Having seen Tokyo from above thanks to our trip up Tokyo Tower, we next started making our way towards Odaiba, the popular sightseeing and shopping district that is situated on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay!
In order to ensure the best views, we took a trip aboard the elevated Yurikamome train line, and indeed were treated to some spectacular views of first of Tokyo and then Rainbow Bridge itself as we cruised in towards Odaiba.
Our intended target was very clear, and beautiful walkways guided us to Odaiba’s DiverCity – and more importantly, the 18 meter high, life-size Gundam model standing guard in front of it!
If you are (or ever were) into anime then there is no way that you won’t get a kick out of seeing this gigantic, hulking figure spewing smoke and moving a couple of joints, all accompanied with a booming sound track and big screen visuals projected behind it.
(DiverCity actually hosts a big Gundam shop and a bit of a Gundam museum, so you can pretty safely say that this is sort of a Mecca for Gundam fans!)
Anyway, after our first official cup of coffee at one of Japan’s many coffee franchises, we headed into DiverCity to explore our very first Japanese shopping center – where we also encountered what was to become my little ‘thing’ for the rest of the trip – hunting down Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlours!
(This being Japan, the flavours are pretty out there. After all, Japan generally doesn’t do sweet, meaning some pretty interesting – if sometimes strange – flavours were waiting to be hunted down! Oh, and because it was getting close to Halloween, pretty much everyone had something spooky to go along. Turns out the Japanese are quite fond of co-opting American holiday customs!)
Also, we stumbled across a game arcade on one of the top floors – which excited Terrance to no end as he immediately made us challenge him at a drum beating rhythm game.
It did not go well for me.
Sigh.
