City Spotlight: Odaiba

Odaiba is an island created from reclaimed land; it's part of Tokyo. Actually, it's my favourite part of Tokyo. The main reason is that it's near the ocean, and it feels quite open - you're not surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers.

There are various attractions in the area, which I won't try to enumerate in full. Rather, I'll just tell you the things I've enjoyed there.

Getting there

Two nice ways to get to Odaiba are by boat or monorail. I think they're better during the daytime, if the weather is nice, but you can get some nice night views too.

To take the boat, go to 'Hinode Pier', in walking distance from Hamamatsucho station. You can take a boat to Ariake (where Tokyo Big Sight, the exhibition centre, is), or to Palette Town, both in Odaiba. It's 400 yen for adults.

To take the Yurikamome monorail, there are various stops; I use the one at Shimbashi station.

Both routes are really lovely and have good views of Tokyo Bay.

Palette Town

This is a kind of entertainment complex. It has a shopping mall (Venus Fort) with quite a funky interior. There are game centres, a car expo centre, and the giant Ferris wheel. I went on the Ferris wheel last night; they are having a Hello Kitty promotion, so the wheel is decorated with little bows, and you can enjoy Kitty herself bothering you with constant cutesy little comments as you ride.

To be honest, I was not that into this place; but if you are fairly new to Tokyo, I think it will be interesting.

Mirai-kan

Mirai-kan is a science and technology museum. It's interesting, if you have a passing interest (or more) in science. I recall that when I went here, the first exhibits we looked at were so technical as to be completely meaningless to me; however the rest of the museum proved interesting and intelligible. Hahaha... I liked seeing the display on the International Space Station.

Oedo Onsen Monogatari

Okay, some people describe it as kitsch, but I still enjoyed it. This is like a hot spring 'theme park', which is decorated with a theme of 'old-style Tokyo'. It's a great place if you want a hot spring that is tourist-friendly and unthreatening - there's some English signage, etc. You can also enjoy some sections with both males and females together, enjoy nice foot baths, and experience little fish nibbling your feet! 

I may dedicate a future post to describing this place.

Giant Gundam

I don't know when this Gundam will be taken down - soon, I believe - but as I mentioned in this post, there's a giant fighting mobile suit in Shiokaze Park at the moment. Shiokaze Park itself is rather nice for enjoying some harbor views.

Fuji TV building

In my opinion, this is better for people who know a lot about Japanese TV and TV stars; for me, the building was mostly interesting for its architecture.

Aqua City/Decks

Here you can see a fake Statue of Liberty. Hahaha... so, what this is, is a big shopping complex, which also has a movie theatre and Sega Joypolis, where I bought my Tails. ^_^ Sega Joypolis is basically a game centre, which also has a few rides and such; it seems a bit overpriced but I was attracted by the branding, being a Sega fan in my youth.

The best thing here is to sit at a restaurant on the deck and look over Tokyo Bay. It's especially beautiful at dusk. There is also a little man-made beach at the base of the building.

You'll hear a lot of people rubbish Odaiba beach, and it's certainly true that nobody dares touch the water - it is Tokyo Bay, after all. But it's atmospheric and quite beautiful. Last night I sat at a little cocktail place and had a Hawaiian cocktail, enjoying the balmy summer night and the lights of the Rainbow Bridge. Very very nice.