Odaiba Sightseeing and Fake Beach

I never heard of Odaiba until I set foot in Tokyo, and Odaiba was pointed out to me on the bus ride to the dorm.  From what I saw, it was next to the water and there was a boardwalk and colourful awnings along a 2 story building facing the water.  It seemed nice enough, I never thought about it much after that.

But then my friend Michael suggested we go there because he'd been there before and its super gorgeous.  So while a boatload of the other students went to Harajuku, me and Michael went to Odaiba.  Since I'd already gone to Harajuku, and going with a big group of people wasn't very appealing, I decided to forgo that trip.  I'd rather go back to Harajuku another day on my own, or with 1 or 2 friends.



Anyways, so we set out from our dorm to hop on the train to Odaiba.  We would have to make about...3 transfers which would take approximately 45 minutes.  We went to our closest train station, Midorigaoka and then transfered at Ookayama to transfer again at Meguro and then transfer to the JR Line.  Oh did I say 3 transfers?  I really meant 4.  We got off at Shimbashi and transferred yet again onto the Yurikamome line to Odaiba station.

Funny story when we got off at Meguro.  I keep my bus pass inside my coin purse, which is just this red, rectangular Marc by Marc Jacobs coin purse.  It fits my train pass just perfectly.  So I was holding it in my lap while on the train from Ookayama to Meguro, and when we departed the train at Meguro we went up the escalators and then..OH SHIT...I realized I left my coin purse on the train!  I had no idea how, but I'm guessing it was just sitting on my lap, and then, forgetting that I put it there, I got up to get off the train and it fell onto the floor.  I was like, damn I thought Japanese people were nice and woulda chased me out of the train to give it back.

So I'm freaking out at this point...like only after 15 minutes, I'd already managed to fuck up our trip!

What else could we do?  The train left already and I had no pass to get out of the station!  Because each time you go in or out of the station you have to swipe your pass.  So my friend Michael raced through a gate thing cuz the doors are open initially and they close when they sense someone going through without paying.  He raced through it fast enough, and so he passed me his pass and I beeped my way through legally.

We went to the lost and found that all stations have, and I started describing my lost coin purse in broken Japanese.  Etto...akai no saifu...densha...wasurete...ima...


Good thing Michael was there, who's Japanese is far more superior than mine, but I guess they understood me well enough, because right after they sent a guy running down to the trains and after about 2 minutes they had my wallet!  Praise the LORD!  Oh wait, praise the JAPANESE!  My god that was close!

Everything was as it was!  Handful of coins and my precious train pass that was worth 15,000 yen! And an extra 3000 yen I put in there for travelling!  I have no idea who turned it in, or who found it, but god bless you wherever you are.  I love the Japanese.

Whew...that was close!  I apologized like crazy...what a way to start a trip!  Geez...

So...now with my train pass in hand, we can resume our trip.  I'm keeping you, wallet, safe in my bag this time.


Suffice it to say, I never carry my coin purse around like that anymore.  Right after I use it, I put it back into my bag and there it stays.

JR Yamanote Line

Okay, so we get off at Meguro, and transfer to the JR Yamanote Line at Meguro and continue to Shimbashi. The JR Yamanote Line is basically all you need if you are new to Tokyo.  It goes to all the major stops, like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ueno, Harajuku, Tokyo...etc.  It is THE line if you want to go anywhere.  I actually got pretty used to the train system after about a week.  The endless amount of trains and platforms may scare and confuse you at first.  But you'll get the hang of it after a while.  Of course, it helps to have a few Japanese (or at least Japanese speakers) stick to you like glue.  


We get off at Shimbashi, exit the station and walk outside to the Yurikamome Line.  It's a fairly new line I'd say.  It looks quite new, and there are a lot of people standing around waiting to help you if you're lost or something.  This line is quite easy to navigate, and we had no problems getting on the right train to Odaiba.

The train ride to Odaiba was AMAZING!  You can see what metro Tokyo should look like!  Skyscrapers, lots of office buildings, big ads and the sea!

View from the Yurikamome Line

View from the Yurikamome Line

View of the Odaiba Ferris Wheel

The view was breathtaking.  I was such a tourist, going from one door to the other trying to take pictures on the train.  To add to that, I was using my phone to take pictures...

The train ride was amazing.  It goes across the rainbow bridge and stops at Odaiba.  We made our way to the beach and walked down towards a cafe.  The beach is pretty modest, but it's still quite amazing on the banks of Tokyo, where most areas of water are made into ports or something.  There were couples writing in the sand, joggers, dog walkers and even a photoshoot.  

Odaiba's man made beach

We stopped by this little cafe because we saw ice cream signs and beer!  My friend Michael swears by his beer and ice cream combo...says it's the best...blech?

