Odaiba was born from reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay in the southeastern part of Tokyo. It attracts mostly young people as a new amusement spot in the city. The name Odaiba means a “platform site.” It derives its name from the installation of a platform for a marine cannon battery that was constructed in haste to meet the sudden need for the defense of Tokyo (called Edo at that time) after the unexpected appearance of the black steel ships from the United States in 1853 commanded by Commodore Perry.
The center of Odaiba is Aquacity Odaiba. It includes a shopping mall with a 300-meter-long boutique street, a multi-flex cinema that employs the latest acoustic and screen technologies, and a gourmet zone that stretches over 15,000 square meters, which is obviously the largest such zone in Japan.