The New Fukuoka Tower

The New Fukuoka Tower stands next to the beach in the Momochi District of Fukuoka City.

Kouhayou is a monumental sculpture by Kyubei Kiyomizu ( 1922-2006) installed on the approach to Fukuoka Tower.

The reason it is called the New Fukuoka Tower is because an older, much smaller tower still stands at Hakata Port.

At 234 meters in height it is the tallest seaside tower in Japan, though the highest observation deck is only at 123 meters.

The final 111 meters of the tower is a TV mast.

The tower has an unusual triangular cross-section.

It was built in 1989 by Nikken Sekkei.

The elevator whisks you to the observation deck in 70 seconds.

The exterior is clad in half-mirrored glass, enabling visitors to see outside as they ride the elevator.

The tower is open from 09:30 to 22:00. Entry is 1,000 yen for adults.

In the evenings the exterior of the tower shows a variety of illumination displays, changing with the seasons and for special events.

Marizon, a pier that extends out from the beach into the sea in front of the tower is home to numerous shops and eateries.

The previous post in this series on the modern architecture of Fukuoka was on Fukuoka City Museum

Fukuyama Central Library

 

Fukuyama does not have much in the way of interesting modern architecture. Like so many of the bigger cities, it was bombed heavily at the end of the war and then suffered under Japans post war construction mentaliity.

However, the Central Library was quite nice.

With water on a couple of sides and set in Central Park its not particularly unique but quite photogenic.

It was designed by Nikken Sekkei, said to be the biggest architectural office in Japan, so no individual architects get named.

It was originally part of the Sumitomo Zaibatsu.

Their website says the brickwork cladding is made from rammed earth bricks but they look like regular bricks to me...

The last 2 photos give a clue as to why I was at the library....... Central Park was the location of a big festival that evening....

The previous post was on the Sanzo Inari Shrine inside Fukuyama Castle Park

Umeda Architecture Snapshots

 

The high-rise buildings of Umeda in downtown Osaka may be quite familiar to many visitors, but because I live deep in the countryside and rarely visit cities the sights are quite unfamiliar Japan to me and very fascinating.

The cluster of seven temples that comprise the start of the Kinki Fudo Myo Pilgrimage are all located in central Osaka and after visiting the 7th, Settsu Kokubunji, in the afternoon of my second day walking, it was now time to head West towards Kobe where temple 8 lay.

I had a hotel room booked for the night in Nishinomiya so I had no time to explore or engage in any kind of photographic study of the architecture, just snapshots as I passed by.

This is the Umekita Ship Hall, a commercial property on the northside of JR Osaka Station. It was designed by Nikken Sekkei

The unique Umeda Sky Building, designed by Hiroshi Hara, seen from a distance.

A replica of a medieval Belgian church on the 8th floor of the Hotel Monterey Osaka.

The previous post in this series on the Kinki Fudo Myo Pilgrimage was Settsu Kokubunji Temple.

Ehime Prefectural Museum of History & Culture

Located in Seiyo, about halfway between Uwajima and Ozu in a fairly remote part of the prefecture is the Ehime Prefecture Museum of History & Culture.

Composed of massive halls off of a big central corridor-hall, it does have some nice details and features.

It was designed by Nikken Sekkei whose most famous piece is probably Tokyo Skytree.

The exhibits themselves were interesting enough too.....