So I ordered something more sensible, a melon float!  I saw some people order it and the awesome, almost glowing green colour caught my eye.  I had to have this radioactive-looking drink.  

Melon float and beer

Melon seems to be a very popular flavour in Japan, such as melon buns, melon drinks, melon candy...etc.  It's a honeydew flavour, and it was just amazing because it had huge chunks of ice and it was a very hot day.  I mixed some of the ice cream in with the soda, and slurped it up.  I was the happiest camper.  Michael just had a beer and a twist cone.  The beer was good, as always.  Japanese beer is the best.  I think it was Asahi super dry?  Don't remember...

Anyways, Michael had already been to Odaiba before, and he told me about this arcade called Joypolis (no I didn't spell it wrong, should be Joyopolis eh?), so we made our way there.  It was visible from where we were because it's located where those colourful awnings are.

Joypolis is owned by Sega, so most things in there were a bit Sega themed, but not really.  There are 3 floors, first floor had a big ride and UFO hunters.  Second floor were video games, air hockey, games for prizes and some machines where you can win tokens by throwing in tokens... etc. Top floor were mostly rides (you gotta pay) and a cafe.  Oh by the way, you gotta pay to get into this arcade!  That's right!  500 Yen gains you entry where you gotta pay more money to do anything...

Entrance to Joypolis

A House of the Dead 4 ride

Mickey Mouse Plushie

Michael Jackson's signature

What was really cool was that when we were leaving, we walked through this hallway where people had written their signatures and notes and things.  When I looked closer at some of the protected ones, there was Michael Jackson!  He was here in December 1996, 15 years ago!  How cool is that? 

There were also other people's signatures, but who cares...

After all that fun, and a new mickey mouse plush in tow, we headed towards that big ferris wheel we saw on the way.  It's located in a place called Palette Town.  I think I screamed, POKEMON! when I saw Palette Town...Michael gave me a weird look.

Entrance to the big ferris wheel is 900 yen a person, and you get to choose what kind of carriage you get.  Either a coloured one (boring), or a clear one!  Obviously, being the big kids we are, we picked the clear one (it might have had something to do with seeing 2 little kids running around in one, pshh we can do that).  So I totally got on that invisible carriage like psh, this is nothing.  As we started moving, I clung to the motherf**ing metal pole for dear life.  My feet wouldn't touch the floor.  *face palm*

Actually, it wasn't so bad when I got used to it.  The view was spectacular.  The sun was starting to go down, and then we got a glimpse of Fuji Mountain!  Wow, what a view!  

See that little hump beside the crane-majiggy?  I think that's Fuji Mtn...

We were getting pretty hungry after the ride, so we ventured off somewhere to find food.  Michael remembered seeing this Hawaiian restaurant near the beach, so we headed for that.  Something simple y'know.  

It only occurred to me after reaching the restaurant, that Hawaiian food makes sense because so many Japanese reside in Hawaii...yeaaa, bet you didn't understand why there's suddenly Hawaiian food popping up outta nowhere in Japan.  I've actually been seeing quite a number of Hawaiian cuisine in Tokyo.  Seems to be popular...

This restaurant was great.  Where the windows should have been, there was nothing, just empty air.  So you could feel the breeze while looking out over the bay at all the pretty lit up party boats on the water right near the shore.  And below you have a cafe with lots of tables and chairs, and people just lounge around sipping beer or eating ice cream.  It was super relaxing.  

View from Hawaiian restuarant

We had no idea what to order, or we would have if we could read the menu.  The waiter, seeing my gaijin (foreigner) friend, gave us an English menu.  The first thing I saw, POUTINE!  Mother of god they have poutine!  That one food I never thought I'd find outside of Canada.  I told Michael we had to get it, it's so Canadian.  So we ended up ordering poutine, a tuna poke, and a bbq chicken dish.  I had a Hawaiian beer, and Michael had a tomato juice beer...what?  Yea, you heard me.  Weird?  Very.  But it was actually quite tasty.  Would Michael ever order it again?  Probably not...

After dinner, we started back towards the station, when we spotted a neko cafe!  What is a neko cafe you ask?  It's a cafe full of cute cats that wander around the place.  You can play with them, pet them, whatevers but I think there's an hourly rate.  And you're most likely forced to buy a drink or something.  But wow!  Who the hell would think of these things?  Like seriously?  I'd rather go to an inu (dog) cafe.  Or a pug cafe!  sighh...

So that was Odaiba, one of the most beautiful places ever!  Odaiba itself is all right, but it's the view that's breathtaking.  You're looking over the bay at metropolitan Tokyo, how can that be beat?  

Stay tuned for traditional omatsuri and mikoshis!  Don't know what those are?  Then you better come back for my next post.

Ja ne!

-Jenn