Shizuoka City With Kids:which stop is for which child.

A city zoo with a small ride park inside. Nihondaira Zoo opens 9:00 to 16:30, last entry 16:00, and charges 620 yen from high school up and 150 for an elementary or junior high student, with preschool children free, and children from Shizuoka City free on showing proof. Its ride park charges by the ride: the roller slider costs 200 yen for an adult and 100 for an elementary child, the carousel and the water play 300, and the small rides 100. The slider turns away sandals, rubber shoes and bare feet, and lends shoes at 100 yen. For a child whose energy builds when movement is restricted, a zoo walked at the child’s own pace spends it before a bus asks them to sit. A five-year-old rides the slider two to a mat with a parent, since children ride alone only from elementary school and none under 4 may ride; a twelve-year-old chooses the order of the animals.

Who it costs.The Sprinter past age 2, since the zoo lends strollers at the entrance and east gates, 300 yen a time, only for children up to 2 whose neck is steady, so an older child who tires needs the family’s own stroller or planned rests.

How to make it work.The zoo closes on Mondays, moving to the next weekday when Monday is a public holiday, and from December 29 to January 1. From JR Shizuoka Station, buses leave stop 11 at the north exit; from JR Higashi-Shizuoka, the Shizutetsu Justline Nihondaira line takes 10 minutes, and a direct bus runs on open days at 190 yen one way for an adult and 100 for a child, or 350 and 180 round trip. Five nursing rooms with diaper beds stand around the zoo, and parking costs 620 yen a visit.

A hilltop shrine reached by ropeway or by 1,159 stone steps. Kunozan Toshogu has no road up. From the foot of the hill, 1,159 stone steps climb the front approach in about 20 minutes. From Nihondaira, the Nihondaira Ropeway crosses in 5 minutes, and about 80 stone steps lead from its Kunozan station to the main shrine; there is no walking route between Nihondaira and Kunozan. For a child whose energy builds when movement is restricted, the steps are the point, since every one of them is climbed rather than waited through. A six-year-old rides the ropeway and climbs the last 80; a teenager can climb all 1,159 from the foot and ride the ropeway out one way.

Who it costs.Any family with a stroller, and the Sprinter. The way to the main shrine is stone steps only, with no slopes, so strollers and wheelchairs cannot be used, and from the ropeway station the grounds are all steps.

How to make it work.The ropeway costs 1,250 yen round trip from junior high up and 630 for a child from age 4 through elementary school, or 700 and 350 one way. The shrine charges 700 yen from high school up and 300 for an elementary or junior high student, and the museum, 30 to 40 minutes, another 600 and 300. The first car leaves Nihondaira at 9:10 and worship starts at 9:00, while the last admission moves with the season, so go in the morning. A Shizutetsu Justline bus marked Nihondaira Ropeway runs from JR Shizuoka Station to the ropeway, and the parking lot at Nihondaira station, about 200 spaces, is free.

A pine grove whose free center sets the length of the visit. Miho no Matsubara is a pine grove, and Mihoshirube is its culture center, free to enter and open every day, 9:00 to 16:30, though parts can be shut for maintenance. The center takes 30 minutes to an hour; with the Hagoromo pine and the Kami-no-michi, a pine avenue of about 500 meters where buses cannot run, the visit takes 1 to 1.5 hours. For a child who depletes through sensory input, a visit of known length on a path closed to buses lets the family set the pace and leave on time. A seven-year-old walks the avenue to the Hagoromo pine; a teenager takes the full hour and a half.

Who it costs.The Sprinter, since from the Miho Matsubara Iriguchi bus stop the walk is about 15 minutes; on weekends and public holidays, the Sekai Isan Miho Matsubara stop cuts it to about 5.

How to make it work.From JR Shimizu Station, a bus bound for Miho takes about 25 minutes. The center has no restaurant, but its shop sells drinks and snacks, and food can be eaten in the first-floor earthen passage, on the second-floor terrace and on the roof. A diaper table and a baby chair are in the first-floor multipurpose restroom. A footbath opens on winter weekends and public holidays, 9:30 to 16:30. Hagoromo Park’s parking lot behind the center is free, with 173 spaces. The Miho Hagoromo Line water bus loops Miho, Hinode by S-Pulse Dream Plaza, and Ejiri by JR Shimizu Station, about 35 minutes from Hinode to Miho, but its Miho landing is about 30 minutes on foot from the center, or a 5-minute bus ride and the same 15-minute walk.

