Catching Wigglet At Odaiba Beach in Tokyo Bay

Wigglet is a hard pokemon to catch if you live away from beaches. It is also a rare or uncommon spawn at beaches. When I first started playing Pokemon Go, it was really difficult to find and then catch a Snorlax. On my first trip to Japan after Pokemon Go released I caught two Snorlax in Kyoto within 15 minutes of each other. They were more common in Japan then. Wigglet is not more common in Japan though, but your chances of finding one should be higher as the country is an island with lots of coast and more beaches than where I am from. I was actually at Enoshima for a day and I never saw a Wigglet on the radar and there are huge beaches there, so it this isn't a common pokemon to run into.

The first time I ever saw a Wigglet on the radar and it was a long way away from Diver City where I was. Diver City is where the giant Unicorn Gundam Statue is on Odaiba.

On my last day in Japan I decided to head to Odaiba to see if I could catch the legendary Wigglet. It turned into more of an adventure than I wanted. I figured the pokemon was spawning at Odaiba Beach, near the Decks Mall and not too far from Aqua City and Diver City. I took the Yurikamome monorail out to Odaiba and got off at Odaiba-kaihinkoen Station. I walked through a residential apartment area that overlooks the water and down to the park that goes down to the water, with long man-made beach area. The beach is artificial, but then so is the entire island of Odaiba which is reclaimed land from the sea. It is a pleasant place to have an afternoon or picnic and there were plenty of people at the close end of the beach towards the malls. Dragonboat races were happening out in the lagoon.

Read Playing Pokemon Go on my 2022 trip to Japan.

Giant Unicorn Gundam at Diver City.

The lagoon is a U shape with the main island at the bottom of the map below and a causeway linking up Daiba with the historic gun battery position at the top. The huge Rainbow Bridge runs along the causeway to the mainland. I'm pretty sure when I was here a few days earlier, the Wigglets I saw on the radar were at Daiba Park or Odaiba Beach too based on the pictures.

I started at the bottom by Odaiba-kaihinkoen Station.

I originally thought that the Wigglets would be closer to the Odaiba Beach area as it is a BEACH! But... Nope, it had to be way out there at the gun battery! I used incense and a lure at the many gyms and pokestops here and I did not see a Wigglet  appear randomly in the wild in the 45 minutes it took me to walk out to the Daiba Park gun battery and back. The map shows only a 1 km walk, but it felt like it took longer than 20 minutes to get out there. It was 26 degrees, but there was a cool ocean breeze that helped, but it was pretty humid and I did drink a bunch of water.

Some cool doorways that lead down to the beach from the train station.

Odaiba Beach. I had to walk down to the part where you see the bridge in the background. That is the massive Rainbow Bridge the monorail crosses to get here. The gun battery is off the picture to the left. The picture below this is at the end of the beach in the distance in this picture.

The gun battery island in the distance and this is the causeway that leads out there. Behind me is the Rainbow Bridge.

The Fuji TV building and the Decks and Aqua City Malls across the bay.

The bridge behind the tall grass - I wasn't about to wander around in it to catch Pokemon.

All the gyms and pokestops down by the causeway at the end of the beach. There were lots of pokemon here. You can see the shadow of the Wigglet on the radar.

Seadra on the beach. So you know you are in a beach biome.

Slowpoke on the beach.

I was pretty hot and tired from the humidity by the time I reached the end of the causeway. Since no other Wigglets had appeared in the wild or from incense I really hoped that this Wigglet wouldn't despawn on me. It would have really sucked if it had vanished as I reached the gun battery!!!!

You can barely see the Wigglet I'm after peeking out at the top of the crowd of Pokemon.

It is always a bit of fun to play Pokemon Go in a new place and also learn about some history of the places too. Odaiba Gun Battery No. 5, is one of the six completed batteries built during the Edo period in response to Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival, was constructed in 1853 as part of a larger defensive project for Edo (modern Tokyo). While originally planned for 11 batteries, only six were completed, including No. 5. The batteries were built to defend against potential naval attacks, particularly those from foreign warships like Perry's "Black Ships".

The interior of the island with Gun Battery 5. There is a bunker which is the pokestop in the middle left.

Here is the Wigglet that made me walk all the way out to the gun battery.

It actually took two balls to catch and it didn't run, so I did catch the Wigglet. I was sooo happy to finally get one of these rare pokemon.  Strangest thing about the Wigglet was that it did not appear in a beach biome from the background!

Here is my catch card!!!!

This was a bit of an adventure in walking in the heat, but it was fun to get out there. I'll definitely remember this experience to get the Wigglet. By the way, because Japan has earthquakes and tsumamis, there are tidal wave warning markers to tell you that you are in a low area!