Showa-era Towers in Kansai’s Big Cities Become Social Media Sensations

By Shingo Sugime

8:00 JST, February 28, 2026

The skylines of the Keihanshin area, as the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe conurbation is known, are no longer just static postcards; they have become major new assets for the region. Once seen as aging “concrete boxes” burdened by maintenance costs, the three cities’ landmark towers have been reinvented as high-octane “profit platforms” fueled by inbound tourism.

Working a radical metamorphosis on the region’s silhouette, the trio of landmarks defining the skylines of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe — namely Tsutenkaku Tower, Kyoto Tower and Kobe Port Tower — are no longer mere observation decks. They have been weaponized as strategic assets in the “attention economy,” prioritizing immersive experience over static architecture.

In Osaka’s gritty Shin-Imamiya district, the Tsutenkaku Tower, which turns 70 years old this year, has traded a “quiet gaze” for “screams.” The catalyst? The Tower Slider, a 60-meter spiral slide installed in 2022. With international tourists making up 70% of its users, the slide has turned a nostalgic relic into a viral sensation.

But the true masterstroke was in the boardroom: Nankai Electric Railway’s recent acquisition of the tower. By integrating this landmark into a “corridor of experiences” stretching from Kansai International Airport to the downtown Namba area, Nankai is transforming the tower into a strategic node — a gateway that accelerates the flow of people and money through the city’s veins.

Kobe Port Tower has reached the 1-million-visitor milestone just one year and seven months after its renovation. This is roughly double the pace at which it attracted visitors in the three years from 2017 to 2019 before the renovation.

The “secret sauce” is Felissimo, the Kobe-based mail-order giant renowned for transforming customers into a loyal community. Instead of a mere “360-degree view,” the company sells a “story” — a strategy commissioned by Kobe City to revitalize the tower. From the open-air rooftop deck to galleries featuring local artists, every corner is curated for the social media era. In fact, a social media post of a sunset proposal at the tower recently went viral, proving that visitors aren’t just having a pivotal life moment; they are participating in a brand. This “fan-building” prowess has successfully injected private-sector vitality into a public asset.

Then there is Kyoto Tower, the first sight for the 700,000 travelers arriving at Kyoto Station daily. Since 2024, it has been rebranded as Nidec Kyoto Tower. Nidec, a Kyoto-based major supplier of a wide range of motors to various companies, is currently attempting to reform its corporate culture in the wake of a scandal related to alleged inappropriate accounting practices. As Nidec rehabilitates its image, the tower offers immeasurable PR value as a bold statement of local commitment.

Whether this corporate giant can sustain the vibrancy of the Kyoto Tower Sando commercial facility remains to be seen, but the tower has undeniably become a physical billboard for corporate resilience.

The “Three Towers of Keihanshin” prove that in our digital age, physical presence is the ultimate currency. The “climbable boxes” of the 1926-89 Showa era have evolved into the “media platforms” of the current Reiwa era, which began in 2019. These structures no longer just look down upon the city — they control its energy, connect companies to fans and stand as towering evidence that in the attention economy, standing still is the only way to fall behind.

Political Pulse appears every Saturday.

Shingo Sugime

Shingo Sugime is a deputy editor in the Economic News Department of The Yomiuri Shimbun Osaka.