Tower of the Sun

Towering over Expo ‘70 Commemorative Park, this huge 70-meter-high tower with three faces and left and right arms is a work of art and a structure created by artist Taro Okamoto.

It was built as part of the theme pavilion for the 1970 Japan World Exposition (EXPO ‘70, Osaka Expo ‘70).

It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2020.

It is one of Taro Okamoto’s masterpieces and is twinned with “Myth of Tomorrow,” which was created around the same time.

It is a symbol of the energy of all things generated through the past, present, and future, as well as the center of life and the center of festivals.

The tower is approximately 70 meters high, 20 meters in diameter at the base, and 25 meters long at the arms.
The three faces attached to the center, top, and back of the front and the left and right arms are the main features of the exterior.

Inside the tower is the “Tree of Life,” an exhibit on the theme of biological evolution, which was closed to the public after the Expo, but was reopened to the public in 2018.

The three faces are the “golden face” at the top of the tower, which shines in gold and symbolizes the future; the “sun face” on the front, which symbolizes the present; and the “black sun” on the back, which symbolizes the past.

At the time of the exposition, a fourth “face” was installed in the underground space of the Theme Pavilion, called “the sun of the depths of the earth (the sun of the primeval age), representing the source of human prayer and heart.
It went missing after the closing of the exhibition, and the “Underground Sun” was restored in time for the 2018 opening of the interior of the Tower of the Sun.

Exhibition themes inside the tower
Underground - Past - The World of Origin - The Mystery of Life
Above Ground - Present World of Harmony - Modern Energy
Aerial - the future, the world of progress - differentiation and integration (organization and information)