Odaiba

Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo, Japan.  Odaiba locates in Tokyo Bay area, usually we call here “Odaiba” or “Rinkai Fuku-Toshin (Tokyo waterfront)”.  Recent Odaiba is famous area where many families and young couples gather

Origin of Odaiba

Odaiba is a preserved site of historical interest.  Odaiba means originally a series of islands which was constructed on 1853 by the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Odaiba in Japanese means the cannon batteries.  Original Odaiba had been constructed as a series of 6 fortresses in order to protect Edo (Old city name of Tokyo) from attack by sea, the primary threat being Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships, which had arrived in 1853.  Figure 1 shows old map of Old Tokyo Bay area on 1853.

Figure 1. Old map of Tokyo Bay area on 1853

A series of maps of Odaiba area from 1919 to 2001 are shown as follows;

 Old map on 1919     Old map on 1945

 Old map on 1966    Map on 2001

The 6 islands (non-active cannon batteries) seem to be existed up to 1945 according to the old maps.  The year of 1945 was the end of the World War II.  After the War, the Tokyo Bay area has been developed at an extreme high speed.  Now only 2 islands (No.3 and 6 batteries) remain as historical spots, and the name of Odaiba means a new developed reclaimed land as shown in a map on 2001.