Odaiba - Tokyo's Most Visited Attraction

Aqua City, Venus Fort, and Rainbow Bridge. Whilereplica of France's Statue of Liberty wtching over
they may sound like the settings for the next bigits Aqua City shopping center; Venus Fort,
battle of 21st century superheroes, they are inanother shopping mall designed to resemble
actuality just three of the attractions which haveeighteenth-century Venice; and Oedo Onsen
made Tokyo's Odaiba one of the city's mostMonogatari, an Edo-period style bathing park built
frequented destinations. Odaiba stands on two ofaround a 1400-metre deep hot spring. The Odiaba
six islands which the Togukawa shogunate builtKaihin Park, near the Rainbow Bridge and the
and fortified to protect Tokyo Harbor frompossessor of one of Tokyo's two sand beaches,
Western intrusion, which arrived in the person ofis a favorite spot for romantic assignations, but
Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. It receivedswimming in Tokyo's less-than-pristine bay is not
its name from the Japanese word 'daiba," for fort.recommended. For the technologically inclined,
When Japan experienced its enormous economicOdaiba has the Miraikan, Japan's Museum of
boom in the early 1980s, the third and sixth ofEmerging Science and Innovation, the Fuji
the fortified islands were extended, and namedTelevision Building, and the Toyota Mega Web.
Tokyo Teleport Town for the ultramodernAccessing Odaiba from either the Rainbow Bridge
business city which was to be constructed onor the Yurikamome elevated train will afford
them. The economic boom went bust, however,visitors some splendid views of Tokyo Bay. The
and in the 1990s, new plans permitting Odaiba topark-like grounds and private waterfront balconies
be commercially developed saw it quickly inhabitedof the five-star Odaiba Nikko Hotel, the first built
by the entertainment and commercial enterpriseson Odaiba, offer visitors an escape from the
which make it such a huge draw today. Amongbustle of Tokyo with its. The Odaiba Nikko is a
Odiaba's most impressive attractions are theperfect spot for romantic getaways.