If you're planning to go to Odaiba, consider this route!
Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo built as a line of defense to foreign invaders during the mid 19th century. It was developed during the 90's into a commercial area and tourism hotspot. Odaiba is actually 6 batteries but today, only Battery No. 3 (which was converted into a park which you can visit today) and Battery No. 6 (which is inaccessible) stands.
While the traditional way to access Odaiba is through either bus or train, there is a better way to experience and see a top open view of the remaining batteries... By walking on Rainbow Bridge. Of course you might still use the public transportation to get to the starting point and it is by riding a train to Tamachi station. Once you get to Tamachi Station and with the help of Google Maps, find or click this -> Rainbow Bridge Promenade. I believe there are less people who knows this since every time I come here—even during peak season, there's almost no people. Even the area looks dead and can be hard to find. Check this picture from Google Street, on the street with the pedestrian lane is the way to the entrance:
After you walk for a bit, this is the exact entrance to the promenade:
Once you get through the main entrance, there's a small lobby with seats, vending machines, and restrooms. If you are not used to walking, grab a drink and take a bit of rest here! It's a pretty small lobby so you'll easily find the elevators that will take you to the Rainbow Bridge sidewalk. I highly recommend to take the southern side to get a view of the batteries. The northern side has a nice view of the city but for me, its better to see the batteries.
It's about 1.7 km walk which has some resting places that has open seats and areas where you can take nice pictures. Here is a picture from the first resting area with the view of the elevator we used to get here and the circular road and train access to Rainbow Bridge:
After walking for a while, you will get to see Battery No. 6 which access to the public is prohibited:
This was taken during winter
You can also see the Fuji Television building in the background and after a bit of a walk, you will start to see Battery No. 3:
You can see that this is taken care of with how the trees are lined-up. As mentioned earlier, this was converted into a park which you can visit. I highly recommend to visit this area first once you get off the Rainbow Bridge.
Continue walking and you'll notice some stairs that can lead you to the northern side of the bridge. I highly recommend the other side if you want to take a picture with the bridge as your background:
Continue walking until you get to the end of the bridge. You will be greeted by the entrance to the park. If you head west, you will reach the beach and mall area, but as I mentioned earlier, head east first to get to Battery No. 3.
Along the route to Battery No. 3
Continue walking this path and you'll reach a small set of stairs to get on top of the battery. The battery has a circular route which I prefer you to take clockwise. There are some small openings to get to the middle of the island, and during the non-winter seasons it looks really good with all the green colors:
The center area has an open area where you can sometimes see some people play catch with their family and pets.
But don't forget about checking out the main route again specially the side where you can see a nice view of the Rainbow Bridge like:
And:
Once you finish the route, you can start your way back and head towards the beach and the mall area. I won't cover that part that much since you can see a lot of it from other sources but for a bit of a spoiler, there are some nice areas in the beach like these:
And don't forget to visit the huge Gundam Unicorn outside the Diver City Plaza:
That's it! It's up to you on what other activities you may want to do in Odaiba! It's a really nice area and is one of my go-to places when I am bored. There can be a lot of people after you cross the bridge and can be really hot during the peak of summer, so I recommend going here around October/early November when the trees are still green and the beach still has the summer vibes.
