Odaibaお台場

A new amusement hotspot. A futuristic, unmanned traffic system smartly connects it to the rest of Tokyo.

Odaiba was born from reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay in the southeastern part of Tokyo. It attracts mostly young people as a new amusement spot in the city. The name Odaiba means a "platform site." It derives its name from the installation of a platform for a marine cannon battery that was constructed in haste to meet the sudden need for the defense of Tokyo (called Edo at that time) after the unexpected appearance of the black steel ships from the United States in 1853 commanded by Commodore Perry.

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.