In approximate order:
1. Odaiba, especially:
– Joypolis amusement arcade
– DiverCity, especially the huge Gundam statue but also the souvenir-tastic shops inside and maybe the food floor for lunch, plus there are also often extra temporary attractions nearby, and there’s the Gundam shop if they are really into it
– Miraikan Science Museum
– Toyota Megaweb car showroom and museum
– Taking the Yurikamome monorail there from Shimbashi station
– Ferry out
Sony Science Centre also worth a look.
2. Tokyo Disneyland and/ or Disney Sea
3. Day trip to Fuji Q Highland theme park
4. Harajuku shopping area, including Yoyogi Park at the weekend to see people dressed up and the toy shop opposite the station
5. Conveyor belt sushi
6. Don Quijote buy absolutely everything shops (wherever)
7. Korean BBQ restaurant
8. Okonomiyaki, savoury pancakes cooked in front of you
9. Tokyu Hands variety store (a big one such as Shibuya)
10. Hakuhinkan toy shop (with a good selection of anime related stuff as well as toys)
11. Ghibli Museum (if they are already into the characters such as Totoro)
12. Two-day one night trip to Nikko, especially to go to Edo Mura samurai theme park
13. Edo Tokyo history museum, with chanko nabe (see below) if you didn’t combine that with sumo
14. Sumo match (if the timing is right, because it’s only in Tokyo for three weeks or so a year – or possibly just the museum at other times if they are really into it), with chanko nabe sumo wrestler’s stew for lunch or dinner
15. Shibuya, especially Tower Records for music, manga and other Japan-related books
16. Two or three day trip on the shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, visiting the castle, aquarium, science museums, Universal Studios Japan, etc
17. Train museum in Omiya north of Tokyo
18. Day trip to Minato Mirai, starting at Yokohama Station, especially the Nissan showroom and the Mitsubishi Industrial Museum
19. Nakano (if they are really into manga)
20. Museums in Ueno
Wouldn’t bother with:
– Zoos
– Planetariums
– Bus tour (not many actual sights to see)
– Sony Building, unless you happen to be nearby in Ginza, as it’s more like a shop nowadays than any kind of museum
– Seeking out particular temples or shrines (there will be interesting ones almost everywhere you go)
– Akihabara (unless you really plan carefully where you will go)
– Roppongi
– Sanrio Puroland (even if they really really love Kitty Chan, they’d be better off just going shopping)
– Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Sky Tree (unless it’s at the end of a long trip so they’ll actually recognise what they are looking down at)
– Taking a boat (as you can see very little from the water)
– Onsen (hot springs), unless your teens are unusually open-minded about getting naked in front of their family and strangers
Kanto with Kids 