自転車で通天閣In south Osaka - the zoo and museum and a park to one side, a slum of boarding houses for mainly unemployed elderly day workers to the other - is the Tsutenkaku Tower.
This tower is actually the second one to be built here. The first tower, which was modeled after the Eiffel Tower, was completed in 1912. At the time it was located next to an amusement park called Luna Park.
It was 64 meters tall (210 feet) and at the time was the second tallest structure in Asia.
However, in 1943, a fire badly damaged Tsutenkaku. As this was right at the height of World War II, city leaders decided to use the steel for planes and weaponry rather than rebuilding.
Once the war had ended, though, the tower was rebuilt. Tachu Naito designed it, and it was completed in 1956.
There is an observation deck on the fifth floor that is dedicated to Billiken.
Billiken is a good luck doll originally from the United States, and is now everywhere in the neighborhood.
Access
For those on bikes, it is a short ride from Tennoji Station or Namba. For those taking the subway, Dobutsuen-mae or Ebisu-cho are very close.
Tsutenkaku
Open 9 am to 9 pm.
Admission: 600 yen
1-18-6 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwa-ku, Osaka Tel: 06 6641 9555
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