Walking Through Ever-Changing Umeda
What Kind of Place Is Umeda?
The area around JR Osaka Station is known as Umeda. On private railway and subway lines, though, the station name is Umeda. Because both Osaka Station and Umeda Station are used, people from outside Kansai will sometimes say, “I’m heading to Umeda now,” even while they’re already at Osaka Station… (lol)
Umeda is a major transportation hub, a business center, and a highly developed commercial district, so in Tokyo terms, I’d say it’s kind of like Shinjuku. Grand Front Osaka feels a bit more like Marunouchi than Shinjuku, though—but that’s the general idea.
Right now, Umeda is in the middle of massive construction, with redevelopment moving ahead on the vast former freight yard site. It sounds like a new, greenery-filled district is taking shape, and I think it could become one of the rare spaces of its kind in Japan—maybe even the world. I’m really looking forward to it. Umekita Phase 2 is scheduled for completion in 2027.
The Mysterious and Marvelous Umeda Sky Building
A Hole Open in the Sky
Seen from JR Osaka Station, the strange tower rising beyond the Umekita Phase 2 area is the Umeda Sky Building. It’s a super high-rise with a truly unusual shape.
When you get closer and look up, there’s a round opening in the middle. Two escalators stretch across the gap. For anyone afraid of heights, it would probably be pure terror—but for me, it’s impossible not to get excited!!!
The Umeda Sky Building was designed by Hiroshi Hara. When it comes to Hara, the most famous example might be that huge station building at Kyoto Station. He’s known for creating a lot of postmodern architecture, and this building is also full of postmodern decorative touches.
Apparently, the very concept of this Sky Building was inspired by the ancient city of Babylon and ruins of the Maya civilization, so there’s no doubt it sits squarely in the heart of postmodernism. Given the times, I doubt anything quite like this would be built in Japan today…
Then there are the surrounding low-rise buildings, beautiful with the sunset reflecting off them—their random feel is interesting too. You can kind of see that postmodern vibe… right? (lol) It gives a completely different impression from afar than it does up close.
It’s Even More Fun Inside
Of course, you can actually ride the escalators spanning that open hole. They might just be the coolest escalators in the world. (lol) *According to my own research
When no one else is on them, the escalators feel like something straight out of a science fiction movie.
Along the open-air observatory wrapped around that gaping opening, you can take in a panoramic view of Osaka. It’s called the Sky Walk. The river you see here is the Yodo River.
And once the sun goes down, you get this night view.
After coming down from the observatory, I somehow wandered into the building itself, and the elevator lobby had a pretty strong postmodern feel too. It was lovely.
I even came across an Escher picture… Since the architecture itself has such a strange, almost Escher-like appearance, I found that especially interesting.
Looking up at the Sky Building after dark has its own charm too. It looks like a UFO from another world.
There’s also a landscaped garden area at ground level, and while it’s a little dark and spooky at night, it’s still fun to walk around. And the thing that stands out most is this illuminated waterfall (?). It’s so powerful it’s almost frightening (lol).
Also, although I don’t have a photo of it, there’s a huge green wall called the Wall of Hope running along the Sky Building grounds as well—an idea proposed by Tadao Ando…! Definitely check that out too.
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