Tokyo Love Affair #8

The day we went to Odaiba was the first day of fine weather we had in Tokyo, and it was an amazingly beautiful day. There were all these little puffs of clouds dotting a very blue sky and the colours of everything looked fantastic.

Odaiba is a rather futuristic looking place. Lots of spheres and long, sharp objects piercing into the sky. I saw two or three twin tower buildings in the area while gaps in buildings also seem to be a very poular design feature there. The combination of blue sky, gorgeous natural light, glinting metal and space age-esque structures made me think Odaiba on that day could easily be the set of a love story taking place light years ahead.

The above is the Fuji TV Building, which is just one of the several architectural structures you will see mentioned in Odaiba guides such as this one. Other cool buildings that I did not go to include the Telecom Center and the Tokyo Big Sight.

But my main aim in visiting Odaiba is the ferris wheel at Palette Town.

Took a clear cabin which was all see-through and actually, it was kind of nerve-wrecking. I don't think I do very well with heights but it was really cool up there (even when the wheel stopped when we were right on the top and when the cabin started swaying in the wind...) because it's just so pretty all around.

I clutched the handle bar with one hand the whole time while the other hand held on to a camera. The Ferris Wheel is 115 metres tall and one of the highest in the world. It is also magnificently adorable because all the cabin colours are so pretty. Yes, I love ferris wheels.

Another really cool feature in Palette Town is Mega Web which is actually a jaw-droppingly humongous Toyota showroom. Actually, it's not jaw-dropping because of its size, more of its features. It has tracks running all around it and cars travelling on those tracks (think you can actually take rides on those cars). I thought that was amazing. I mean, I've always thought car showrooms were tiny, boring things teeming with salespersons. Well, now I know that they are so here but not in other places. (I don't have any pictures of Mega Web cos I was too excited to get to the ferris wheel.)

Odaiba is pretty flat and spacious compared to other places I went to in Tokyo. Lots of walkways flanked by trees.

Outside Aquacity, which is a mall near the Daiba train station. Just outside of it, you can stroll on the boardwalks and see a downsized Statue of Liberty,

Rainbow Bridge,

and a kickass sunset, complete with a bunch of ducks swimming along. Wonder where they went.

Above are shots taken with Blackbird, Fly on Lomo Slides. Below are all by Holga 135BC on mostly Kodak Ektachrome 64, with a handful of Lomo Slide shots. I was really trigger happy that day - way too ecstatic to have so much gorgeous sunlight. I wish all sunlight could be that way and not the harsh, scorching reality I'm so used to here in SG. The Holga shots are more random, perhaps due to the nature of the camera - more snap as you wish and no thought-provoking viewfinder to contend with.

Me clutching on for dear life while on the ferris wheel.




"Passengers cannot specify the color of the color gondolas"




Can't see very clearly but there's actually a bunch of cranes and tractors or whatever heavyweight machinery you call them. There was actually a tradeshow. Could have gone in to buy one of those things!



Humongous carpark.

To go to Odaiba, you should definitely take the Yurikamome elevated train and you should also squeeze your way in to the front of the train to check out the awesome view - glinting water, bright and shiny buildings, schoolboys playing ball games on hard courts, Tokyo Tower, the sexy, curving train tracks, and the first glimpse of the bright and cheery ferris wheel.

On the way back at night, you should also squeeze to the front to get a good look at what you're saying goodbye to. The ferris wheel and some of the buldings have fancy, dancing lights so it's still quite cool.

Ah. I miss Japan.

(Oh, the basement of Aquacity was where I had absolutely delicious piping hot - microwaved - cinnamon buns. You know the ones that are actually long strips of dough rolled into a run and that used to be one of our infamous food fads? You can no longer find any decent ones here, but I adore them. You can actually get them from this place called American Bakery or something like that at Amara Hotel and Great World, but those are just really shit. I love cinnamon rolls. Apart from the cool architecture and gorgeous daylight, I shall also fondly recall yummy cinnamon rolls when I think of Odaiba. )