Yurikamome Odaiba Station

The beautiful photo of Odaiba Marine Park above is courtesy of Tsutomu Kuriyama from the Panorama Tokyo Review.

Go to the photo gallery for Odaiba Station.

The first time I heard of Odaiba was on a Japanese Drama my friend lent me to watch called 'Love Generation'. This TV show stared Kimura Takuya, a member of SMAP. There is a scene in the first episode where Kimura and a female actress Matsu Takako go out at night, walk over Rainbow Bridge and end up at the beach. After seeing that scene I knew I had to go there. Why I had that feeling I still don't know but I just knew it, so when I went to Tokyo the first place I wanted to visit was Odaiba.


Scenes from "Love Generation"	©1998 Fuji Television

Now first of all Odaiba is a beach but it's all man made on an island made by filling in Tokyo bay. The other thing is that it is usually always crowded, with couples. I guess every one else in Tokyo knows what I now know, that it is a nice place to go and relax and if you need to, get away from the exhausting speed of the city. When I went there I started from Tamachi Station (bad mistake) walked all the way to and over Rainbow Bridge and to the beach just on the other side.

Note: It costs 300 yen for an adult to walk across the bridge. You might not want to do this anyway because you walk on the same deck as the cars and the exhaust fumes are not pleasant.

Walking across Rainbow Bridge was not all that exciting or romantic like it looks on TV. The fumes from cars were not that nice and it's really noisy of course. Another option is to take the Yurikamome light rail from Shimbashi Station which goes right near the beach to Odaiba Kaihinkoen Station, but this also costs 310 yen if my memory serves me correctly. Either way it will cost you but I think it's worth it.

The first day I went to the beach it was quite hot and there were many sun bathers. The other thing to point out is naturally it's not a place for swimming. That's like going for a swim in the Hudson River in New York. You don't partly because of pollution and also I found out because of jelly fish. Maybe it was just the time of year but there were hundreds of jelly fish on the edge of the beach where it meets the water. Most were dead, and it was kind of strange to see so many. Those things aside it was worth it because the view is spectacular across Tokyo Bay and it's just a nice place to be compared to the city.

Odaiba is also a place of many attractions. Just behind the beach is a whole area of modern buildings and fancy hotels and restaurants called New Tokyo Port or Rainbow Town. It was and is a huge project to add more to Tokyo by filling in the land and hoping to make a new center in the city. The project crashed when the 'bubble' burst. Billions of dollars were taken away from the project and it was considerably downsized. There is some strange architecture in this area like out of a science fiction movie or something. One good example is the Fuji Television Tokyo Headquarters just behind Odaiba beach. Fuji is a huge television network in Japan (the same company that made the drama I watched) and many students from all over Japan visit this center when they come to Tokyo to see where their favorite stars work. You can take a small tour of the building which starts by going up to the top floor to a look out in a giant ball and then working down towards the studio.

Note: The tour costs 500 yen. Which includes a look at famous star's photos and props used in shows and a look at the stage from above.

The tour is only amusing if you have ever watched Japanese TV before, if not don't go. Just in front of Fuji Television is a huge long building that stretches almost the length of the beach called Decks. This place is great. If you have a date go there. Sometimes it can get busy but it still is really nice to have dinner there. Each restaurant in this building is outside. This means you sit on the deck looking out over the bay and Tokyo's skyline and eat your dinner by candle light. This comes at a price of course but it's still really nice. There are many regular conveniences near Odaiba as well like convenience stores and shopping and even a Subway restaurant.

Further away from the beach is Palette Town. Palette Town is home to the world's largest Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel was something like 1000 yen (10 dollars) to ride but it was still neat. Also there is the Toyota Showroom, with new and even concept cars for you to see and sit in. Virtual Reality driving simulations and an exhibit on the history of the automobile. Sega has a huge arcade world there too. I didn't get the chance to try this out but it looked really neat.

Back to the main reason I like this place is the beach. I came here many times during my time in Tokyo and enjoyed every time. Along the beach just a few meters up from the water is a boardwalk that runs the entire length of the park. This is where most people sit so the whole boardwalk is usually crowded with people. There is also a small pier that escapes a little into the bay and adds to the scenery. So what does one see at Odaiba and what are the best times to go. Well Odaiba definitely has the best sunsets in Tokyo. Just look at the photo gallery to see what I mean. The best times of day to visit are either really early in the morning, before 11:00am because then it is usually not crowded, or later in the evening just as the sun is setting. It is still crowded at this time but the view makes up for it.

Copyright ©1999 3DeeArts. All photos property of 3DeeArts Tokyo Virtual Tour.
Copy or re-use in any way is prohibited. Background photo by Tsutomu Kuriyama ©1999.
Main text by 3DeeArts ©1999/2000. Additional text by Donald Richie from
Introducing Tokyo ©1987 Kodansha International Ltd.