Odaiba, Tokyo

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If you are into cars, sports, and other products of the giant Japanese company TOYOTA, don't miss visiting its unique showroom at Odaiba.

Toyota's popular products, both old and new, plus their concept cars and other useful gadgets/appliances, etc, are all showcased in superbly creative manner at Odaiba. Just follow the signs and you will find it as it is humongous!

Keep your eyes peeled also for racing cars and other modern technological wonders the Japanese are noted fo at the motor sports square just adjacent to the Toyota showroom!

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Towards the last few days of our spring trip to Tokyo, it was raining really hard.

The experience going around Odaiba near Tokyo Harbour was still fun with the added bonus of trickles of rain massaging our tired feet and bodies after a day's walking around the bay!

Shopping is a mix of visual, physical and mental experience as you go through each boutique/shop at PALETTE TOWN (with the awesome giant FERRIS WHEEL) and Seaside Mall. The buildings are huge as always anywhere around Tokyo so don't worry as you cannot cover all of it! Aside from Palette Town there is the Odaiba Marine Park

Stick to what your family likes or need. For example, I dropped off my boys (including hubby of course) at the SEGA amusement centre and told them I would meet them after an hour also to see if they need more money (I take care of the money, LOL!).

As for me, I worked my way to the front of the building at SEASIDE MALL and started there. However, just the first shop, HONEYS caught my eye for the latest fashion and the sign SPRING SALE! That did it for me and after a few minutes, I was at the fitting room (you have to remove your shoes) trying a few items.

A few jackets, a skirt and a bag after, I moved on to the second shop, PRIMARY PATTERNS and ended with another two coats cum cardigan/hoodie type of clothing. Around AU$200 poorer I decided to just window shop from then on. That's less than an hour to go but from a distance I saw my boys and they were complaining about SEGA begin a rip-off! So all those 2000 yen for nothing they said! At least I have my clothes as souvenirs, they had small silver blue cards that read SEGA and nothing more,LOL!

The WEB is there which has TOYOTA showroom another gigantic exhibition of TOYOTA's products and lines. I shall post more on this in another page.

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the famous japanese island off tokyo bay. Daiba, literally meaning "fort", refers to some of the man made islands in the Bay of Tokyo, which were constructed in the end of the Edo Period (1603-1868) for the city's protection against attacks from the sea. The center of Odaiba is Aquacity Odaiba. It includes a shopping mall with a 300-meter-long boutique street, a multi-flex cinema that employs the latest acoustic and screen technologies, and a gourmet zone that stretches over 15,000 square meters, which is obviously the largest such zone in Japan.

Major attractions of Odaiba are dotted along the Yurikamome Line, a new unmanned traffic system that crosses Rainbow Bridge to connect Shimbashi Station with Odaiba. Attractions include the Odaiba Seaside Park that overlooks Rainbow Bridge, Fuji TV headquarters and studios where visitors can see the sets of popular TV programs, and Palette Town, a "theme park for women" with an interior modeled after a European city in the 18th century, and which accommodates over 150 shops. All of these and many other vie against each other in one location.

How to get to Odaiba
By monorail:

The entrance to the Yurikamome monorail is close to the Ginza exit of Shimbashi Station (JR Yamanote Line). It's indicated by signposts but not very clearly - look for the sign with the seagull on it ("(yuri)kamome" means "seagull").

River commuter/sea bus:

The River Commuter/sea bus runs between Odaiba and Hinode Pier (400 yen, duration 20 minutes) and between Odaiba and Asakusa (1,060 yen, duration 55 minutes.). Hours: 9:50am to 6:00 pm daily. Tel 03 3272 8600.

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...According to some people, guide books and websites, the ferris wheel at Odaiba is the largest in the world. Well, I'm not sure how they define that! If you look at my London page, you can see that I was definitely farther up in England. On the other hand, this is a true ferris wheel in that the seats aren't capsules. In any event, it was a fine ride, especially if you count the schadenfreudal pleasure of freaking out Janet, who's afraid of heights. You get good views of Tokyo Harbor and the Rainbow Bridge from the top of the ferris whhel, plus looks at the cool modern architecture of the most recent part of Tokyo to be developed. And it's all sponsored by Hello Kitty! Okay, maybe that makes you puke, but this is Japan and usually ferris wheels are for kids.

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Fuji Television Network was founded on November 18, 1957, and started broadcasting on March 1, 1959. The building was designed by Japanese Architect, Kenzo Tange. It's fully earthquake proof and took three years to build. The building is known for its unusual architecture (see photo). I am not sure but I heard that the episode of Iron Chef was done at the network.

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The bronze Statue of Liberty in Odaiba is a replica dedicated from French government in 2000 after the original French Statue of Liberty was displayed 1998-1999. The Statue of Liberty was the most popular figure for tourist including us to take a few photos.

The Museum of Maritime Science is shaped like a full sized ocean liner. The tour director mention to us if you like looking at a Japanese historical model boats the museum is the place to visit. He also mentioned the information is in Japanese but there are some basics English descriptions.

We didn’t end up visiting the museum but if you are interested of visiting and would like to find more information www.funenokagakukan.or.jp or google the Museum of Maritime Science.

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The meaning of Odaiba comes from a series of six islands fortress. It was constructed in 1853 by the Tokugawa Shogunate for the city's protection against attacks from the sea. Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships were the primary threat which had arrived in the same year.

Odaiba is a modern city on artificial islands in Tokyo Bay. It became one of the most interesting tourist destinations in Tokyo. It’s a popular shopping centre and entertainment district. The buildings at Odaiba city have futuristic architecture like the Fuji TV building, Telecom Centre. There are museums, theme parks to visits, public parks to relax or just take photos of Statue of Liberty or Rainbow Bridge or both. Even go and visit the largest Ferries Wheels in the world. If you hungry there are many restaurants to eat from or just spent your money and go shopping at Aqua City (Kim did). We only saw small glimpse of Odaiba city big picture, believe me the area is huge.