Things To Do in Odaiba – A Comprehensive Guide
Odaiba, a southern district of Tokyo, is a must-visit destination for tourists traveling to Tokyo. Located in Tokyo Bay, this is an artificial island built in the Edo period (1603-1867) for the purpose of avoiding attacks of waterborne troops. After years of development, Odaiba has risen into a modern and dynamic district attracting thousands of visits annually. Coming here, visitors can not miss those bustling shopping centers, special activities on the beaches or a variety of unique places of interest in the Japanese capital city. Have you planned for your trip yet? If not, let Question Japan make suggestions on things to do in Odaiba.
Top things to do in Odaiba
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless
When mentioning museums, we often envision vast white wall white walls with hung-on artworks in the frames or sculptures in the open space. Then, your duties are looking at the works, reading the description and moving on to the next picture. However, MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless in Odaiba Tokyo promises to bring about a completely different experience where the artworks are created by digital technology, forming a borderless world.
The view outside the museum
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This museum is a collaborative project of MORI Building Limited Company and one of the leading digital art company – TeamLab. “Borderless” is the purpose of this project. It aims to remove the limit among artworks and viewers by allowing viewers to be a part of the artwork. Interactive artworks have absolutely no borders to separate them from other works. Some extend beyond the exhibition room and spill out into the corridor; some overlap other works; and some even merge with others. Because of no borders, the works are always in the state of constant changes. Those artworks are outputs of 5200 computers and 470 projectors, forming 5 fantastic worlds: “Borderless World”, “teamLab Athletics Forest”, “Future Park”, “Forest of Resonating Lamps”, and “EN Tea House”.
Borderless World
Artworks in Borderless World have no order of appearance; each of them seems to be of different topics, but they integrate into each other in harmony. Moreover, due to no boundaries, viewers can consider themselves an artwork.
“Lost, Immersed and Reborn”
One of the most noticeable work is “The Forest of Flowers and People”. The theme of this is “Lost, Immersed and Reborn”. In this world, flowers blossom and change by seasons. Viewers will have chance to see the life cycle of a flower: budding, growing, blossoming, withering and fading away. In the exhibition room full of light, you look like a colorful flower in a huge forest. If you stay still, flowers blossom fully. When you touch or step on flowers, those petals will be withered, shed and faded away.
teamLab Athletics Forest
TeamLab Athletics Forest is the most interactive part of this museum. As it targets visitors’ understanding of the world through the body and thinking of the world three-dimensionally, you have to be physically active to achieve the utmost experience. You should try climbing up the colorful walls or jumping on the interactive trampoline that reflects images of the universe.
Future Park
Future Park is where visitors can unleash their creativity. Sketch aquarium is the most favorite in this area. Tourists’ activities are coloring pictures of marine animals or creating their own. Then, their “works” are projected on the giant screens of the aquarium. What makes this so amazing is that your animals can swim and interact with other tourists’ ones. By this way, tourists can feel their power of creative imagination. Each visitor’s drawing creates the marine world inside the exhibit room, so Future Park’ s concept is “co-creation” space.
Future Park: Dance! Art Exhibition, Learn & Play!
Forest of Resonating Lamps
The Forest of Resonating Lamps is one of the most breathtaking exhibit room in the museum. It bears much resemblance to the lantern festival in real life. The darkroom, enlightened by thousands of lights, looks more sparkling with the reflection in the mirror floor. When viewers stand close to a lantern, it lights up then spreads out to surrounding lamps until all are lit. As only a limited number of visitors are allowed to enter the space at one time for a short period of time, you should make effective use of your every moment to take selfies before time’s up.
EN Tea House
After exploring those mentioned areas, you should finalize your trip by coming by EN Tea House to have a relax. The menu comprises many kinds of traditional Japanese teas. After the server pours tea into your cup, a light flower blooms in the cup from the state of bud to full bloom. The petals starts to scatter as you drink, and disappears when the cup is empty.
Oedo Onsen Monogatari
Onsen is nearly a must-visited destination for any tourist to Japan. So, if you are spending your time in Odaiba, where should you go to find one? Let Question Japan make recommendation. It is Oedo Onsen Monogatari – one of Odaiba points of interest. Located near Tokyo Bay, this complex is the biggest hot spring theme park in Tokyo, consisting of a cuisine area, a amusement area and a system of indoor and outdoor hot spring baths.
In Oedo Onsen Monogatari, visitors hav to wear kimono all day.
In order to make the most experience of Japanese tradition, visitors have to wear Yukata – a summer kimono all the time in this complex. Those traditional clothes are for free rent. They are of different sizes, fresh, unique colors, and patterns.