Castle buildings and a garden, each with its own small ticket. Sunpu Castle Park is about 15 minutes on foot from JR Shizuoka Station. Three paid facilities stand in it: the Higashi-Gomon gate with the Tatsumi Yagura turret, the Hitsujisaru Yagura turret and the Momijiyama Garden, open 9:00 to 16:30, last entry 16:00. One ticket for all three costs 360 yen for an adult and 120 for an elementary or junior high student; singly they cost 200, 100 and 150, and 50 each for a child. For a child who depletes through sensory input, a ticket per building lets the family stop after one, having paid little. An eight-year-old takes the gate and one turret; a teenager takes all three.

Who it costs.The Sprinter in the garden’s mountain section, whose paths are narrow and stepped, though the garden’s main paths take a wheelchair. The Higashi-Gomon has a slope to its entrance and some steps inside.

How to make it work.The paid facilities close on Mondays, though they open on a Monday public holiday with no substitute day off, and from December 29 to January 3. Shin-Shizuoka Station is about 12 minutes on foot, and the park pairs with Ru Ku Ru on a day kept near the station.

The rooms of a cartoon family, rebuilt, in Shimizu. Chibi Maruko-chan Land, on the third floor of S-Pulse Dream Plaza in Shimizu, the author Sakura Momoko’s hometown, is the only permanent Chibi Maruko-chan museum in Japan, open since 1999. It recreates the Sakura family’s rooms, Maruko’s 3-4 classroom, a park and a secret base, with a theater room and an archive of the author’s work. It opens 365 days a year, 10:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:30, at 1,200 yen from junior high up and 700 for a child from 3 through elementary school; 2 and under enter free. For a child who depletes through unfamiliarity and unconfirmed structure, rooms from a story the child knows can be named one by one before the door. A five-year-old finds the classroom; a teenager reads the archive.

Who it costs.The Dynamo, since eating and drinking are not allowed inside and Maruko’s room is a set seen from behind a rope. The ticket allows same-day re-entry for its holder, so a child can step out and come back.

How to make it work.At Dream Plaza, Kids Paradise is an indoor athletic room with a ball pool for ages 1 to second grade, and umitomo park is for ages 0 to 3. Strollers are lent free at the main building’s first-floor information desk, for use inside the building only, and there are a nursing room, a mamaro baby-care room, children’s restrooms and baby beds. Outside, the Shimizu Marina Circus amusement park has a Ferris wheel, and some rides set height limits or need a guardian; Shimizu Marine Park beside it has an artificial beach for water play. The sand-art corner costs 600 yen. Same-day re-entry lets the play rooms come between two halves of the visit. Photography is generally allowed inside, provided other visitors are not disturbed, and Dream Plaza lists the Land for ages 3 and up.

A science museum a minute from the station, with strollers to borrow. Shizuoka Science Museum Ru Ku Ru fills floors 8 to 10 of the Espatio building, 1 minute on foot from the south exit of JR Shizuoka Station. It opens 9:30 to 17:00, last entry 16:30, needs no booking, and charges 520 yen for an adult, meaning 15 and over but not junior high, and 120 for an elementary or junior high student. Preschool children enter free, and so do children who live or go to school in Shizuoka City, with the city children’s card. On the 10th floor, the tornado exhibit spins a column of mist. For a child who depletes through sustained travel-style walking and standing, a museum a minute from the train keeps the walking for the exhibits. A four-year-old starts on the 10th floor with a parent beside them; a teenager covers all three floors.

Who it costs.A parent alone with two young children, since preschool and lower-elementary children must come with a guardian, and staff ask parents to keep watching during the hands-on exhibits.

How to make it work.The museum closes on most Mondays, on a later day when Monday is a public holiday, on some other dates and over the New Year, all marked on the calendar on its own website. Strollers and wheelchairs are lent at the 10th-floor reception, the nursing room is on the same floor, and every floor has a diaper table in its multipurpose restroom. The Multi Room on the 8th floor is a rest area with more than 100 seats, though no food is sold. Shizuoka Hobby Square, also 1 minute from the south exit by a covered deck with an elevator, opens 11:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 18:00 on weekends and public holidays, and closes on Mondays, or on the Tuesday after a Monday public holiday.