Quick answer
Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, originally built as a cannon battery in 1853, later post-war landfill, then a 1980s megaproject revived by Fuji TV in 1997. A free audio sample is available at the top of the page.
Full transcript
INTRO
You are standing on an island that shouldn't exist — and it took three attempts to build it. In 1853, the shogunate built six cannon batteries here to defend Edo Bay from American ships. Those forts became the base of today's Odaiba, which literally means "fort number one." A military failure from 170 years ago is now a shopping mall with a giant robot statue in front of it.
SECTION: From garbage dump to dream city
Here's the strange part. After World War II, Tokyo dumped its garbage into the bay for decades — and the landfill grew into new land. In the late 1980s, at the peak of Japan's bubble economy, the city decided to turn this reclaimed land into "Tokyo's waterfront of the future." Then the bubble burst in 1991, and Odaiba became a ghost town of unfinished projects for most of the nineties. What saved it? Television. Fuji TV moved its headquarters here in 1997 — that's the silver building with the ball, and yes, you can walk inside the observation sphere. Once TV arrived, the crowds followed.
CLOSE
Today the Rainbow Bridge connects you back to the mainland — it lights up every night, powered partly by solar panels on its towers. Walk the beach promenade at sunset and you get the postcard shot: the bridge on one side, Tokyo Tower visible through it in the distance. When you're done, take the Yurikamome line back — the driverless train does a full 270-degree curve right after leaving the station, and the best seats are in the front row. Ready to keep going? Head north along the waterfront toward Toyosu Market, or hop the train across the bridge back into the city. Find your way.