Dog and Cat Cable Car

For more animal-themed train rides, ride the adorable dog and cat cable cars to an old school amusement park in Ikoma! Ikoma is a great day trip from Osaka. The dog and cat cable cars are just one leg of the trip up to the Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park, but they can be an attraction in and of themselves.

Stay in a Hotel Overlooking Train Tracks

If your kid has ever dreamed of being a train station controller, they’ll love staying in a hotel overlooking the train tracks. We stayed in hotels near Tokyo Station and Osaka Station with rooms overlooking the rails, and our kid spent hours happily watching trains glide in and out of the stations. He even loved pretending to operate the track switches as trains merged onto different lines after leaving the station. Who knew looking out the window could be so entertaining? Having a front-row view of the tracks turned out to be the perfect screen-free entertainment at the hotel.

• Train view hotel in Tokyo Station: Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Marunouchi (make sure to book the train view room!)
• Train view hotel in Kyoto Station: Mimaru Kyoto Station (amazing family-friendly apartments)
• Train view hotel in Osaka Station: Hotel Hankyu Respire Osaka