Tokyo treats for tweens

If tweens are tough travellers just daring their holiday environments (and parents) to entertain them, then Tokyo could well be ideal destination for curious primary-school aged travellers.

Tokyo has an efficient, safe and clean transport system, polite, happy and helpful people and a never-ending diary of fun activities and experiences to blow a tweenager's mind. Here are just three:

AKIHABARA – ELECTRIC TOWN:

Want six levels of arcade gaming? Want stores selling figures from every anime, console or arcade game ever?

How about specialty electronics retailers stocking every conceivable part, component, cable or diode, in every conceivable size? It's likely you'll find it at Electric Town, where all the major gaming brands and console makers have a big presence.

Oh yes, and the area takes its cosplay (costuming) very seriously, with a whole network of "maid cafes" dotted around its streets, featuring waitresses dress in maid costumes, with brightly coloured wigs and very short skirts as their major theme.

Despite the suggestions of various types of cyber fetishism here, it's all pretty clean stuff, though you might want to cast your eyes across the content of some of those arcade games before you pump your 300 Yen ($A3.17) through them. And also, many of the multi-level arcades allow smoking on some of the levels, so watch out.

MEET PEPPER AT SOFTBANK:

Softbank, Japan's tech and telecommunications giant, operates a large store in the Tokyo district of Harajuku and it's definitely a must visit spot for kids.

There, you can meet Pepper, Softbank's humanoid robot who responds to facial and vocal gestures, and it can be slightly unnerving to an adult, but a delight for kids to chat to a 'bot that wants to play a game, dance with them or sing a song.

Developer Aldebaran's goal for Pepper is to create a robot that will live alongside us as companions, rather than helpers. Softbank's robot boffins are actually watching for your interaction with Pepper, which coupled with the natural curiosity of kids had them as engaged as Pepper.

Details: aldebaran.com/en/press/press-releases/softbank-mobile-and-aldebaran-unveil-pepper

TOKYO DISNEYLAND:

Tokyo Disneyland is more sensual assault than holiday for adults, but for kids it's a never ending feast of cool rides, sweet drinks and Mickey Mouse shaped food treats.

Pizza, ice creams, sandwiches – they all get the Mickey treatment here. The locals love their Disneyland – many stop at the Disney shop just outside the train station and invest in Disney themed outfits for the day.

In fact, after a while, you'll be hard pressed to pick the Disney workers from the cosplaying locals and Disney-themed twinning teens.And the rides? Disney rides are a blast for the tweens. Splash Mountain's log cabin ride is a direct copy of the Anaheim original, complete with its steep, sudden, surprise drop into a cloud of mist.

Pirates of the Caribbean's venerable log flume ride is also featured here. Tokyo's Space Mountain is also the newest of Disney space-themed attractions, having been given a spruce up in 2007. Lights, special effects mimicking a high-speed ride through meteor showers and asteroids.

All rides post queue times – and none drop below a two-hour wait for the most popular rides – so pay the additional yen for the "fast pass", which bypasses the standby queues completely.

There are chilled water bubblers everywhere, which is incredibly thoughtful considering they probably want you to buy drinks, but shade is scarce and a hat – and a parasol if possible, is an essential.

Details: tokyodisneyresort.jp/en

* The writer travelled at his own expense.

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