Odaiba (お台場) is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s. The land was dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and was redeveloped in the 1990s into a major commercial, residential and leisure area. Odaiba, along with Minato Mirai 21 in Yokohama, is one of the few manmade seashores in Tokyo Bay where the waterfront is accessible and not blocked by industry and harbor areas.
Odaiba as seen from the Rainbow Bridge in 2014
View of Odaiba from the north, with Fuji TV building in the center, Daikanransha Ferris wheel to the left, shopping malls in the front, and Nikko hotel to the right
Edo-era Dai-Roku Daiba (第六台場, No. 6 Battery), viewed from the Rainbow Bridge. Background: the developed area of Odaiba.
A cannon from Odaiba, now at the Yasukuni Shrine. 80-pound bronze, bore: 250 mm (9.84 in), length: 3,830 mm (150.79 in).
Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Sunrise Party, later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party out of which he split his faction into the Party for Japanese Kokoro, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultranationalist, he was infamous for his misogynistic comments, his racist remarks, his xenophobic views and his hatred of Chinese and Koreans, including his use of the antiquated pejorative term "sangokujin". He was also a denier of the Nanjing Massacre.
Ishihara family; from left to right: Kiyoshi (father), Yūjirō (youngest brother), Mitsuko (mother), and Shintaro
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and U.S. Navy Commander Joseph Deleon at the Emergency Drill in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in September 2006
Ishihara at the Tokyo Governor's office (2009)