
Tower of the Sun Named Important Cultural Property; Icon of Osaka Expo 1970 Symbolizes Japanese Postwar Economic Boom
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Tower of the Sun is seen in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on Friday.
The Council for Cultural Affairs on Friday recommended to the education, culture, sports, science and technology minister that the Tower of the Sun, a symbol of the 1970 World Exposition designed by artist Taro Okamoto and located in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, be designated an Important Cultural Property in the building category.
With Osaka now hosting another World Expo, 55 years after the one for which the Tower was constructed, the structure has been recognized as a valuable legacy representing Japan's era of rapid economic growth.
Under the leadership of Okamoto, the Tower of the Sun was erected as the centerpiece of the Expo's Theme Pavilion. In response to the Expo's slogan, 'Progress and Harmony for Mankind,' producer Okamoto deliberately conceived the tower as an anti-modern symbol reminiscent of an ancient Jomon clay figurine.
The Tower left a powerful impression on visitors and became a public favorite. The construction of the Tower's enormous and distinctive form, 70 meters tall, brought together some of the most advanced techniques of the time.
Mathematical analysis was applied to shape the trunk's complex three-dimensional curves, and the 25-meter-long arms, whose interiors have spaces visitors can enter, were engineered to a strength that would be challenging to achieve even with today's technology.
Although the tower was slated for demolition once the Expo closed, petition drives and other opposition efforts secured its preservation. After seismic retrofitting, the interior was opened to the public in 2018 for the first time since the Expo.
It will become Japan's second-newest Important Cultural Property in the building category, after the Seto Inland Sea Folk History Museum in Takamatsu, which was completed in 1973.
Prof. Osamu Goto of Kogakuin University, a specialist in Japanese architectural history, said: 'Few cultural properties allow so many people to look back on history with a shared awareness. This is an unusual structure with multifaceted value, and it could one day be designated an Important Cultural Property in the fine arts category as well.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Yomiuri Shimbun
9 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Princess Kako Visits Private School in Sao Paulo; Princess Interacts with Students, Samples Local Confectionary
The Yomiuri Shimbun Princess Kako visits a private school in Sao Paulo on Saturday. MARINGA, Brazil — Princess Kako, the second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, interacted with students during a visit to a private school in Sao Paulo on Saturday. The princess is the first member of the Imperial family to visit the school, known as Oshiman. She was welcomed to the school by students with singing and dancing, and was served traditional local confectionary. 'This is really delicious,' said the princess after eating the sweets. The school, founded in 1993, has about 430 students in total aged from 18-month old preschool children to third-year junior high school. About 70% of the students are of Japanese descent. School principal Mayumi Madueno, 65, is a 3rd generation Japanese Brazilian. Her 96-year-old mother established a Japanese language school in the 1950s after she became concerned that the language and culture inherited from their ancestors would disappear as generations changed. The princess on Sunday traveled by air to Maringa, southwestern Brazil, and attended a welcome ceremony held by a Japanese-Brazilian organization.


Yomiuri Shimbun
10 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Princess Akiko Calls for Elevating Traditional Japanese Culture; World Forum on Japanese Culture Kicks Off
Yomiuri Shimbun photos Princess Akiko delivers a speech during the inaugural session of the World Forum on Japanese Culture at the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, on May 31. ATAMI, Shizuoka — Princess Akiko has stressed the importance of cultivating fertile soil for traditional Japanese culture to live on without the need for protection, during a recent event that kicked off the World Forum on Japanese Culture. The forum, which was established to convey to the world the distinctive characteristics of Japanese culture, held its inaugural sessions at the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, on May 31, with about 500 people in attendance. In the first session, Princess Akiko delivered a speech titled 'The essence of Japanese aesthetics,' in which she said that traditional Japanese culture will become 'a thing of the past' unless it is incorporated into modern society and people make use of it. 'Culture should come alive in our everyday lives,' she said. 'Japanese culture is supposed to be closely connected to our everyday lives, not something merely appreciated.' From left, Harvard University Prof. Yukio Lippit; Masatomo Kawai, a professor emeritus at Keio University; lacquer artist Kazumi Murose; and Tokugo Uchida, director of the MOA museum, participate in a discussion at the forum on May 31 The princess of Mikasa said she realized how little she knew about Japanese culture when people often asked her about it while she was studying at Oxford University. That realization led her to study Japanese art and eventually launch 'Shinyusha,' an initiative that provides children with opportunities to experience authentic Japanese culture through workshops, such as on making Japanese tea in a traditional manner and wearing kimono — practices that are no longer common in everyday Japanese life. The princess said that the goal of the initiative is to plant 'seeds of memories.' She said she hopes that the children will have pleasant memories of the workshops and that they will recall those memories in the future, thereby building a feeling of affinity toward traditional culture. Masatomo Kawai, a professor emeritus at Keio University, gives a keynote speech during the second session of the forum on May 31. She called for a 'bottom-up style' of cultural preservation, in which each person naturally strives to protect their culture, rather than a 'top-down style,' in which authorities chooses what to keep and protect. 'If you don't know why something is important, you don't care to protect it,' she said. 'What we can do now is use our own efforts to build a future for preserving our precious Japanese culture.' In the second session held on the same day, Masatomo Kawai, a professor emeritus at Keio University, gave a keynote speech on the uniqueness of Japanese culture. He said Japanese culture has been nurtured through finding harmony between nature and people, while in the West, culture and science have developed through efforts to overcome nature. A similar point was addressed in the discussion that followed involving four experts: Kawai; Kazumi Murose, a lacquer artist designated as a living national treasure; Harvard University Prof. Yukio Lippit; and Tokugo Uchida, director of the MOA museum. Members of the audience listen to Princess Akiko's speech on May 31. During the discussion, they affirmed the importance of seeking 'coexistence between nature and society' in the 21st century amid global challenges such as division, conflict and environmental issues. Murose said that Japan, through its long history, has incorporated aspects of overseas cultures into its own to create new values and traditions to pass on to the next generation. Lippit said culture is not something each country should discuss independently, and that common values are important for getting even people overseas to feel like they want to carry on Japanese cultural heritage. World Forum on Japanese Culture Organized by Harvard University′s department of History of Art + Architecture, the MOA Museum of Art, the Japan Arts Council and the Cultural Affairs Agency, the forum aims to elevate the appreciation of Japanese cultural values globally. Leading figures in traditional arts, traditional crafts, science and other fields are invited to speak, providing various perspectives on Japanese culture. Recordings of the forum's lectures and discussions will be made open to the public in multiple languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Thai. The recordings are planned to be made available online through about 20 institutions in 10 countries, such as the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. The third session is scheduled to be held in August and will feature Ryoji Noyori, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, and Seiichi Kondo, a former director general of the Cultural Affairs Agency, as speakers.


Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Exhibitions Across Japan Remember Legacies of 1970 Osaka Expo and Other Expos Past
Exhibitions focusing on the art and architecture showcased at world expositions in the past, including the 1970 Osaka Expo, are being held across the nation to coincide with the ongoing 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. The exhibitions aim to reexamine the history of these big world events where cultures from across the globe can be encountered. In Kawasaki The Yomiuri Shimbun Photos, documents and other items about the creation of the Tower of the Sun are displayed at the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art in Kawasaki. Among the legacies of the 1970 Osaka Expo, the Tower of the Sun in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, still draws visitors. A temporary exhibition titled 'Taro Okamoto and Tower of the Sun' is running at the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art in Kawasaki until July 6. The event focuses on the artist's ideas that came to fruition in the huge, strangely shaped structure. The tower, which Okamoto designed not long before he turned 60, was created as a symbol of resistance against the modernism embodied in the expo's theme of 'Progress and Harmony for Mankind.' The background to this was the folklore studies that Okamoto undertook as a student in Paris. The experience fostered his attitude of seeking a deep understanding of the roots of people's lives. The exhibition displays photos that Okamoto took after returning to Japan to document festivals, customs and architecture across the nation. The photos indicate that Okamoto had a strong interest in his origins. Among items related to the 1970 Osaka Expo, the exhibits include blueprints for the tower and motion pictures of Okamoto in the process of making the tower. There is also a space that reproduces scenes from the 1970 Expo in which folk items from across the world were displayed in the base of the tower. The tower, with its humorous and dynamic imagery, applauds the very existence of mankind. A curator of the museum said, 'Now that time has passed, I hope this exhibition is an opportunity to reconsider what Okamoto wanted to demonstrate at the [1970] Expo.' In Osaka The Yomiuri Shimbun A life-size design of a velvet wall hanging, named 'Nami ni Chidori,' is displayed at the Takashimaya Archives in Osaka. The Takashimaya Archives in Naniwa Ward, Osaka, is holding an exhibition titled 'Exposition Era' until Aug. 18. The exhibition shows the relationship between world expositions and department stores. The displays include artistically dyed fabrics, rough drawings of the fabrics and award certificates that Takashimaya Co. showed at world expositions at home and abroad from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. They include a life-size design of a velvet wall hanging in the Yuzen style named 'Nami ni Chidori' (Waves and plovers), which Japanese-style painter Seiho Takeuchi supervised. It is on display until June 23. The painting is a fantastical depiction of plovers taking flight over the moonlit sea. The wall hanging was displayed at the 1900 Paris Expo, and French actress Sarah Bernhardt bought it, causing a sensation. This anecdote indicates how highly Japanese craftsmen's skills were valued, in addition to the popularity of Japonisme — a trend that favored Japanese products — in those years. Yuzen-style dyed fabrics and embroidered pictures shown in the exhibition are all precise and take visitors by surprise. Takako Takai, a curator of the archives, said: 'Utilizing the experiences of displaying at the expo, Takashimaya changed its sales approach from a zauri style [in which clerks pulled out goods as customers requested them], to the current style of showcasing products on store shelves. The expo is one of the factors that prompted the evolution from kimono shops to department stores.' Items displayed will be subject to change during the exhibition. In Tokyo The Yomiuri Shimbun Blueprints and photos about attractive buildings at the 1970 Osaka Expo are shown at the National Archives of Modern Architecture in Tokyo. The National Archives of Modern Architecture in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, is holding an exhibition titled 'World Fair in Japan 1970-2005,' which focuses on the role of world expositions from the perspective of architecture. In the first phase of the exhibition that ended on May 25, it showed the efforts of talented architects who, through trial and error, led Japan's architecture in the postwar period, mainly focusing on the 1970 Osaka Expo. At the venue of the 1970 Expo, the 127-meter-high Expo Tower, which was designed by Kiyonori Kikutake, stood opposite the Tower of the Sun. The exhibition displayed the twists and turns before construction of the Expo Tower began, including blueprints for a dynamic four-pillar structure that was ultimately not adopted. The Sumitomo Fairytale Pavilion in the 1970 Expo, designed by Sachio Otani, was shaped like a flying saucer, and the exhibition displayed blueprints depicting precise frames with curved lines, and also abundant sketches suggesting the buds of his ideas. In the next phase from June 14 to Aug. 31, the exhibition will focus mainly on the four expos held at home since the 1975 Okinawa International Ocean Exposition and those abroad.