Ever since I found out that my favorite Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu was featured here, I've always been wanting to pay a visit to Madame Tussaud's, located in Odaiba, Tokyo. I've been to Odaiba many times but finally decided to make my dream a reality!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Madame Tussaud's, it's a museum of wax figures of famous athletes, musicians, scientists, and celebrities, located in various locations around the world. The figures are incredibly lifelike, and you can pose for pictures as if you met your favorite celebs! You can easily spend two hours here just taking pictures and learning about the history and process of making the figures, which is incredibly labor intensive! I went on a Thursday morning, so it was almost empty, allowing me to fully enjoy the experience. If you purchase tickets in advance online, you can get a discount. A regular adult ticket is 2300 yen (approximately 23 US dollars), which is discounted to 1800 if you buy ahead. You can also get a dual pass to Madame Tussaud's and the adjacent Legoland, and tickets after 5 PM are discounted to 1400 yen. The website is all in English, so you can easily get the ticket that suits you.
Celebrities at Madame Tussaud's Tokyo
Leaders
Barack Obama
Shinzo Abe
Dalai Lama
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
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| Wow they are giants! |
Nelson Mandela
Princess Diana
Athletes
Yuzuru Hanyu
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| My favorite star! |
David Beckham
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| Bend it like Beckham. |
Ussain Bolt
Maria Sharapova
Mao Asada
Messi
Yu Darvish
Kazuyoshi Miura
Chiono Fuji
Michael Jackson
Madonna
X-Japan
Elvis Presley
Beyonce
Akiko Wada
Oshima Yuko (from idol group AKB48)
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| She's adorable! And tiny! |
History and Culture
Albert Einstein
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| Einstein was not amused. |
William Shakespeare
Leonardo da Vinci
Steve Jobs
Taro Hakase
Sakamoto Ryoma
Yayoi Kusama
Celebrities
Kate Winslet
Leonardo Dicaprio
Benedict Cumberbatch
I was so overjoyed to find my favorite actors here! Both Yuzuru and Benedict?! Hit the jackpot. The detail is incredible! (I actually thought Yuzuru had the least resemblance. He's way cuter in real life!)
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| Best Christmas picture EVER! |
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| He looks so inviting! |
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| Those cheekbones! |
Angelina Jolie
She's a giantess! I don't know what it is, but most of these people are wayyy taller than me, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!
George Clooney
Danmitsu
Lady Gaga
Jackie Chan
Meryl Streep
Matsuko Deluxe
Becky
Tetsuko Kurayanagi
Beat Takeshi
Julia Roberts
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| Also a giantess! Am I just really short or something?! |
Movies
Johnny Depp
As you enter the exhibits a staff member will be waiting to take your picture on the red carpet with Johnny!
Bruce Willis
He's waiting to greet you in the elevator going up to the exhibit!
Audrey Hepburn
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| Tea time for two please - or should I say breakfast? |
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Tom Cruise
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| Don't miss out on this awesome shot! |
Marilyn Monroe
Steven Spielberg
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| Action! |
ET
Spiderman
Bruce Lee
There are descriptions next to each figure including a brief bio and famous quote by that person (just in case you have no idea who Barrack Obama is...). There are some other Japanese people I missed because I don't know them, but I included almost all in this list. Some also have their hand prints, too! I went by myself on a weekday, but the staff was obliging and helped me take all the pictures I wanted! There are also a variety of props related to each figure that you use to spice up your pics.
Activities
Naturally the attraction of Madame Tussaud's is the picture taking, but there's plenty more exciting things to do! One of these is a craft to make your own handprint, for an extra fee, and feel like you've got your star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
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| Make your own hand print and feel like a star! |
You can even star in a video with your favorite celeb! This was my favorite activity here, and best of all it's free! You first scan different angles of your face and then watch a holographic video from several different options. Naturally I chose to star alongside Yuzuru Hanyu in Swan Lake. It was pretty hilarious and awesome at the same time. I probably would have spent more time trying out all the other different videos.
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| Star in a video with your favorite celeb! |
There's also interactive games and trivia spread out around the exhibition. You can test your knowledge of physics with Einstein and try your hand at conducting an orchestra. There's also a karaoke machine where you can input your favorite song and sing along if you can hear it over the music already playing in the background.
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| Conduct the orchestra! |
The most interesting of all for me was the history of Madame Tussaud's. You can read about how it was started by Madame Tussaud in the 1800s and watch a short video in English. Marie was born in France in 1761 and later moved to London to start her wax museum. In her early days she was even commissioned to recreate guillotined heads of French leaders like Louie XVI and Marie Antoinette, which were displayed on poles for all to rejoice over!
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| Madame Tussaud with a freshly guillotined head. |
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| The biggest star of the museum, Madame Tussaud herself. |
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| A grotesque beginning to the art of wax figures. |
Before having her own museum, Marie started out touring around England to display her wax figures. Even before the groundbreaking technology we enjoy today, Madame Tussaud was praised for the extreme lifelike-ness of her figures. Today the process is still highly labor intensive, and fascinating to learn about! Each strand of hair is painstakingly attached one by one! The subject must first pose for photographs to be captured from every possible angle, then the mold is made from a mixture of beeswax and Japanese wax.
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| Molding the figures, which takes 170 hours! |
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| It takes 140 hours to attach the hair strand by strand! |
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| 15 hours goes into making a pair of eyeballs dedicated to duplicating every minuscule detail! |
You will be surprised how much more fun there is to be had than just taking pictures!
Getting There
Madame Tussaud's is located in Odaiba, Tokyo on the third floor of Island Mall at Decks Tokyo Beach. From Shinjuku station, take the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line bound for Ikebukuro, transfer at Akasaka-Mitsuke to the Ginza line for Akasaka. If you're at Shibuya you can take the Ginza line from there. Then from Shimbashi station exit to the Yurikamome line across the street and hop on it bound for Toyosu. The trip takes about 15 minutes and offers you an excellent view of the bay and the famous Rainbow Bridge (not actually rainbow...) It's a two minute walk from Yurikamome Odaiba-kaihinkoen station.
Alternatively, you can take the Rinkai Line to Tokyo Teleport Station, a 5 minute walk away. From either Shinjuku or Shibuya take the JR Saikyo line rapid for Shin-kiba and transfer at Osaki to the rinkai line. And it you're coming from Tokyo station simply take JR Yamanote to Shimbashi and hop on the Yurikamome line from there.
Madame Tussaud's is open from 10 AM to 9 PM, and once you've made the trip to Odaiba you won't stop there! There's plenty of other exciting things to explore around Odaiba, from a miniature Statue of Liberty, entertainment, shopping, and a giant Gundam robot. Check it out in my blog!
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