Tokyo Tower from the special Yurikamome train |
Venus Fort: Is this Japan? |
By Benwitz sensei
We went the waterfront park called Odaiba. To get there, we rode on the special Yurikamome train, which is fully automatic and runs with no driver at all.Yurikamome means 'a kind of seagull.'
The Odaiba area on the waterfront has a lot of attractions. In the U.S., it would be comparable to Pier 39 in San Francisco (but without the seals). On the Yurikamome train, we saw the Rainbow Bridge, a Tokyo Bay landmark which is not actually rainbow-colored.
At Aomi, there was a huge ferris wheel, which some of us rode on in the twilight. There was also a mall devoted entirely to women's merchandise and entertainment, called Venus Fort. The ceiling was painted and lit to look like the sky outside.
We also saw a big Toyota car show which featured some outlandish futuristic-looking cars as well as more regular ones.
Finally, on the way home we stopped off at Daiba to see the Tokyo Bay version of the Statue of Liberty. When we got back to the youth hostel, everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.