How to walk the town of the Tower of the Sun.

Osaka, 1970. Built as the heart of the Theme Pavilion, the Tower of the Sun presided over a World Expo that drew some 64 million visitors. The Golden Face at its crown looks to the future, the Face of the Sun on its front to the present, the Black Sun on its back to the past. There was a fourth face, too — the Underground Sun of the subterranean exhibits — which vanished after the Expo closed and has never been found.

Inside the tower climbs the Tree of Life: a steel trunk some 41 metres tall carrying 292 models of living creatures, from amoeba to humankind — the story of evolution told in a single tree. Okamoto called the whole thing deliberately outrageous; there is nothing else like it.

For roughly fifty years the interior stayed sealed. Restored together with seismic reinforcement, it reopened to the public in March 2018; visits are by advance reservation. Step outside and you have 260 hectares of lawns and the Japanese Garden, EXPOCITY next door, and Gamba Osaka’s Panasonic Stadium Suita — all about five minutes on foot from Bampaku-kinen-koen station. One monorail stop, one full day.