Experiencing real-life jobs at a Kidzania Tokyo
For my daughter's 8th birthday, my husband and I planned a trip to KidZania Tokyo, a unique experience where children can try many different real-life jobs and even earn money doing them! It was our first visit to a KidZania center, of which there are three locations in Japan and many more around the world, but we had so much fun that it hopefully wont be our last!
KidZania Tokyo
We started out by making an online reservation for one of the two daily time slots available at the Tokyo location. There are two shifts available every day: the first from 9:00AM to 3:00PM, and the second from 4:00PM to 9:00PM. As my son is younger and the later time slot is past his usual bedtime, we chose the first. It is also an hour longer, giving the kids more chances to try different jobs.
Once our reservation was accepted, we headed over on the day to the Toyosu area by around 8:30AM, parking at the designated LalaPort Mall parking garage. The LalaPort Mall doesn't open until 10AM, so there was a single elevator open early that we had to find and ride down, and then there were staff guiding us through the mall to the KidZania area.
Although it was our first time to visit a KidZania experience, there wasn't much in the way of explanation from the staff once we checked in, so the first 30 minutes or so was spent figuring out the system. In addition, the entire complex looks like an actual 2-story city, so there was a lot to choose from and a lot going on at once!
My daughter immediately decided she wanted to experience making a flower wreath, so she signed up for that with a staff member. And since it was her birthday month, she was allowed to choose one free activity, so she didn't have to pay the KidZania currency, called kidZos, for the experience. Most jobs pay in kidZos, but a few cost them, so it's important to keep track of which is which. If it hadn't been her birthday month, she would have needed to choose a few activities that pay kidZos first before she could afford spend them on the wreath-making job, so we got lucky in this case!
As my daughter started making her wreath at the Flower Shop, it was time to find an activity for my son. Unfortunately he seemed really overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices and things going on. Activities that I thought would be an instant "Yes!" from him, like being a firefighter, or a mechanic working on cars, were rejected. I ended up choosing two activities I thought he would like and giving him a choice between the two, and that worked better. He ended up choosing to be a Car Modeler at the Car Design Studio as his first activity. As both kids were doing different things, my husband and I were switching off between the two job sites so we both got a chance to see each kid working.
Once both kids finished their first activities, we'd gotten a better handle on how things worked. My daughter quickly chose her second activity, as a Kuroneko Yamato Delivery Sales Driver, so while she was doing that, I took my son to the bank to get an account set up and a bank card where he could deposit the kidZos he received from his first job. Parents weren't allowed in the bank area with the kids, and it was quite crowded, so I wasn't able to get a picture of him making an account, but he successfully received his wallet and cash card and deposited his money with the help of the staff.
Once that chore was taken care of, I chose another two potential activities for my son, and he chose to work as a Tokyo Metro Track Maintenance Engineer, so I got him settled into that job, picked up my daughter as she finished, then my husband took her to the bank to get her account created too. Whew! Going back and forth between two kids was hard, even with two parents!
With two jobs each done, we had a better idea of how the system worked, and settled on the next one pretty quickly. This time, both kids wanted to join a magic show as a Magician, so they did this job together. By this time I had noticed that each job really emphasized authenticity in an age-appropriate way. Although every job had a uniform, it wasn't just putting it on and then having play time. The kids were guided through the job by a staff member as though they were actually working it. While working at Kuroneko Yamato, for example, my daughter actually delivered packages to other establishments; and as a Track Maintenance Engineer, my son was actually guided through replacing a replica of a subway track. So for the magic show, in addition to the adorable suit and bow-tie they wore, they actually learned a magic trick and put on a magic show for us!
While they practiced their magic trick, they were brought back to the stage area while we waited at the entrance. However, here children are never out of sight of their parents. If a job isn't done where parents can observe their children directly, there are video monitors showing them at all times. I appreciated this not only as an added safety measure, but also as a fun chance to observe the kids without us parents around. We got to watch them learn the magic trick and practice it through the monitors, then we were invited to the stage to see the magic show in person. They did the trick well and it was so cute. Bravo!
The next choice for both kids was making an ice cream at the Soft Cream Shop. For the first time, we had to make a reservation for the time instead of just being able to start right away, as it was a popular job. When you make a reservation for a job, you are allowed to go do a different job in between the time you make the reservation and the time the reserved job starts, but you aren't allowed to make a second reservation for a job until after the first is finished. So while we waited for our ice cream slot time, we went to find jobs the kids could do right away.
