JapanaTour: Odaiba

3:00 PM on 02.16.2012   |   Chris Walden

Today's episode of JapanaTour is brought to you by the letter φ. 

I'm not sure if you are aware, but Sega is a pretty big deal in Japan. Sega owned arcades are fairly commonplace in Tokyo, so there's no surprise that they have their own theme park. No seriously, they have their own theme park. 

We'll be speeding off via sky train to check out Odaiba, the magical concrete mass that provides the home for such a place. Even if Sega don't tickle your fancy, you may want to read up on this place should you ever wish to attend the quiet gathering people call Comiket. That in mind, I'll see you past the jump!

Back in 1853, many small island batteries were built in order to defend Edo from naval attacks. These were known as 'daiba' in reference to the cannons that were used on them, but they were otherwise referred to by their number (for example, the number six island was known as the Dai-Roku Daiba). Skipping forward to 1979, several of these islands (that hadn't already been removed) were connected by what was then known as 'landfill no.13', forming what we know now as Odaiba. It was from here that Odaiba tried to prosper, but kept failing due to under-population and constant failed government projects, hampered by the Japanese asset price bubble in the late 80's. In the 90's, Odaiba was planned to be redeveloped into the Tokyo Teleport Town, an island 'from the future' that would showcase all sorts of weird and wonderful things, as well as provide housing for 100,000 people. This was abandoned in 1995, though the island would soon catch a break when important businesses like Fuji TV relocated there, as well as the completion of places like the Tokyo Big Sight convention centre. 

Fun Fact Time!

Did you know that the voices behind the announcements at each station on the Yurikamome are recorded by famous voice actors? Each stop has a different actor, and some of them are particularly notable. My favourite has to be Hiro Shimono who does the announcements for the Shiodome stop. You may recognise him as Keima from The World God Only Knows and Yō Satō in Ben-To. 

Travel is pretty simple, and there are two main ways you can get to Odaiba by train. The first is to be really boring and take regular trains to Tokyo Teleport Station (which is at least worth visiting, just so you can bring it up in conversation), but I most certainly recommend taking the Yurikamome. This looks kind of like a monorail, though it's essentially an elevated train that crosses over the water surrounding the island. I call it the sky train, because it sounds really impressive. In all seriousness, you can get some absolutely stunning views of the area that you wouldn't get by being boring and taking the underground. You can get to the Yurikamome like so:

• From Shinjuku/Tokyo station, take the Yamanote line to Shimbashi station. From here, change to the Yurikamome. 

The Yurikamome travels in a loop, so you don't have to worry too much about getting back, so long as you can remember where you got off! While you can pay individual fares, it is worth paying for the all-day pass if you plan to do some exploring. This will cost you ¥800, and it'll definitely stop you worrying about racking up several individual fares. 

There is a lot you can get up to while you're here, but it really depends on what kind of things you enjoy doing. There's the Fuji-TV building, which you can pay a small fee to visit the observation floor if you fancy seeing the sights. You'll recognise this building immediately from the header image, as well as it having a strange sphere built into it. Inside the sphere itself is a particularly expensive Chinese restaurant, but it could be worth a visit if you fancy splashing out. An interesting place, at least to look at, is the Museum of Maritime Science. The building itself is shaped like an ocean liner, and strangely enough this place was built around one of it's exhibits, rather than the other way around. If you like swimming and are here in the summer, you can pay to use their open-air swimming pool! One of the more famous sights is the Rainbow Bridge, which is a great piece of eye candy. Feel free to walk across it if you fancy that, just be wary that it can take about 40 minutes to do so. That, and you'll be contending with the exhaust fumes, so it might be better to take a few photos! Oh, and you've got to check the Gundam out if it's that time when the planets are aligned and it's actually on display. 

Fun fact time!

Did you know that near the Ferris wheel lies a building known as Leisureland? It's a massive entertainment building, where you can get involved in activities like bowling, darts and baseball, while also housing some of the more traditional arcades. Two things of note are the haunted house and the ninja illusion house. Definitely worth checking out!

