Monday, August 27, 2012

Odaiba-the fun city

Think of shopping, entertainment, good food and a colourful place, it is Odaiba. It is the man-made land by the Japanese in Tokyo Bay. 

The land has been artificially created from reclaimed area in the Tokyo Bay and today it is the sprawling land of the tourists as well as the local people. Odaiba is connected to Tokyo by an unmanned monorail. It leaves behind the city of Tokyo,  takes you across the Rainbow Bridge and transports you to a new-found-land of endless fun.

 Electric cars, modern shopping malls, water park - Odaiba has all these to offer to an inquisitive trotter. As the monorail slides down its tracks, there are many stations that you can get off at Odaiba. All these stations are at stone's throw distance and very much walk-able from one to the other on the Yurikamone Line. 

There is a 150 metres high Ferry's Wheel located right at the sea side and once you are up in one of the coloured or glass-covered gondolas, it takes you up, up and up at a lazy speed, allowing you to get accustomed to each new height and letting you to look around and discover the city of Tokyo from new levels. 

The announcement system within every gondola makes you aware of the height that you have attained and what all can be seen in which direction.

 At the highest point in the Ferry's Wheel, the breeze all around is really soothing, almost wheezing into your ears as you get a bird's eye view of Tokyo, the sea and of course colourful Odaiba.

 The concrete jungle below of highrises, the elevated walkways, umpteen number of flyovers, water bodies and other structures will grab your vision. With such a view, one suddenly feels that he or she is in total control of the situation. That's a strange feeling that I had at 150 metres height above the Japanese capital. 

Odaiba Aqua City is a shopper's paradise and it houses all the major international brands and is right next to Odaiba Marine Park, that has a man-made beach.  

Besides, Odaiba boasts of a Toyota Showroom, Toyota Mega Web, which is one of the tourist attractions in Tokyo. Latest models of Toyota are displayed and you are allowed to click pictures with those. 




Located within Pallet Town Shopping Centre, Toyota Mega Web has six exhibition areas - History Garage, Universal Design Showcase, Toyota City Showcase, Ride One and Kids Hybrid Ride One. A journey through Toyota Mega Web is a memorable walk-through for an automobile freak. 


Odaiba is full of promise to entertain the young ones as it has a huge gaming centre. Vending machine dolls, teddies and soft toys can make you  go crazy. People tend to experience exciting moments at this gaming centre and in the process invest a lot of money in an effort to win, but most go back empty-handed. 

They try to pick up a fight with a Sumo wrestler, they try to visit a 3D haunted house and feel the shrills and thrills of fear, they do car racing and fight so many battles - all virtually. 

To feed the hungry mouth, other than popular food joints, crepe restaurants are there, serving hot savoury crepes or chilled, dessert crepes. 



The Fuji television station is also one of the landmark buildings in Odaiba.

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