Travel Backlog - Odaiba Part 1

6 May (Wednesday, makeup holiday)
Trip to Odaiba (お台場) via Yurikamome Line
It had been rainy weather on the final two days of Golden Week, but I still decided to make the trip to Odaiba on Wednesday. Taking the JR Yamanote Line from Shibuya to Shimbashi (新橋), then changing to the Yurikamome Line. The Yurikamome (ゆりかもめ, Japanese name for black headed seagull) runs across the Rainbow Bridge, making it a scenic way to visit Odaiba :)

Left: Odaiba Station, from the destination platform.
Right: On the Yurikamome, moving out from Shimbashi Station
heading towards the Rainbow Bridge.

Rainbow Bridge
A suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay, spanning 570 metres and carrying three transportation lines on two decks. The upper deck is the Shuto Expressway No. 11 Odaiba Route, and the lower deck Route 357, as well as the Yurikamome automated train.

The bridge is illuminated by rainbow colored lights and looks most beautiful at night, but alas I didn't stay til late. The picture below left is actually taken on my second trip to Odaiba, from the 24th floor of the Fuji TV Station (see later entry) :)

DECKS Tokyo Beach & Aqua City Odaiba
DECKS and Aqua City were the only places I could visit that day. Because I didn't bring my umbrella, I could only move around these shopping complexes without getting drenched :(

Daiba Ichome (台場一丁目), a whole floor nostalgic Japan

Left: That Ultraman ride brings back memories of my childhood. Right: Muscle Park, lots of physical game show activities for the family

I must be really bored that day, cos I spent 1600yen on lunch
at Monster Burger, which was just beside Muscle Park.
The potatoes are kawaii though :)

More Kawaii Stuff

Statue of Liberty (replica)
While the two original sister statues are found in New York and Paris, hundreds of other Statues of Liberty have been erected worldwide.

23 May (Saturday)
2nd Trip to Odaiba via Rinkai Line
The Rinkai Line (臨海線) connects to the Saikyo Line (埼京線), which means I had a direct route from Shibuya Station to Toyko Teleport Station at Odaiba. It is faster and I don't need to change lines, but since it's a subway line, there is nothing much to see along the way.

Shiokaze Park - 1:1 Scale Gundam!
One of the big reason I decided to visit Odaiba again was to see the life-sized RX-78-2 Gundam under construction. For those who don't know Japanese anime, Gundam is a classic Japanese animation featuring a now iconic giant robot (a "mobile suit", to be precise) of the same name.

Andrew went to see the first 1:1 Gundam at Mt. Fuji, but he was disappointed by the manufacturing. This one is made of metal and you can tell that modern engineering techniques are being used to good effect. Sadly, I would be gone from Japan when construction is due in July.

My iPhone takes crappy images. Better photos can be found at this blog.

Fuji TV Station
The architecture of the Fuji TV Station is most impressive for both its sheer size and amazing Tange design. Other than that, I didn't really see much point in visiting yet another Japanese TV Station :P

Hint: To save 500 yen and view the central tokyo bay area for free, go up to the 24th floor using the side elevator. It's only one floor below the paid observation deck (the round ball thing you see below), and the view is just as nice.

Kenzo Tenge, may he rest in peace, did another great job
with this stupendous architectural design.

Venus Fort (inside Palette Town)
If I were I girl, I'd have loved this place for the sheer number of fashion, jewelry, product shops and restaurants. But the only thing that interests me about Venus Fort was the amazing interior decor. With an artificial sky ceiling and streets that look like 17-18th century Europe, this was a beautiful, dream-like place.

Ferris Wheel and Zepp (inside Palette Town)
The Giant Sky Wheel at Odaiba at 115 metres tall was the world's biggest until 1999. The Singapore Flyer is current record holder at 165m, but won't be for too long, when either the Great Berlin Wheel (185m) or Beijing Great Wheel (208m) finishes construction.

The queue for Zepp Tokyo (below right) goes around along the outside of Palette Town for a few hundred meters in organized pockets of mostly young girls. Zepp music halls around Japan play host to many international tours, and are also popular stops for local musicians. As far as I could determine, there were no concerts schedule for the weekend, wonder who the crowd was there for.

Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation)
I spent most of the day at the Miraikan (未来館). This place is more than just a Science Museum for Future, Information Science and Technology for Society and Life Science. All the exhibits are displayed in both Japanese and English (including the many interactive consoles which made cutting edge scientific concepts more accessible to the public). If I spoke Japanese, I could have talked to the research staff who worked there.

Entry to the Museum is free every Saturday for those aged 18 and under. Normal entry for adults is 600 yen, but I paid a total of 1800 yen for the two additional exhibits currently on display.

The exhibits were interesting and informative, but sadly, I missed all the scheduled shows, which I didn't know had to be reserved on a first-come first-serve basis. Still, there was too much for me to see in one afternoon, and I could probably spend another few afternoons back here.

Here's a taste of what's inside. More updates in a follow up post. Next up, cars and robots.

The "Geo-Cosmos" spherical display, 6.5m in diameter
with 1 million LEDs projecting synthesized images of clouds
updated daily by multiple weather satellites

Left: This is what a private cabin inside the
International Space Station looks like.
Right: This is what a toilet inside the ISS looks like.