My daughter decided to go be a Pharmacist in the hospital on the second floor, and my son chose to be a Train Driver for Tokyo Metro. I was surprised to be able to see my daughter through the second story window of the hospital while I was downstairs with my son, so it was a treat to be able to watch both kids at once! And the pharmacist job ended up being my daughter's favorite of the day, although it was only a placeholder until it was time for the ice cream job. As for my son's Train Driver job, it was one of the jobs that included a professional picture, so before he started he posed for a photo.
Finally it was time for ice cream! While this job was technically listed as an Ice Cream Shop Customer, the kids all wore staff outfits and got to pull their own soft ice cream cone, then put toppings on it before they got to eat it. All of the food jobs had a wait time, probably because you got to eat whatever you made at the end, so they were very popular. Once they got their dessert, then it was time to go eat lunch!
Speaking of lunch, there were several choices of food, and of course, children were able to get a job in all of them. As it was lunchtime, it was quite crowded, but we were able to get our food and a table without waiting too long. And as we finished lunch, an announcement was made for a special birthday celebration in the main area for those kids who have birthdays in the same month, so I took my daughter to get her birthday badge and card from the KidZania character!
We had time for one last job before the first shift ended. My daughter chose to be a Shoe Designer at a shoe company, and my son a Pilot for ANA.
As a Shoe Designer, my daughter could chose a base shoe then use her own creativity to choose the colors and patterns for it. It was then printed out, and we could take it home to make it into a model. There was even a contest running for a chance to get your design as a real sneaker color!
Meanwhile, my son underwent airplane flying training! I have to admit I kind of wanted him to do the Flight Attendant job instead, because parents got the chance to go sit up in the mock airplane and be served. But he wanted to fly, so that was fine, too. This was another picture opportunity. We had a hard time choosing between the Train Driver and the Pilot pictures, but ended up choosing the Train Driver. Both were cute, and watching him concentrate through the monitor was fun in the case of both jobs.
In the last few minutes before the ending time, both kids had a chance to take their hard-earned kidZos to the shop. My daughter didn't see anything she wanted to buy with the amount she had, but my son chose a car eraser. Their bank cards will continue to work, so if in the future we come back, they can earn and save more money to spend on bigger ticket items.
All in all, it was a really busy but fun day for everyone. Although we parents mostly just spent it running around after our kids and holding all of the stuff they got, it was worth it to see how much fun they had at each job. And I was happy that my daughter tried a job that wasn't necessarily on her radar to do, but ended up liking it so much that we actually visited a real pharmacy and talked to a pharmacist about her experience when we got home. I also hope that in a future visit my son wont feel so overwhelmed, and can decide on his own what he wants to try. But they both got to do six jobs total, and seemed to really enjoy the experience, and I think it was a very successful day.
A few tips that I would have liked to know beforehand are that every job gives you a number of items in addition to the kidZos. Many jobs included some sort of informational sheet about what the job entailed, and quite a few also included a take-home item, like the flower wreath, or the clay car. So for parents, I recommend bringing a tote bag to put everything the kids don't want to carry in. Each job also gives a special Job Card to collect, so for each kid, buying a souvenir neck strap that will hold the Job Cards they collect, the piece of paper with their jobs and reservations listed on it to keep track of it, and in the case of a birthday, their special Happy Birthday Card that the staff will write messages on, is worth it. The strap can be reused for future visits as well. Otherwise they're juggling a lot of papers, and it can be hard for the kids to carry it all.
For those worried about the language barrier, not only is there English signage and translation for written materials for all the jobs, but a select amount of rotating activities each day can be conducted entirely in English. There is also English Wednesdays, where about half of the activities are conducted in English, and you can also find English speakers in a special color of shirt around if you have any trouble. Additionally, there is a special Guided English Tour that is a separate reservation, where you are guided through 5 activities in a row in English. So it isn't difficult at all for English-only speakers to participate!
Finally, there is a comprehensive map and explanation of the different jobs on the KidZania website, and it's recommended to have a general idea of some options before visiting. There's also an app that you can download beforehand that tells you the location of each job and the general waiting time for popular ones. Especially for the food-making experiences, reservations can get taken up really early, and so it's good to sign up for those as early as possible. However, which activities your kids want to try may surprise you, and don't hesitate to encourage them to try some of the jobs that they may not have heard of before. They might just find something new they're interested in!
KidZania has locations in Tokyo, Hyogo, and Fukuoka. Their website has comprehensive information in both Japanese and English on how to get there, ticket prices and activity information, and how to make the online reservations. There is also information for parents with young toddlers or babies for those who may visit with younger siblings.
