I MAXED out my miles to return to the Land of the Rising Sun on the most exciting season (and perhaps the most expensive time) of the year — Spring. It’s when the Sakura shows off her fleeting beauty that lasts for 14 days a year and the strawberry finds its way to delicacies the Japanese can conceive. The two come hand in hand, and it makes for a beautiful time to travel to this part of the globe. It’s worth every Mabuhay Miles spent.
Like every visit, there is always something new to experience. My hosts, the Sorias, welcomed me to their new pad in the posh Shinagawa ward, and the first night was spent driving around Tokyo. It was a first time to navigate the city on ground level on a private vehicle as I’ve always moved around Tokyo via the subway.
After going around Shinagawa, Roppongi Hills and Ginza deciding where to have dinner, the couple decided to take me to an area I haven’t been before—Odaiba.
“We will pass by the Rainbow Bridge. It’s beautiful at night and it will remind you of the opening credits in the TV series Streets of San Francisco,” said Mitos. The reference to the 70s TV show made me laugh because I remembered.
Completed in 1993, the Rainbow Bridge is an icon in Tokyo Bay. It’s a two-level suspension bridge spanning 798 meters and holds up an expressway, a regular road, a train line and pedestrian walkways along its sides on the lower deck.
At night, the white bridge is lit up like a rainbow with solar powered lamps. It’s a beautiful sight. Thus, the public named it the Rainbow Bridge.
The bridge is what connects the man-made island of Odaiba to the rest of Tokyo. And the island has an interesting story to it.
Odaiba was originally a set of small man-made fort islands (“daiba” literally translates to “fort”) built for defensive purposes during the Edo Period. These small islands were soon merged into larger islands through landfills more than a century later.
The 80’s ushered a development project to transform the islands into a futuristic district. But it wasn’t until the hotels, malls, and the elevated train was opened in the late 90s that jumpstarted the popularity of Odaiba as a tourist destination.
Today, the once fort islands is a major shopping and entertainment district in Tokyo Bay. The original plan to turn it into a futuristic district was realized with the presence of the bold architectural designs of the Fuji TV Building and the Telecom Center to name a couple.
Even with the development of the modern city, Odaiba presents a large area of green space and pedestrian elevated walkways. What makes the island even more interesting is the man-made seashore. Odaiba has one of the artificial sand beaches in Tokyo Bay that has a waterfront unblocked by industry and harbor areas.
The shoreline is accessible at Decks, a large shopping mall with multiple indoor theme parks. This was where we had dinner.
Over Japanese beer, ramen and gyoza, we mapped out where I should be going in the next few days.
For more photos of this feature, visit www.jeepneyjinggoy.com. For lifestyle stories, visit www.ofapplesandlemons.com Email me at jinggoysalvador@yahoo.com