HIGHWAY THROUGH A BUILDING STORY
Quite often when you see something unbelievable on the internet
you don’t know whether or not it is fake or real
Behind me is Osaka’s Gate Tower Building
and believe me — it’s real!
That’s right! Going through that building
is a highway.
Osaka is Japan’s second largest metropolitan area
located in the heart of the Kansai region.
Not far from Osaka station lies
one of the world’s most peculiar buildings.
From above, it’s easy to see why
but from building level, the GATE TOWER BUILDING is just ridiculous
There’s a story behind this building but
before I get into that,
I wanted to go inside the TKP Gate Tower Building
and find out what exactly’s on those middle floors.
I got permission from the building owner to give you a look around.
First I had to pin down which floors the highway was located
I quickly found out those floors simple don’t exist.
1
2
3
4
The elevator simply doesn’t stop on the highway level.
In the lobby, you can see it listed though.
Floors 5 6 and 7 are the Hanshin Expressway
But the 8th floor was a conference room
so I asked to take a look from up there
The elevator took me above the highway
Yup! You can watch the cars go straight though the building.
From an adjacent building, you can see that the expressway
curves below my postion on the 8th floor.
It never actually touches the building.
It passes thorough suspended on a bridge
surrounded by a tunnel to prevent noise and vibrations
to the surrounding floors.
On the 5th to 7th floors is a stairwell, elevator and some machinery
By the way, the highway is the legal tenant of floors 5 through 7
About 1500 meters away is Osaka’s famous UMEDA SKY BUILDING
with the highest escalators in the world
From there, you can get an amazing view of the city
and the GATE TOWER BUILDING
You’re probably wondering why the Hanshin Expressway
is passing through the building, right?
It’s basically a land rights dispute with a sort of happy ending
The property was owned by a business since the early Meiji era
but when the business declined, so did the buildings
The area was approved to be redeveloped in 1983
but the property holder refused to give up the land,
even though new building permits had been refused
They negotiated for 5 years
and this was the compromise
Now it’s part of Osaka’s fast growing skyline.
Seen it, been in it, and now it’s time to drive through it
In a 1996 LOTUS Seven.
We got on the Hanshin Expressway
one stop away from the Gate Tower Building and Umeda Exit
Let’s go!
It’s a 3km drive
This is Yasui-san
Yes!
This is his wonderful can and
he’s taking me on a trip
through the Gate Tower Building
Yes!
And he’s also — oh!
Oh! Look! Look!
That’s your company! Yes!
He’s the president of a delivery service that gets things
speedily to people whereever they are in Japan
Yes!
It didn’t take long to arrive.
Felt like we were driving inside a video game to complete a mission
Was there anything special about driving through a building like this?
When you do it in a LOTUS 7, you bet there is!
In reality, it’s just a tunnel for drivers to pass though,
but the visual of it all is just super cool
and now I can check it off my list of things to do ONLY in JAPAN
You can get good views of the building on the OSAKA KANJOU SEN
or Circular / Loop Line between Osaka and Fukushima Station
When you think about it, the shortest route from A to B is a straight line,
never mind that this ones curves a little
I’m just saying more highways should go through more buildings because –
it’s just simple cooler that way
If you’re in Osaka, take a look around
and see if you can find
the crazy building with a highway going through it and –
See you next time!
Next time I meet up with ONLY in JAPAN regular Kevin Riley
and we hear to Nara
for a street food guide episode
If you liked it, hit that subscribe button
and watch another one of ONLY in JAPAN’s shows