Rainbow Bridge
Lit at night.
Ludger Heide — CC BY-SA 2.0 · othree — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Syced — CC0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Dick Thomas Johnson — CC BY 2.0 · Dick Thomas Johnson — CC BY 2.0
A large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, linked to central Tokyo by the Rainbow Bridge suspension bridge. It began in the 1850s, when the shogunate built gun batteries on small islands in 1853 to protect Edo from American warships, and its name comes from daiba, «battery». The island grew greatly in the 20th century as a port district and was redeveloped in the 1990s into a major shopping, residential and leisure area. It is one of the few places on Tokyo Bay where people can reach an open shoreline. Its landmarks include the Fuji Television headquarters designed by Kenzo Tange, the Miraikan science museum, big shopping centres, and the sandy Odaiba Marine Park beach, which hosted the triathlon and marathon swimming at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has a monument of the Olympic rings. Walking around the island and its parks is free. Take the automated Yurikamome line across the Rainbow Bridge, or a bay boat. Evenings are loveliest, when the bridge and the Tokyo skyline light up across the water. Swimming at the beach is usually not allowed.
Lit at night.
On the bay.
By Kenzo Tange.
Tokyo Bay, across the Rainbow Bridge
On the automated Yurikamome line across the Rainbow Bridge, or by Tokyo Bay boat; walking around the island and its parks is free.