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On Christmas Eve Jonathan and I spent the day in Odaiba. 


We took the Yurikamome monorail which is one of my favorite trains. It's automated and there aren't any drivers so you can sit right up front and have a great view! We didn't take the first train available and we waited for the next one to be able to sit up front. It was worth waiting a few extra minutes!






We first went to Decks, a really interesting shopping mall. We played for a while in the vintage arcade. I played a crocodile game that Lauren and I played a long time ago (4th grade I think!) at Discovery Zone. We played it over and over again until we beat the high score. 


I didn't beat the high score, but it was fun!

Next I went to the store across from the arcade (such a fun store with lots of random stuff!) and was excited to see Sailor Moon merchandise. I thought the plushies were cute but up close the clothes looked really cheap (especially for 1200 yen) so I didn't get one. 


I did however get an organizing folder. I love how sparkly and super super cheesy it is!


 
I also got some cheap and cute candy.


At another nearby store I bought a neat magnet. Pancakes! Yummy!


I didn't notice the funny packaging until I got home. The Rilakkuma tape is adorable, too!


On that same floor I saw a cute display of miniature school lunch. It was outside of a restaurant where I think you can get lunches like Japanese school lunches. You even eat at desks! It looked really cute but kind of pointless for me when I eat school lunch on a regular basis anyways. If there was something like that in America though I would totally go and get some square pizza with cubed pepperonis.

 

I picked up some creepy glasses for free. 

After eating delicious Indian food, we walked around on the beach for a while. 




We made our way over to Dai San Daiba, No. 3 Battery. It had a nice view of the Fuji TV Building.



Some sort of cannon thing I guess?


The middle of the island was sunken down and kind of woodsy. We didn't feel like we were in Tokyo!


I saw several daffodils blooming. It seems so weird to see them December.



There was also a little bit of fall color left. There are daffodils blooming under that tree. Red leaves and daffodils... not what I'm used to seeing in winter!

When we returned to the main area, we ate Dippin' Dots. I had Chocolate Mont Blanc (a dessert made with chestnuts) flavor which was delicious.


Next we went to Venus Fort. We played basketball in the arcade a bit and saw a neat light display with "snow." 

 



The Christmas tree with Rainbow Bridge in the background was really pretty! The lights on the tree changed colors and sparkled.

Then we noticed lights on the Fuji TV Building. They flashed and changed with music. It was really impressive! Way better than the lights in Roppongi! I was surprised that I hadn't read about this illumination display online.



This video shows the awesome lights on the front of the building and the stairs. 




Later that evening we bought a small Christmas cake, which is a thing in Japan. I wanted a chocolate one but we didn't have much time to look for a small chocolate one so we got this at Vie de France. It had mixed fruit inside and was delicious. I am not sure why it came with candles though. Who is supposed to blow them out?

After quickly eating our cake we went to church. It was in English so that was really nice!



I saw this train on the way back to our hotel. I don't know who these characters are but they wished us a merry Christmas and happy new year.

After lunch we finally made it to the Trick Art Museum. We had to wait maybe about 5-10 minutes to enter because they limit the number of people so that there aren't too many people trying to take pictures at the same time.

I love taking random pictures so this was a great place for me. So much fun! There's not too much to say so I'll just let you enjoy the pictures.
























After the Trick Art Museum we went to another mall right next door called Aqua City. It's nice and has a lot of good stores, but it's less unique than Decks I think. We didn't spend too long there. Jonathan bought some omiyage (souvenirs) for the teachers at his schools and I went in Axes Femme and was really tempted by this dress.


I didn't get any Dippin' Dots, but I liked how the one flavor was called Odaiba Rainbow because of the Rainbow Bridge. 


Before heading to the monorail I snapped a few pictures of the area outside of Aqua City.



We took the monorail to the area with Venus Fort. Odaiba's pretty small and it wouldn't have been a bad walk, but we had bought the day passes for 800 yen so it didn't cost extra and saved a bit of time.



We didn't ride the ferris wheel this time but I thought the clear cars were neat and looked kind of scary. I don't remember those. I guess I forgot about them.



