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

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See you next time. Mata ne~