Odaiba : a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay

Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay.

Originally constructed during the Edo period as a fortress, the once derelict site has been under redevelopment since the mid 1980s.

Today the area is Tokyo’s playground where locals go to walk a dog for an hour, walk in date place or get married at Daiba love village. Tourists on the other hand can spend days at the many attractions and restaurants that make up the area.

Odaiba is home to a few shopping centres like Decks with its Little Hong Kong themed floor and the 17th century Europe inspired Venus Fort.

More than a century later, the small islands were joined into larger islands by massive landfills, and Tokyo began a spectacular development project aimed to turn the islands into a futuristic residential and business district during the extravagant 1980s. But development was critically slowed after the burst of the “bubble economy” in the early 1990s, leaving Odaiba nearly vacant.

It was not until the second half of the 1990s, when several hotels, shopping malls and the Yurikamome elevated train line were opened, that Odaiba developed into one of Tokyo’s most popular tourist attractions and date spots with a wide selection of shopping, dining and leisure options.

Despite the initial setbacks, several lavish development projects did materialize, including some of Tokyo’s boldest architectural creations, such as the Fuji TV Building, Telecom Center and Tokyo Big Sight.

Modern city planning furthermore provides Odaiba with plenty of green space and a pleasant division of motorized and pedestrian traffic using elevated walkways and the like.