Odaiba

Odaiba (お台場) is an area of the Minato ward in Tokyo, Japan that is a composed of a group of man made islands. Odaiba is home to a popular shopping and entertainment district as well as the headquarters of a major Japanese television network, Fuji TV.http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html

• Decks Tokyo Beach Shopping Complex

• Aqua City Shopping Complex

• Miraikan Science and Technology Center

• Fuji Television Headquarters

• Venus Fort Shopping Complex

• Toyota Showcase at Venus Fort

The islands of were originally constructed in 1853 to hold a series of forts (Daiba literally means "fort") to protect the city of Tokyo and the Tokugawa shogunate against attack by sea, primarily the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry and the Americans interested in opening Japan to trade.

In the late 1980s, a futuristic redevelopment was planned for Odaiba. The new residential and commercial showcase of futuristic living was to be known as Tokyo Teleport Town and timed to be finished before the planned "International Urban Exposition" in 1996. But development of the project was drastically decreased after the burst of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s and development was halted completely in 1995 (by which point over 1 trillion yen had already been spent)

The area remained Odaiba largely underpopulated and full of vacant lots until the late 90s when tourism and leasure began to pick up steam. Today, Odaiba is one of the most popular tourist areas of Tokyo as well as the headquarters of several businesses including Fuji Television.http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.htmlhttp://www.tokyoessentials.com/odaiba.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba