There's a scene in Lost in Translation in which Bill Murray drives past a twinkling bridge, and in the background is a glimpse of a city of the future.
The city is Odaiba, which was developed a decade ago as a landfill site, but now resembles a science-fiction movie set. The island of Odaiba is reached from 'mainland' Tokyo by Rainbow Bridge, an arc of flickering lights that begins as a spiral before it stretches gracefully over Tokyo Bay.
In Odaiba, buildings of all shapes and most sizes don't have to fight for space as they do in other parts of Tokyo. Here, a pyramid fashioned into a convention centre sits next to
an ocean liner-shaped mall, but the most striking architecture is that of the Fuji TV building, complete with an enormous suspended viewing ball.
Even the journey to Odaiba is different to any other in Japan. The Yurikamome monorail begins its driverless passage from Shinbashi every five minutes, stops briefly on Tokyo's desolate waterfront before ascending the spiral over the Rainbow Bridge, and ends up in Ariake, 20 minutes later. The first station in the landfill suburb is Odaiba Kaihin Koen (or Odaiba Seaside Park).
A scaled-down Statue of Liberty stands proudly, if not imposingly, on a beach of white sand (that has been trucked in). The seaside is usually a hotbed of activity, with teenagers playing beach volleyball, windsurfers in the bay, dogs chasing balls on the sand and couples walking hand-in-hand, all enjoying the relaxed, if still bustling, atmosphere.
