Odaiba お台場

Odaiba is the Tokyo of the 1990s bubble, a set of artificial islands in the bay that were meant to become a futuristic business district and ended up as the city’s playground instead. Fuji TV’s headquarters with its floating sphere, the Telecom Center, the Big Sight convention halls and the wide, empty boulevards still look like a film set, and the view back toward the city across the Rainbow Bridge is the most cinematic in Tokyo. Fans come for the 20-meter Unicorn Gundam in front of DiverCity, which lights up and shifts its armor several times each evening, and for the Comiket crowds that overrun Big Sight twice a year.

Everything is spread out, so pick a direction. The beach park around the Statue of Liberty has sunsets and a sand beach you cannot swim from; the teamLab Planets museum in neighboring Toyosu has water you can wade through; the Palette Town area keeps changing as the old malls are demolished and rebuilt. Arrive by Yurikamome for the elevated loop over the bridge, leave by water bus up the Sumida River, and Odaiba becomes a boat trip with a giant robot in the middle.