Odaiba - reclaimed land. Basically they dump a whole heap of dirt in the ocean and call it an island. Which I suppose you really do need to do when you have so many people crammed onto an island as small as Japan is. That morning, we had woken at our capsule hotel to the soft floating of snow in the air. Glad that I was inside and warm, I took some photos from the building of some of the landmarks around the place. When you live in Australia, it is not often that you get to see snow.
But the snow was over by the time we were on our way. We hopped onto a train and then made our way to the private monorail that would take us to Odaiba. It's fantastic really when you find out that the monorail is run by a private company, yet the ticketing system is still the same easy to use process. You just don't get that sort of cooperation in Australia. Our first stop on the Odaiba line was Aomi where Venus Fort is located. The best way to explain Venus Fort is to think of DFO. It is similar in that all the shops there are your discounted stuff, however the labels inside are so much more high end. One dress that we admired was still $40 000 YEN on a 50% off sale rack. The biggest contrast with Venus Fort though, is the decor. Outside it is this big ugly shed with quite gaudy colours on it. But once you step in the door, you are transported to an Italian town, complete with blue skies, carved columns, open balconies, tiled and stone flooring and a gigantic water feature. The whole ensemble is complemented by light shows on the hour that turn the sky to orange or evening blue and light up the area with blues and pinks. It just blew my mind away at the architectural splendour. It is not very often that you see this sort of thing in person without travelling to Europe. It was pretty neat.
Our next adventure of the day was to head on over to the big Ferris wheel. We were informed that in 1999, it was the biggest in the world, and you can get quite a view from the thing. In fact, completely in line with the theme of Venus Fort was the huge hotel across the water that looked like it was a high rise building built into a historical French mansion.
But it was on our way back to the train, that I was exposed to one of the strangest things that I saw on my entire trip to Japan. Inside the huge car show room, was a section displaying cars in an obvious attempt to attract young girls in the various fashion scenes to purchase the vehicle. I really didn't think that words could do this justice, so I took photos... And yes, that it real angelic pretty tea cup lace on the front.
After all our exploration and shopping it was time for the relaxation part of the trip. We headed to oedo Onsen Monogatari. This is a traditional style onsen set up with an almost theme park quality inside. Upon entering, we were bid to take our shoes off and put them in a locker, taking the key with us. We then lined up to pay where we received another key; this one to our locker where we were to keep our clothing. We then picked up a Yukata, locked up our mini suitcases in another locker and made our way to the change room. This required that we strip down and don the Yukata. Note that you do not have to take your underwear off at this point, that comes later. Unfortunately for me, Yukatas are designed for Japanese women, not women like me with an arse, waist and hips; I spend the entire time trying to adjust my Yukata so that I was not flashing anyone. Our first experience inside was the rock pool, where you walk through the heated water over different sized rocks to massage your feet. While in this area, L tried out the doctor fish that eat away the dead skin cells on your feet; I find this just a little too creepy for me. Afterwards we made our way into the bathing area, where upon arrival you are handed a small towel and a large towel. The idea now is to put your locker key inside another small locker along with your Yukata and underwear and your large towel. The small towel you take into the bathing area with you. Once inside (naked of course) you must pick a cubicle and completely wash yourself; shampoo and soap is provided. And all the bubbles must be removed from your skin. We then spent the next hour trying out different pools as they are different temperatures. None of us were brave enough to try the outdoor pools as we had just about froze on our way into the place. There was no way that I would go outside already naked and wet.
Afterwards, we dried off, dressed in our Yukatas and headed back inside where there is a large dining area. The idea of the place is that the key to your locker is attached to a wristband which has a barcode. Every time you "spend" inside, your barcode is scanned and they you pay when you exit, thus eliminating the need for you to carry around a wallet while inside. I think it is pretty neat, and we all had a great time getting clean, warm and filling our bellies. We made our way back to our bedbug infested hostel for the night.
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