Odaiba is a man-made island out in Tokyo Bay, and it’s home to the kind of experiences you’ll definitely tell your friends about when you get home. Its only-in-Japan indoor entertainments like the Trick Art Museum, Legoland, TeamLab Planets and Small Worlds Miniatures Museum are especially attractive when it’s hot or rainy out, because they’ll mesmerize you for hours.
Odaiba is small enough to walk pretty much anywhere, but the classic way to get around is on the Tokyo Monorail, which is kind of fun, so let’s hop on and see what there is to do at each station along the line!
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ODAIBA KAIHINKOEN STATION
First, let’s stop at The Tokyo Trick Art Museum. It has 54 different scenes designed so you can pose in them and take pictures of yourself in impossible situations and performing incredible feats.
The excellent only-in-Japan situations are changing all the time, as are the perilous pickles you could find yourself in!
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Then, if we’ve got a kid or two,* let’s go to Tokyo Legoland. It’s got models of all my favorite Tokyo neighborhoods (built from Legos, of course!) and as the lighting cycles through 24 hours, the cars roaming the streets turn on their headlights and the buildings light up. They’ve even sneaked in a few fun surprises, like a button that makes Godzilla pop up out of a Shibuya skyscraper and a baseball stadium that’s actually a pinball game you can play.
*Adults aren’t allowed to go into Legoland without a kid, so be sure you recruit one before you try to buy a ticket.
Anyone can go in the store, though, which has awesome Lego-themed merchandise like Minfig popsicle molds. The trees in the Legoland model of Sensō-ji temple change color with the seasons.
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On the lower level of the Sea Side Mall building is Joypolis, an indoor amusement park/arcade with lots of virtual reality rides.
Hungry yet? Restaurants are on the 5th & 6th floors, and the ones on the Tokyo side have great views. There’s even a retro shopping street, where the stores sell souvenirs from bygone days. Not only can you buy excellent old-fashioned souvenirs here (think vintage toys & such), it’s also a great place to hunt for capsule toys (gachapon)
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TELECOM CENTER STATION
Let’s make a stop at The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (better known as the Miraikan) to play with all the technologies that Japan excels at: robots, virtual reality, interesting manufacturing stuff, and a giant mechanical model of the internet.
It’s their special exhibits I love the most, though. Recently they had a fascinating look at that most human and unmentionable of subjects: poo!
Check the exhibition schedule to see what’s happening here.
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AOMI STATION/TOKYO TELEPORT STATION
This is the home of the giant five-story Gundam robot! It’s right outside the DiverSity shopping complex next to the Tokyo Teleport Station. This giant Gundam Unicorn lights up, its horns swing together into unicorn configuration, and there are animated projection mapping shows daily.
Model-making fans will swoon at the vast array of model kits inside at the biggest Gundam model shop in the world
Which also features an ever-changing display of hilarious fan-built models
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TOKYO BIG SIGHT STATION
This is where to get off for ComiCon, the Tokyo Toy Show and all the great auto, health & beauty, and maker confs that come to the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. Twice a year it also hosts my favorite conf, Design Festa, where you can find artist-made goods like zombie nesting dolls…
and predatory purses
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ARIAKE TENNIS-NO-MORI STATION
Get off here to spend some happy hours marveling at the insanely detailed models at the Small Worlds Miniatures Museum. Even if you’re not a model maniac, this place is so entertaining you’ll spend hours here. Not only do its buildings, cars and buses light up and change with the 24-hour cycle of day to night…
model planes really take off and land at its airport, and rockets blast off at the spaceport
The “worlds” span from dragon-infested European landscapes (complete with the funny easter eggs that are everywhere, like these selfie-taking gawkers)…
The “worlds” span from dragon-infested European landscapes (complete with the funny easter eggs that are everywhere, like these selfie-taking gawkers)…
Several rooms are devoted to animated scenes from Evangelion and Sailor Moon, and as an added bonus, for a price you can be 3-D scanned and the master modelmakers will make a figure of YOU!
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SHIJŌ-MAE STATION/TOYOSU STATION
Right between Shijō-mae Station and Toyosu Station is one of the most spectacular only-in-Japan attractions in Tokyo: TeamLab Planets. You’ll know it by the pillar of fire outside!
This digital wonderland immerses you in experiences that delight the senses. More physical than Borderless (TeamLab’s other attraction in Tokyo), at Planets you can wade in a pond among ever-changing digital koi fish and perpetually blooming flowers…
lose yourself in a mirrored infinity room that’s a maze of LEDs programmed to sparkle and surge all around you in a choreographed dance of color and light…
be dwarfed by the giant color-changing bouncy balls, and visit the mirrored flying orchid room, and more.
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When it’s time to leave Odaiba, why not walk back to the mainland across the Rainbow Bridge and see the amazing views of Odaiba and the Tokyo skyline along the way? It only takes about half an hour from the Odaiba Kaihinkoen area to Tamachi Station.
From the South Promenade you can see the lights of Odaiba…
and from the North Promenade, you can see the lights of the city and Tokyo Tower.
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And here are the other places I take my friends when they come to town
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 