Odaiba stands on two of six islands which the Togukawa shogunate built and fortified to protect Tokyo Harbor from Western intrusion, which arrived in the person of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. It received its name from the Japanese word ?daiba,? for fort. When Japan experienced its enormous economic boom in the early 1980s, the third and sixth of the fortified islands were extended, and named Tokyo Teleport Town for the ultramodern business city which was to be constructed on them.

The economic boom went bust, however, and in the 1990s, new plans permitting Odaiba to be commercially developed saw it quickly inhabited by the entertainment and commercial enterprises which make it such a huge draw today. Among Odiaba's most impressive attractions are the replica of France's Statue of Liberty wtching over its Aqua City shopping center; Venus Fort, another shopping mall designed to resemble eighteenth?century Venice; and Oedo Onsen Monogatari, an Edo-period style bathing park built around a 1400-metre deep hot spring.

The Odiaba Kaihin Park, near the Rainbow Bridge and the possessor of one of Tokyo's two sand beaches, is a favorite spot for romantic assignations, but swimming in Tokyo's less-than-pristine bay is not recommended. For the technologically inclined, Odaiba has the Miraikan, Japan's Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, the Fuji Television Building, and the Toyota Mega Web.

Accessing Odaiba from either the Rainbow Bridge or the Yurikamome elevated train will afford visitors some splendid views of Tokyo Bay.

The park-like grounds and private waterfront balconies of the five-star Odaiba Nikko Hotel, the first built on Odaiba, offer visitors an escape from the bustle of Tokyo with its. The Odaiba Nikko is a perfect spot for romantic getaways.