Unspecified/General

One of the boldest pieces of architecture in Osaka, the Umeda Sky Building consists of two forty-storey towers joined near the top by a ring-shaped bridge that frames the open air, the whole forming what its designer, Hiroshi Hara, imagined as a gateway to the sky. Completed in 1993, the building was originally conceived as part of a far more ambitious cluster of four linked towers, of which only two were ever built, and its daring profile has made it a frequent fixture on lists of striking modern structures worldwide. The chief attraction is the Floating Garden Observatory at the summit, a circular open-air deck reached by a glass-enclosed escalator that crosses the gap between the towers, giving visitors the slightly unnerving sensation of climbing through empty space before they emerge to a panorama across the city and the river. The rooftop is laid out for walking the full circle in the open air, popular with couples at sunset and after dark, while the basement holds a recreated street of early twentieth-century Osaka, lined with old-fashioned eateries. Set a short walk from the busy Umeda and Osaka stations, the building is among the city's most distinctive landmarks. The two towers are linked not only by the rooftop ring but by an enclosed escalator that crosses the open gap high above the ground, a journey that gives many visitors a thrill of vertigo as they ride through the void between the buildings before reaching the summit. The Floating Garden Observatory at the top is unusual in being largely open to the sky, so that walking its full circle exposes visitors to the wind and the elements and gives an unobstructed 360-degree view across Osaka, the surrounding plain and, in clear weather, the distant mountains and the bay. The deck is especially popular at sunset and after dark, when couples gather to watch the lights of the city come on, and small touches such as luminous floor markings add to the evening atmosphere. Far below, in the basement, a recreated street evokes the Osaka of the early twentieth century, its old-fashioned shopfronts housing restaurants serving traditional fare. The building stands a little apart from the main station district, across a stretch of tracks and connected by an underground passage, in an area being redeveloped with new parkland. Bold, photogenic and unlike anything around it, the Umeda Sky Building is among the most distinctive sights of the city.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 1-1-88 Oyodonaka, Kita Ward, Keihanshin, Japan

Website: https://www.skybldg.co.jp

Opening Date: 01/03/1993