Odaiba, Japan

In a little corner of Odaiba, near the docks, you’ll find the Oodeo-Onsen Monogatari. This is an onsen city, literally. With an indoor replica of a Edo Town (photo below), indoor and outdoor baths and spas, multiple rooms to meditate, sleep, relax, a food court and restaurants, boutiques, stores, stalls, games and a watch tower. Open from 11 am to 9 am the next day, you can immerse yourself in this absolutely amazing and gorgeous onsen theme park. So much to see, do and experience here.

This is where we came after our blue hour photography from the last post. There’s a little ritual entering this place. As soon as you walk into the main front doors, you must remove your shoes and store them in a small locker located nearby. You walk pass a small stand where they give you a pass and make your way to the front desk. There they explain how things work. They give you a bracelet with a key and a tag with a code bar on it (I’ll explain that later). From the front desk you make your way to the Yukata Shop where you get to choose your Yukata. Once chosen, you go into the change room (separate change rooms for men and women) where you strip down and put on your Yukata. Your clothes and anything else you don’t need, like your wallet, go into the locker (the key you received at the front desk). From the change room you enter Edo Town (photo below). Here you use the code bar tag for all your purchases. Whether it be food, souvenir, a massage, whatever you have to pay for is done with that tag. Leaving is the same but in reverse, with one exception, the Yukata is placed in a clothes bin in the change room. At the front desk they scan your code bar tag for all your purchases and add the admission fee. Once you’ve paid, they give you a pass that you hand over on your way out at the same stand you entered through. Oh and don’t forget to put your shoes back on. You kind of get used to walking around barefoot.

We only spent an evening in Odaiba and were very impressed by it but you really need a whole day, if not two, to visit everything. You can easily spend half a day in Oodeo-onsen Monogatari alone. This place and Odaiba in general should be on your bucket list when visiting Japan. A must visit.

28 mm, 1/30th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 3200