First we went into a large arcade. I don't think either of us ended up playing anything there. I was kind of out of my spending money mood. They had these weird creepy animal things that kids could put money in and ride around the arcade. I would have loved that so much as a kid! I got excited about the lame little carousels outside of stores so who knows what excitement something like this would have caused.


We cut through the Toyota place to get to Venus Fort. It was emptier than last time. Maybe they were getting ready to bring some more stuff in. They did have a few interesting cars though, including this ADORABLE Pikachu car! Pikachu!





At Venus Fort Jonathan and I split up. I only had about half an hour but it ended up being enough time. First I took some pictures of Hello Kitty's Kawaii Paradise. 








It's pretty small and I had been there before so I didn't stay very long. I still want to eat something cute there sometime though. It was very quiet. Now that I think about it I'm not sure if I saw any kids at all. I know there were a few older girls in the gift shop, and a few men looking miserable on the benches at the entrance, but other than that I'm not sure.

So then I went into Venus Fort for a while. I mainly wanted to go to Kiddyland and I had trouble finding it. I didn't mind walking around though because it's really pretty.



I was a bit disappointed by the fountain area though because last time there had been a bunch of lights hanging from the ceiling that were sooo sooo soooo pretty! I guess that they had just been a Christmas thing. :( It was still pretty, but not as pretty as last time. 


I eventually found Kiddyland. It's not as huge as the one in Harajuku, but it's still a lot bigger than the one in Hamamatsu. There were some crane games in the back and I played one of them and won! It was a pretty easy machine though.



Then we got back on the monorail to head to Oedo Onsen Monogatari. 


I really recommend Oedo Onsen Monogatari especially for foreigners who have never been to an onsen. There are signs explaining what to do in English so it makes the experience much easier.

First you take off your shoes and put them into a locker. Then you go to the reception area and get a key for another locker. Next you pick out a yukata and go change in the locker room. You keep the key around your wrist and it has a bar code on it that you use to pay for things while there. You pay for everything at the end.


There are only a few yukata choices and none of them are that amazing, but the pink and purple one is cute enough.


The main area has a couple of gift shops, some games, and plenty of food. There is also free tea and water. We drank some tea before going into the onsen.

The onsen is split up in separate areas for men and women, but both areas have the same types of baths. First you go to a counter and get a few towels. Then you find an empty locker to put your clothes in and get undressed. Then you go to the onsen room and there are areas to clean yourself. After that you get in the baths! They were so hot! I could only spend a few minutes in there at a time. They were different temperatures and I think they ranged from 38 - 41 C (about 100 - 106 F). They felt really good though, especially the outdoor one. 

There were also two saunas, a wet one and a dry one. I spent a few minutes in the wet sauna and decided to try the dry sauna. I walked in there and felt like I would die. I saw the thermometer on the wall and it was over 80 C (176 F)! I had no idea saunas were that hot! I love heat, but that was just too much, so I spent like ten seconds in there, haha.

After the onsen I got some kakigori while I waited for Jonathan. It's Japanese-style shaved ice which has condensed milk. I got the chocolate banana flavor and it was delicious.



I bought a cute phone strap from one of the gift stores. We didn't ride the ferris wheel this time, but I rode it a few years ago. I just realized that the jewel on the strap fell off. :(


After we met back up Jonathan got some ice cream and then we went to the foot onsen outside. The foot onsen winds around like a stream and there are various textures and spacings of rocks on the bottom. It's supposed to be good for your feet to walk along the path, but it's kind of painful. It's fun and challenging though so we walked through the whole thing.

As we walked back to the monorail station later we saw some lightning in the distance (I thought I had seen some while in the foot onsen but hadn't been sure). Earlier in the summer I saw quite a bit of lightning in Iwata one night. I rarely saw lightning last time I was in Japan and have seen more this time, though it's still nothing like the storms I see in Kentucky.

Here's a video of my day in Odaiba. It includes part of the monorail ride, some of the vintage arcade games, an illusion at the Trick Art Museum, and some Hooters girls dancing to the Hamster Dance Song outside of Venus Fort. That was weird.