A Brief History
Odaiba, located in Tokyo Bay, is an artificial island originally constructed as a defensive fort/battery to protect the Tokyo area. Today it stands as a popular seaside destination. With a large sandy cove and a small handful of offshore islands, each with the remains of late Edo era fortresses and defensive structures upon them.
Walking the length of the beach will bring you to one of these islands, where you will find foundations and reconstructed ruins of a barracks, blacksmiths furnace, cannon bases and magazines (ammo storage). There are informational signs at each point of interest and even a AR (augmented reality) QR code link to give you a view of the original defensive cannons, in situ.
Nature
Walking along the beach you may find jelly fish, both washed up and still swimming, razor clams and many other shells, fish jumping out of the water, sea birds and more. Reaching the island you will be greeted by a well maintained small woods consisting of many species of plants, flowers and trees, including Sakura.
It is quite amazing to see so much variety of nature, with skyscrapers and a huge bridge in the background. The contrast between the city and the shore is quite striking.
The Rainbow Bridge
Odaiba offers an impressive view of the Rainbow Bridge, a 798 m long 52 m high (roadway) four lane suspension bridge constructed between 1987 and 1993.
Sakura at Night
My visit was in early April, Sakura season. Some of the trees which line the road behind the beach had been beautifully decorated with lights.
