Umeda Sky Building
Osaka, Japan
By the time we reached Osaka in the late afternoon via our fourth Shinkansen journey, we were both beginning to feel a bit "citied out" and the thought of site seeing in Japan's second biggest city seemed somewhat tiring. But we may never have the opportunity to revisit Japan again and so after finding the hotel, which was conveniently situated over the subway line although it took over half an hour to find it, we reviewed our itinerary and headed for the hotel bar and restaurant and an early night.
The following morning we were both up with the larks and out of the hotel and heading for yet another new subway network. First tick on the list was the Umeda Sky building - a very quirky design skyscraper that is the 19th tallest building in Osaka at 173m (568 ft), but doesn't even make the top 50 in Japan, but that's not the main reason for visiting. I'd read about it before going to Japan and was surprised that Mrs R had included it in our itinerary for I know she would be freaked out by its "interesting" features.
The building consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with a glass bridge midway and a pair of escalators that cross the void from the 35th floor of the west tower up to the 39th floor of the east tower. Now as much as I like my architecture this building simple tries too hard for the wow factor. The escalators were the most memorable part of the visit as the observation deck and rooftop circuit can't hold a light to the Orizuru Tower in Hiroshima in my opinion. In my posting you can see the external glass elevator between the white and red sculptures and the two escalators at the top. If you don't like heights, then this might be one to give a miss as Mrs R would have done in hindsight. You'll see what I mean in the next upload...
Umeda Sky Building
Osaka, Japan
By the time we reached Osaka in the late afternoon via our fourth Shinkansen journey, we were both beginning to feel a bit "citied out" and the thought of site seeing in Japan's second biggest city seemed somewhat tiring. But we may never have the opportunity to revisit Japan again and so after finding the hotel, which was conveniently situated over the subway line although it took over half an hour to find it, we reviewed our itinerary and headed for the hotel bar and restaurant and an early night.
The following morning we were both up with the larks and out of the hotel and heading for yet another new subway network. First tick on the list was the Umeda Sky building - a very quirky design skyscraper that is the 19th tallest building in Osaka at 173m (568 ft), but doesn't even make the top 50 in Japan, but that's not the main reason for visiting. I'd read about it before going to Japan and was surprised that Mrs R had included it in our itinerary for I know she would be freaked out by its "interesting" features.
The building consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with a glass bridge midway and a pair of escalators that cross the void from the 35th floor of the west tower up to the 39th floor of the east tower. Now as much as I like my architecture this building simple tries too hard for the wow factor. The escalators were the most memorable part of the visit as the observation deck and rooftop circuit can't hold a light to the Orizuru Tower in Hiroshima in my opinion. In my posting you can see the external glass elevator between the white and red sculptures and the two escalators at the top. If you don't like heights, then this might be one to give a miss as Mrs R would have done in hindsight. You'll see what I mean in the next upload...