Enjoy Onsen in your own way with 13 different types of hot spring baths, the water source of which is taken from 1400m underground. Surely, this experience will relieve your stress after a long day wandering around Odaiba.
A hot spirng bath in Oedo Onsen Monogatari
After indulge yourselves in the baths, you can return to the main hall to enjoy many other services such as massage or try local food and buy souvenirs … Moreover, you can feel the most Japanese culture by enjoying art performances, including comedy performances and music.
National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
If you are a science lover, then take the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, known as Miraikan, in the list of Odaiba attractions. This museum looks like a spacecraft in the outside with an entrance of four-storied height. Unlike other conventional science museums, Miraikan focuses on science and innovations, all of which reflect the life in the future.
Miraikan, National museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan
There are 3 permanent exhibitions in this museum:
- Explore the frontiers: This area provides information about space, solar system, the Earth, and major catastrophe of the Earth.
- Discover your Earth: This area uses cutting-edge scientific data to illustrate all the connections in life and the environment. What attracts visitors is the giant ball hung in the ceiling, which symbolizes the Earth. It is called GeoCosmos, formed by hundreds of LED screens.
- Create your future: Visitors can imagine a society in the future and learn the method of making it come true.
Besides three exhibitions, robot is another highlight of this museum. You must have heard of ASIMO robot – manufactured by HONDA. By visiting this museum, visitors have a chance to see ASIMO in person. This robot can walk, dance and even run like a human without colliding into others by estimating the paths. The latest version of ASIMO even possesses the ability to distinguish individual speech of several people at the same time.
Toyota Mega Web
When making the lists of things to do in Odaiba, don’t forget Toyota Mega Web. It is one of the Toyota showrooms in Palette Town, where you can “see, ride and feel cars”. There are three areas, corresponding with three experiences this car showroom provides tourists. In the “see” area, visitor can contemplate the latest Toyota car models. The “feel” area provides information about Toyota’s history and exhibit display models about car safety, environment and other topics about car. The “ride” area is where visitor can trial riding cars in the showroom. Toyota Mega Web is daily open from 11 a.m to 9 p.m.
A corner inside Tokyo Mega Web
Venus Fort
If you have just finished your Toyota Mega Web tour, then move to Venus Fort nearby for shopping. This shopping centers cater environment facilities and non-tax stores. However, what makes it stand out from other shopping malls is its architecture. Venus Fort simulates Europe in Medieval period. This shopping mall brings about the feeling of being lost in old streets of Europe, which is totally different from Asian bustling streets outside. In the middle of main hall lay a fountain and four statues of goddesses.
Venus Fort Odaiba: Shop at the Medieval European Village in Tokyo!
The dome above the fountain is the most eye-catching points of this center. Its colors changes as time passes. In the afternoon, the dome is bright blue; it turns reddish when the sun sets and turns into a starry night sky when evening comes. It is one of the most popular selfie spots in Odaiba.
Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge is one of Tokyo symbols besides Tokyo Sky Tree. It connects mainland Tokyo with Odaiba, and receives recognition as the most romantic and beautiful bridge in the city. The supporting tower of the bridge is painted white in harmony with the skyline of central Tokyo. In the evening, the bridge is illuminated by 3-color solar lights from the suspension towers. The red, white and green lights combine with the blue ones on the support pillars below the bridge to create vibrant rainbow-like colors. Furthermore, the bridge is more dreamy and fanciful with the reflection of colorful lights from the water surface. That’s why its name is “Rainbow”. If you are wondering what to do in Odaiba in the evening, visiting Rainbow Bridge for panoramic view of Tokyo bay is not a bad choice.
Rainbow Bridge at night
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Frequently Asked Questions besides things to do in Odaiba
- How to get to Odaiba?
How to get to Odaiba depends on some factors like the destinations, budget, pickup points, etc. However, Question Japan will suggest some of the most popular routes to get to Odaiba:
– Take the Yurikamome Monorail from Tokyo and Asakusa
– Take the Rinkai Line from Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro
– Bus to Odaiba:
- Odaiba Rainbow Bus and Km Flower Bus (From Shinagawa and Tamachi)
- Toei Bus (From Monzen Nakacho)
- Toei Bus (From Oimachi and Omori Stations)
- Limousine bus from Haneda Airport, or a water-bus from Asakusa
Conclusion
Is Odaiba worth a visit when you’re in Tokyo, Japan? If you’ve never been there, we highly recommend you should do it once to witness the vast development of science and enjoy the tranquility and tradition in the middle of a modern city ! Now, you have known things to do in Odaiba when you come here to visit. Hopefully, this blog will give you useful information about the place. And don’t forget to visit us regularly to read more about Things to do in Japan.
