Tokyo 2019: Odaiba Island

After my quick stop in Shibuya I went down to Odaiba Island in Tokyo Bay. Odaiba is an artificial island and since it’s oftentimes not as crowded as other parts of Tokyo it’s a great place to go if you want to take a break from the city but not go too far away from it. I arrived on Odaiba at Tokyo Teleport Station and upon stepping out of the station I could see the island’s Ferris wheel. People have told me that the view from the Ferris wheel is really good at sunset and at night but somehow on all my visits to Tokyo I’ve never gotten around to taking a ride on it. I then walked over to the life-sized Gundam Statue that’s outside of the DiverCity Tokyo building. Although I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the various Gundam anime series, I do enjoy the giant mecha genre and I’ve always paid this statue a visit whenever I’m on Odaiba.

Rounding the corner of the DiverCity building, I followed the Promenade Daiba to the overlook facing the main part of Tokyo. This promenade is a nice place for a walk and it’s particularly scenic at night with the view of the Tokyo skyline in the distance. Down at the end of the promenade is a spot looking out on Tokyo and off to the side you can see a small replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Not too far from the Statue of Liberty replica is Odaiba Beach, the only beach I’ve ever seen within Tokyo itself. As a beach it’s just average, but it’s a good place to relax and unwind after a long day of sightseeing. I remember I bought a drink from one of the vending machines by the Sunfish restaurant and found a place to sit along the boardwalk for a few minutes while enjoying the view of Tokyo. It was around 5:00pm and I knew that if I left Odaiba right then I’d be crushed in Tokyo’s normal rush hour traffic, so I took my time. Across the water from Odaiba Beach I noted a small green area that was connected to the rest of the island. That placed turned out to be Daiba Park, which is the subject of tomorrow’s post.