Tsutenkaku Tower

Tsutenkaku, registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in May 2007, is the symbol of Shinsekai, featuring an Arc de Triomphe-inspired building topped by an Eiffel Tower-style steel structure. The first Tsutenkaku was built in July 1912 and stood 64 meters tall, making it the tallest structure in the East at the time. It was named “Tsutenkaku,” meaning “a tall building that reaches the heavens,” by the Meiji-era Confucian scholar Nangaku Fujisawa. In February 1943, the tower was dismantled and “donated” to Osaka Prefecture as war materials. The current Tsutenkaku, completed in 1956, stands 103 meters tall. On the 5th-floor observatory, the “Billiken-san” statue is enshrined—created by an American female artist based on a “god of happiness” she saw in a dream. It is said that rubbing Billiken’s protruding soles brings good fortune, and more than one million people visit the “Billiken Shrine” on the 5th floor each year. In addition, at the Tsutenkaku Theater in the basement, rakugo and manzai performances are held on Saturdays and Sundays, while on Mondays enka singers from various regions give live performances.