Art is magic...

Another super sunny day when visiting "The Tower of the Sun".

Soon after visiting here 2 weeks ago, I luckily got a slot to enter the inside of the tower. My appointment time was 12:30, and the entrance was a bit strictly controlled by the museum staff there. 

The tower was originally shown to public in EXPO '70 as one of the main pavilions almost 50 years ago before my birth. After the EXPO ended, the tower was supposed to be destroyed with all other pavilions. However it was decided by the EXPO committee and the creator, Taro OKAMOTO  to keep it in the park as one of the Osaka symbols flowing Osaka Castle and Tsutenkaku Tower. 

As searching for the states of the pavilion at the time on the internet, I couldn't stop feeling that I really wanted to visit there those days. The complete version of the pavilion must've been very interesting and amusing to learn the theme of Human race and the Earth's evolution. Plus Japan was in the high economic growth at that time, and so I could've felt the energetic vitality filled in the EXPO. 

Since our race hasn't invented the Time Travel skills yet, no ways to go back to the past to see it. However the renewal opening of the tower after 50 years time is a great opportunity for those who was't there to glimpse it based on the world of Taro Okamoto's world. 

The museum starts with Taros's rough drawings of the tower. We can see how his initial inspirations about Towers' images change. Very interesting indeed! On the stairway down to the ground, I found his word; 

"Art is Magic"

"Magic" is a right word to describe how artists get inspirations. The real artist may be unconsciously using the magic to get them connected with the sources of inspiration. 

The inside of the tower is designed to present the tree of life starting with marine worms in the primitive era, and moving onto the dinosaur era, and almost on the top of the tree, we can see a monkey and us, a human....

Though the tree of life was interesting to see, what I got attracted and inspired the most was the internal space of the right arm. It was like a space ship construction with the bolts expressing the depth of space. 

After visiting the tower, I once again felt that this huge object looks like alive with the symbols Taro Okamoto got from somewhere inspirational sources. 

His word "Art is Magic" got stuck in my mind for a while. 

The more I read his biography, the more I become to get interesting in his life, ideas and master pieces... 

It may be worth visiting his museum in Kanagawa prefecture, and I want to listen to the sound of bell he created which is now placed in a temple in Nagoya prefecture. 

Really interesting guy, Taro OKAMOTO. 

Masami