(Day 10) A Rainbow Bridge

There is a man-made island kind of south-east of downtown Tokyo and it is filled with great views and shopping malls. This not-so-mythical place is called Odaiba. Odaiba means “fort”, which makes sense since it was constructed for that purpose in 1851. It was transformed later into its present form – that of a date night hotspot. But I don’t have a date today (unfortunately) so alone I started my journey from Shimbashi, where I boarded the fun sky train, Yurikamome.



The Yurikamome is different from many trains in Tokyo because, as I mentioned, it kind of glides through the sky, snaking in between skyscrapers and is the only train that goes through the massive Rainbow Bridge to get to Odaiba. There are many cool sights from the train, but the neat experience is whizzing through the Rainbow Bridge. During the night, the ride takes on an almost magical feel and that is where I realize that I love this city the most. But I’m digressing – let’s go for the ride!




The top of Tokyo Tower.


Odaiba off in the distance.



Going through the bridge:





Here we pulled into Daiba station, beside the shore and not one, but two shopping malls. Also located here is the massive, can’t-miss-it, Fuji Television Building.



First place I always make a beeline for is the best skyline view in the city.





I did a panoramic, but I did a reeeeally big one, so in the end it came out small (for blogging purposes.) Here it is (click to enlarge):





I brought a book along, so I decided to sit on a bench overlooking the view and read for a while. It was nice.



Before long, the call of adventure started beckoning and I turned my attentions toward the towering Fuji Television Building. Hmm…I had heard that you can enjoy the view from the giant ball situated on the upper floors, so I decided to check it out. Even wandering around outside, there are interesting things – they started a new drama just before I arrived called “Tokyo Dogs” and it is about police officers and stuff and they are hot, etc. Well, Fuji had their promotion out in full force, with a Tokyo Dogs hot dog van. Get it? Tokyo Dogs? Ha ha ha. I thought it was funy.


In hindsight, I wish I would have bought one.

I visited their colourful little information booth/trailer and as it turns out, the really cool stuff was closed today. It’s difficult in Japan; they days and times when places are closed are sometimes really arbitrary. Anyway, they did have some stuff open to the public, and it was free, so I’ll went to see what’s up.



They also had all these great posters hanging up everywhere that I wanted to steal.







I perused the gift shop for a while as they sell all kinds of random goods from TV shows. They had lots for One Piece and Dragon Ball stuff, and lots of merchandise with the faces of the comedians from the variety shows. They also had a LOT of Tamori stuff – he’s the guy who always wears sunglasses 24/7 and hosts a bunch of shows. He looks like this:


Why would anyone want a towel with his face on it? Bizarre.

They also had some mugs from the show ‘Last Friends’ which is where my beloved Ryo was a woman-beater. I kind of wanted to buy one, but it seemed like a dumb idea. I did manage to pick up one item for Janelle though – a hot pink t-shirt from the show ‘Buzzer Beat’, which starred her boyfriend. Ah…we’ll see if she loves it.





I saw from my info guide that they had a convenience store located in the building, but I couldn’t quite place how to get there from my map. I walked up to a security guy standing around to ask him, but he got all angry and flustered and just started pointing and ordering me to go back to the information desk. Geeze. I didn’t, but I found Lawsons anyway. What a putz.

I decided that a perfect lunch would be convenience store food and a view, so that’s precisely what I did.






Yes, let’s.



This is my one souvenir from Fuji TV – a Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan Goku! Best use of a 1 yen coin ever.



After some more reading, I wandered through the shopping mall and did my darnest to find a crepe. I already skipped yesterday and the last few days, so I’ll be damned if I miss today too. Japan = crepes. But I’m digressing again.




Aw, sad bear hates global warming.


The picture above is the definition of “shuunt”. If you know what “shuunt” is, you’ll agree.

The mall ‘Decks’ has all kinds of cool theme-type stuff in it, including a small Hong Kong/China area which is deserted every time I’m there.



It was here though, that I met my beloved crepe of the day. It was so damn good.








Oh didn’t I tell you? Jackie Chan and I are starring in ‘Rush Hour 7” together.






Also, I am starring in the next ‘Red Sonja’ movie; literally, I am going to be red.







It got dark pretty quick outside, which was part of my plan. I wanted to see the skyline at night from this spot, so waiting was all I could do.




Wonderful, isn’t it?

A panoramic (click to enlarge):





One with the Tokyo Tower glowing:









That was really nice. However, my day doesn’t stop here. Tokyo really comes alive at night and nothing compares to these lights. I wanted to see the Tokyo Tower from up close at night, so I boarded the train and headed back onto the mainland for my closer view.







The Eiffel Tower it isn’t, but they sure like to be compared to it. I found a little grassy patch at the base of the tower and laid down for a better view while snacking on some chocoalmonds. I was shortly interrupted by a “sumimasen (excuse me)” – I looked up to find a girl staring down at me. She asked me (in Japanese) to take a picture of her with the tower and I obliged the best I could, but the tower is so damn big that if you are standing right in front of it, what are you expecting? Worst picture of person + tower ever. I told her sorry and that it was too big in the best Japanese I could manage. I told her I’d try again, but it was still a bad shot. She was nice enough though, and told me she was Chinese and asked if I was American. I retorted that I was Canadian and then she wanted a picture of us together. Random. Then we said goodbye.

Once I had gotten far enough away from the tower, I managed to take a proper panoramic of the thing in all its monstrosity. Click to enlarge!



Then I went home.





I don’t watch TV at home…I find the fact that Marty totally turns into a vegetable in front of the TV an undesirable trait that I want to avoid like the plague. However, once I cross the ocean into this country the TV is like crack – I can’t get enough of its colourful madness, no matter what is showing and despite the fact that I can hardly understand a lick of it. What I do understand though, is that when hot boys are singing and dancing on TV, I’m glued (save for Club Prince feat. Ikechan.)




Chuuuuu!





They need some HD over there. Up next was the show I was telling you about earlier, Tokyo Dogs. This made me nearly die of roftl even in Japanese.



Then came more SMAP on Bistro SMAP.




KimuTaku is not impressed.

Ah, what fun. I did some research on what to do tomorrow and Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) sounds like a nice way to spend the afternoon, away from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. It’s my first time there too, but I’ll try to be a good tour guide. After all, all I have to talk to is my camera/you. That sounds creepy.