Osaka

Hiroshi Hara trained as an architect in Tokyo. Without the trappings of a western education, his sensibility can be argued to be more true to Japan than that of his western-educated contemporaries. Having no compulsion to speak to a western audience, his responses must be more grounded in Japanese reality, after all. 

His futuristic designs use cutting edge technology and reflect the fast-paced playfulness of urban Japan. There is certain sense of honesty and lack of pretension apparent in his highly complex structures. They do not attempt to borrow from the halo-ed past. Rather, they seem to evoke a future, and in no small measure, the "integration of man, environment and technology" that the Japanese architectural movement, Metabolism, sought to achieve.

After the Kyoto Railway Station, we were face to face with Hiroshi Hara's work in Osaka, at the Umeda Sky Building. One of the most engaging skyscraper experiences, two forty-storey high towers are connected by panoramic escalators, bridges, lifts, and a floating garden observatory on top. Interesting urban pockets create a vibrant pedestrian dynamic throughout. Visually, such an experience could translate into a jarring collage of elements. That the Umeda Sky does not, is its triumph.

The architect has used reflective panels on parts of the building's facade so that it mirrors the surrounding buildings and landscape, lending a visual lightness to the mass. Opaque ceramic panels cladding the base of the towers gradually give way to the reflecting panels. The scale and quality of the panels is perfect, compositionally with respect to the entire mass, and the effect is surreally stunning. From the base of the towers, one looks up to see them "melt" into the air and then change form to hold up a "Floating City" at the top, which in turn is punctured by a large circular opening. Escalators crisscross their way through the void. The whole effect is like from another world. We spent a busy hour in the dynamic building, with much to see and many interactive spaces to pause at.

Caesar Pelli's National Museum of Art is another of those buildings buried beneath ground level - common in Japan due to site constraints and regulations. What little is seen above ground was conceived as a sculptural form that would be a civic landmark. The steel and glass skylight of the lobby has been used achieve this, with the titanium coated steel tubes extruded to rise above the glass. Inside, natural light flows through the halls, creating a constant play of changing shadows. 

Osaka has a vibrant, youthful street life. Signage is large, playful and catchy. Shops and eateries are crowded, well kept and jostle for attention. All the youth of the city seem to be on the streets in the evenings, and the energy levels are high.

                                

                                

                                 

                                 

Bunraku is a form of puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the 1600s. Today, Osaka is home to a government-supported troupe that performs five or more shows a year. The National Bunraku Theatre was built for their shows in 1983. The architect, Kisho Kurokawa has used cutting edge technology and a modern aesthetic to create this building, making it current to its times, yet an apt setting for the traditional performances, drawing associations with, and cues from, traditional formats. 

Although we could not catch a show, what little we saw of the building showed us how much importance the government placed on sustaining traditional art forms, and creating a setting that would be apt for its appreciation, yet with a currency that could draw in a modern audience.

The fortified Osaka Castle was a seat of shoguns and a site of many battles during the 1600's. During WWII, it was used as an arsenal, and was destroyed by bombing. The 8-storied castle was reconstructed in 1995. Inside, it is a crowded, run-of-the-mill, even charmless museum, telling the stories of the battles and lives in the shogunate through paintings, videos and period exhibits. Moats and stone walls surrounding the castle are original. The massive granite blocks were joined without mortar, using skills typical of the period. 

Osaka will be remembered for its bustling, youthful streets and the futuristic, playful and people-friendly Umeda Sky Building overlooking the Yodo river. A city that has taken its fair share of blows, both natural and man-caused, and reinvented itself each time, to become bigger and better, Osaka marches on, meeting its future in its present.