Day 26 - Tokyo (Odaiba Island)

The weather's been quite clear and warm these past few days, and today was no different. As was our  constant morning routine of waking, getting ourselves ready and heading down to Okachimachi Station, the starting point for all of our adventures here in Tokyo. Today we planned to visit Odaiba Island.

Odaiba Island is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, originally designed as a Defensive point for Tokyo in the 1850s, but is now a very popular commercial, residential and leisure area. To get to Odaiba Island, we caught the train on the Yamanote line to Shimbashi Station, then walked a few hundred metres across to the adjoining Shimbashi Yurikamome Station, to catch the 'Yurikamome'. The Yurikamome is a fully automated transit system; it's not a train, Maglev or a Monorail. It has rubber-tired wheels and runs on an elevated concrete track guided by the side walls.

The Yurikamome.

As it is run completely by computers, there is no driver on board, meaning that you can sit in the front seat just behind the windscreen...and that's what we did. 

Look Ma, no hands!

Here's a video that I took from the front seat of the Yurikamome:

The total length of the line is 14 kilometres and crosses over to the island under the Rainbow Bridge; however, we  didn't travel the full length of the line, electing to stop at Daiba Station.

It seems like there are Ferris Wheels everywhere in Japan, even on Odaiba Island.

When we arrived, we got our bearings and headed across to a full-sized Gundam RX-0 stature which is a whopping 19.7 metres tall. It transforms between Unicorn and Destroyer modes a number of times during the day. I'm not much of a Gundam fan, but the detail in this replica was incredible and the whole thing was pretty impressive.

What the?

Gundam RX-0

Incredible detail.

We then ventured across to the History Garage which amazingly was free entry. It contained an interesting and very diverse assortment of cars ranging from the World Rally Champion Toyota Celicas, through to the first Skyline GTR model, a Messerschmitt KR-200 and a Toyota 2000GT to name a few. It was pretty small, but well laid out and you could get right up close to the cars. Did I mention that it was free?

Josh tries on this car for size.

I'd like to see Kyle try to sit inside the car.

Messerschmitt KR-200

The Toyota 2000GT.

The first model Skyline GTR?

We then headed across to the Toyota Megaweb. The Megaweb is essentially a giant showroom containing Toyota cars available for purchase as well as heaps of other activities including racing simulators, prototype futuristic cars, Toyota's Lemans-winning TS050 racer, free Segway tours (on Toyota-branded Segways), and even a range of wheelchair activities such as wheelchair basketball that could be tried by all. 

Toyota has developed a purpose-built Taxi that is used extensively across Japan. 

The Le Mans-winning Toyota TS050.

This is nothing like the old Toyota Crowns that we used to see in Australia.

Maureen, Sky, Kyle and I all tried out the racing car simulators, whilst Joshua was the official photographer. 

Full-on concentration.

Josh and Kyle also tried out the wheelchair basketball and whilst they were pretty successful in shooting hoops from the seat, manoeuvring the chair around the half-court was quite difficult for them both. 

It was quite an amazing place, and we spent quite some time there.

We then headed over to the Venus shopping mall for lunch, then we tried our luck at winning soft-toys in the arcade with hundreds of claw-machines. 

Venus Shopping Plaza.

Maureen has an altercation with a local Bear.

Kyle tries his luck with a Claw Machine.

Then we visited the Diver City's Gundam Base, which is essentially a Gundam museum/shop showcasing Gundam models from the very first RX-78-2 Gundam introduced in 1979, through to the numerous updates that have occurred over the years since.

Afterwards we walked to the interesting Fuji Television Headquarters building designed by Kenzo Tange. The building looks like a Meccano Set with missing pieces; however, it contains a giant sphere within its structure that serves as an Observation Deck. 

Fuji Television Headquarters; like I said, it's a Meccano set with missing pieces.

It certainly makes for some interesting photo angles though.

Heading up to the Observation Deck in the Fuji Television Headquarters Building.

The building is pretty impressive to see, mostly because it is so unusual. The Observation deck gave us great views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo City. We also witnessed a spectacular orange sunset.

Lovely views from inside the Fuji Television Headquarters Sphere.

As the sun dips down behind the buildings, you can make out Mount Fuji to the right of the photo.

After descending from the Observation Deck, we walked to the island's foreshore, to capture some nice dusk photos of the Rainbow Bridge and a replica Statue of Liberty. 

The Rainbow Bridge joins Odaiba island to the mainland and was completed in 1993. It is 798 metres long with a main span of 580 metres. While its official name is; the 'Shuto Expressway No.11 Daiba Route - Port of Tokyo Connector Bridge', the name 'Rainbow Bridge' was decided by the public. The bridge can be crossed by vehicles, the Yurikamome and pedestrians.

Looking back towards the Meccano set as we walk towards the foreshore of Odaiba Island.

The beautiful Rainbow Bridge. 

The replica Statue of Liberty is 1/7th scale of the original version on Liberty Island and was originally erected in 1998 as a temporary tribute to Japan’s relationship with France, but the statue became so popular that she was made a permanent feature in the year 2000. Interestingly, the Odaiba Statue of Liberty is that she is not the only one in Japan, there are others in Shimoda and Osaka.

The replica Statue of Liberty against the dusk sunset.

After our busy day at Odaiba Island, we realised that there was still more to be seen there, so we plan on a revisit before we head back on Christmas Day. We then headed back to Okachimachi for dinner at a local street stall, before going home.

Kebabs in Japan?