Again, yesterday was a good day.. the weather was nice and no rain was fore casted.. The trip was more for Chua and me, as Mei Ling has been to Odaiba several times.. Chua kept wanting to go to the Onsen, but Mei Ling and I wasnt very keen as the cost is very expensive, almost 3,000yen! so we didnt..
We took the JR Yamanote line to Shimbashi Station (新橋駅) and changed to Yurikamome Transit. A single trip into Odaiba to Daiba Station will already cost 300yen, so we bought the 1 day pass that cost 800yen for unlimited rides on Yurikamome. The transit system is similar to Singapore's NE Line, where it is driverless. It zipped pass buildings and moves along the road across the Rainbow Bridge.
View of the Rainbow Bridge from the Yurikamome train.The train was fast, stable and very quiet.. Although it was a week day and it's almost 1pm, the train is still very crowded. There seems to be lots of people working in the area, even though it was very inconvenient. Heard from Mei Ling that the monthly commuter pass for Yurikamome alone will cost 10,000yen!! Unbelievable..
We stopped at Ariake Station and went to the Panasonic Center. This is the showroom for Panasonics' products, from High Definition Flat Screen TV, Digital Camera, Home Theatre System, Home appliances to Nintendo DS and Wii.. There are lots of futuristic innovations and high tech stuff on display.. It's a geek paradise..
After lunch at Saizeriya, we went to Miraikan - National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, next to JASSO's Odaiba Lodge.. This is definitely much more advanced than the Singapore Science Center. Entrance was 500yen. We were given the admission ticket and a clip to clip it onto our clothes.. There is a total of 7 floors, but there are only 2 exhibition halls. The exhibits in it are very interesting and very high tech.. The topics displayed ranged from Nano technology, Micromachines, Genome, Extreme Environments, etc.. and yet there are lots of primary school kids among the visitors.. At 4pm, we went to the Planetarium to see the "Cosmos - Planet by chance". It was a 30-min show, much like the one shown in the Omni-Theatre.. But this show was produced by one of the Japanese university, and frankly it is a bit too bland.. I was expecting lots of visual images and animations, and yet most part of the show, it was just the starry sky.. half way thru the show, I could even hear someone snoring!! Quite a disappointment..
After Miraikan closes at 5pm, we walked towards Fuji TV Station.. We didnt go in as the admission hours have passed. We just took some pictures from the exterior..
The surrounding area is very clean although I can barely find any rubbish bins around.. And because there aren't many buildings around, the whole place feels very wide and windy.. Not claustrophobic.. As most of Obaiba is reclaimed, it's practically flat..
We then went to Mega Web, next to Venus Fort. It's a automobile exhibition by Toyota.. It's just next to Venus Fort.. Inside the building there were lots of Toyota cars on display.. including Toyota's F1 Racing car. There were a couple of simulators for visitors to try, like the racing simulator and the eye-hand coordination tester.. We went to take the driverless e-Com automobiles. Paid 200yen to be driven around Mega Web, took about 7-8 minutes in total.. Quite cool.. Check out the photo link at the bottom for that..
We then went to Venus Fort.. There is a History Garage, where they display old antique cars.. There are Cadillac, Corvette, Mustang, and some other famous cars.. Some are really very cool.. Check out the photo link at the bottom for more photos of these cool cars.... Of course, when there is exhibitions, there will be souvenirs and models/replicas for sale.. unfortunately, the prices are kinda steep.. but I'm not a car nut, so didnt buy any..
After the History Garage, we went walking around Venus Fort and Palette Town.. There are a few fountains around the place.. Again, took more pictures... They said that Venus Fort has similarities with Las Vegas’ Caesar’s Palace for Venus Fort also features a casino. As it was a week day, the casino was pretty empty for a few lone gamblers lost in their own gaming world.. There are many restaurants around the area, but again, the prices are quite high..
We were starving at that time.. but the restaurants were quite expensive, so we decided to go the Aqua City for dinner. By the time we reached Aqua City for dinner, it was almost 9pm.. We went around looking for cheaper restaurants, and finally we went into Ootoya for dinner.. The three of us were very tired and hungry after so much walking..
Finally we left the restaurant around 10pm..
On our way out of Aqua City, we caught a glimpse of the Rainbow Bridge.. It was very beautiful... I took a lot of pictures.. some with the Statue of Liberty, some without.. In some pictures, you can see clearly an orange-colored tower in between the 2 tall bridge structures.. that is the Tokyo Tower.. There are umpteen Japanese dramas that features that tower.. The Rainbow Bridge too, is a regular backdrop for many dramas and movies.. So I took lots of pictures of them.. :)
Reached home around 11:30pm dead tired, but happy.. There are so many more attractions in Odaiba that I've yet to visit.. will definitely make a few more trips there...
For more photos, click here .
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