Odaiba
MSCTY_EXPO [FIELDWAVE: IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES ZONE]
Odaiba
An artificial island complex, full of history, wonder, and contradictions!
A place that can be accessed either by pleasure boat, across the excitement of Rainbow Bridge, or better still via the driverless, train-not-train [it has rubber wheels and operates – we suspect – by some kind of magnetism]: the Yurikamome Line.
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Odaiba was built as an important centre for strategic oceanic defense, generations ago when the city was still known as Edo [though not for much longer].
It's still possible to explore the green grass that now occupies the hill fort spaces, not far from the sands of the "artificial" beach.
ARTIFICIAL?
What does that mean? Well, that is hard to say.
Looking across the bay to the cranes and shipping containers of Kawasaki + south of Shinagawa, from the vantage point of Odaiba's scale model of the Statue of Liberty, it's hard not to be entranced with the wonder of the place.
The cynics may shout "non place!" but for others, it's a smorgasbord of eternal possibility ...
A Place Where Dreams Come True!
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We begin our journey by disembarking the Yurikamome Line to explore the purpose-built indoor leisure facilities.
A walk along the the beach leads us to explore empty promenades on the less populous side of the tracks ...
... and onwards to the nearby plots soon to be the homes for a village of Olympians and their playing fields.
The site, to the east of Odaiba, that would be developed into the world's first venue for Olympic skateboarding.
"Odaiba will always be one of my favourite places in Tokyo. Constantly looking forward; like much of the city it has an unrelenting ability to reinvent itself when it needs to. The source material for this exploration was recorded in March 2017: a time in which the world looked so different.
I hope that the energy of the place can inspire new ideas, as forward-looking as the island itself. "
– James Greer