Trip to Odaiba

On Sunday we took Sasha to Odaiba. This is reclaimed land in Tokyo bay and is reached via the Rainbow bridge.

Odaiba has lots of different types of entertainment and is a poular destination for families and couples.

Having taken the train across the bridge, we started with a picnic on the man made beach. This is lovely sandy beach with boardwalk behind it. No one is allowed to swim but paddling is acceptable. We're not sure why swimming is banned but the kids say it's because there are jellyfish and stingrays!

Then we went for a walk along the boardwalk passing the replica Statue of Liberty and then headed into the pet shop. In Japan petshops are very different to UK. Firstly they sell dogs in the shops. Most of the dogs are of the small, fluffy cute type, not many people have the space to keep a big dog and the areas to exercise then are limited. The prices are unbelievable, typical price for rodent sized dog would be £2000!The Japanese treat their dogs like fashion accessories/dollies. The shops are full of dog clothes, hats, sunglasses, bags, buggies, dog sushi, dog cakes, O2 tanks, nail varnish, hair salons. The list is endless.

We then showed Sasha the Venus Fort shopping centre which is a replica of Venician streets (no water) and includes a very realistic sky effect ceiling. The light is reduced as the day goes by, check out the sunset picture. Lots of very expensive shops that we mostly avoided. We did however find a very strange shop that sold all sorts of odd relics such as buffalo heads, skulls, bugs in plastic, spooky costumes. The kids loved it. For the petrol heads there is a Historic car museum within the shopping centre. It is not large but includes a choice collection of around 25 vehicles including a split screen VW van. We gave this a miss with Sasha.

We also wandered into the Toyota Megaweb which is a flaghip show room for all the latest Toyota models plus some other interesting stuff like driving simulators and race cars.

As the sun was setting we began the walk back across the Rainbow bridge. This is one of my favourite trips in Tokyo. There is a footpath all the way across the bridge from which you get the most stunning view of Tokyo especially at night.