If you ride the Yurikamome to Aomi Station, you'll be able to visit Palette Town. This is kind of like the one from the popular Pokémon games, besides being spelt differently. Unfortunately I'm lying, though there are some cool things here besides just being able to say you've been. Perhaps the coolest thing here is the Venus Fort, a shopping centre modelled after 17th century Europe. The place is indoors, so it may feel a little weird with the painted sky and whatnot, but it's pretty darn cool. There's even a casino in here, if you really fancy your luck! The Sun Walk is another shopping centre here that may hold your attention, if you're interested in pets anyway! You can visit the dog café, which you can bring your canine companion to if you happen to have one. If you don't, why not find the strange yet cool dog rental service? You get to walk the dog for an hour, which is pretty neat for those pet lovers who can't have a furry friend in the house. There are also some arcades that'll keep you busy if you don't fancy any of that! If you don't have a fear of heights, you can ride the 115 meter tall Ferris wheel for some crazy views. Each rotation takes fifteen minutes, so it wont take up much of your time either. It's ¥900 per person, or ¥3000 for a whole cabin, which up to six people can use. 

It's up for debate, but aside from Comiket days, I think Joypolis is definitely the place you'll want to check out first. It's a three-floor indoor theme park owned by those crazy Sega folk, combining rides, simulators and arcade machines. Entry will cost you ¥500 for the basic pass, which you'll then need to top up with money accordingly while inside the park, depending on what rides you'll be trying out. There are a variety of all-inclusive ticket prices too, so you'll have to take your pick based on how much you think you'll be doing. 

The bottom floor is where the bigger rides are, such as the roller coaster and the Board Rider. This is also where a lot of the usual arcade fixtures are found, such as the UFO machines and various arcade cabinets. They don't have as good a selection of arcade units here compared to their main arcades, but there are some cool older games available that you won't see elsewhere. I spent a lot of my time playing an older version of Taiko no Tatsujin, but also worth checking out is the Lupin III typing game, which was pretty much a carbon copy of Typing of the Dead. Also, be sure to grab a friend and play the air hockey. Besides it being an awesome version which uses a projector to display things like power-ups and other interesting things, on both occasions me and a friend did this we garnered quite the crowd! I'm not sure if we play this game differently in the West, but after a particularly heated match in an arcade in Shinjuku, our game ended to applause and a guy high-fiving me. Pretty darn cool, no?

Fun fact time!

Did you know that the first Joypolis opened in 1994 in Yokohama? Unfortunately it was fairly short lived, as it ended up closing in 1998 during corporate restructuring. Luckily for us the one in Odaiba is still going strong, and it continues to lure in a lot of celebrities. If you fancy seeing Michael Jackson's signature, you'll find it on the wall on the way out, along with many others!

Perhaps my favourite feature of Joypolis is the simulation-style games they have here. One particularly cool one features you and a friend getting in a safari car that can move and spin, with two screens in front and behind you. As you progress through the game, the car spins, making it harder for you to shoot the incoming waves of giant insects, as well as spinning you 180 degrees to fend off action on both of the large screens. There were some very cool looking games that you'll only really be able to do if you have a good understanding of the Japanese language, such as the 4-team quiz game with a real-life host, and the Ace Attorney Investigations attraction, which has you inspect a real room to figure out how a crime happened. Unfortunately out of my scope, but seriously awesome nonetheless. 

To round off your trip, it's worth checking out Aqua City, which is a great place to eat out and explore. It's technically another shopping centre, though definitely the better one out of the lot in Odaiba. If you head all the way up to the fifth floor, you can check out the Ramen Museum, where you can also eat a variety of different types of the wonder noodle. There is also a Sony Mediage, which showcases some of their new products, as well as housing a cinema. If you read last weeks article, you'll also know that there is a Jump Shop here too! It's a pretty good place to go and wind down after a fun day at Joypolis. 

That brings us to a close, so I hope you enjoyed this look into the artificial land of Odaiba. If you want to write about your own experiences, have any further questions or even have some tips of your own, leave them in the comments below!