Photo/Illutration The "Tower of the Sun" stands at the venue of the 1970 Japan World Exposition in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japanese avant-garde artist Taro Okamoto (1911-1996) transferred from one elementary school to another, attending four in total.

His frequent moves stemmed from a deep resistance to the overbearing attitudes and hypocrisy of his teachers. He later recalled feeling isolated and conflicted, struggling to reconcile himself with those around him.

Then one day, a moment of clarity struck as he sat alone in his dormitory. He noticed a crooked nail protruding from the wooden floorboards.

Ah, so that’s what I am, he thought. I’m that nail—the one that sticks out and gets hammered down, echoing a familiar Japanese proverb.

However, in his book “Jibun no Naka ni Doku wo Mote” (Hold poison within yourself), he wrote that the self being struck down “was not a hard, cold nail.”

Rather, it was “a flame of innocent passion in the heart of a pure soul.”

As an adult, Okamoto created the striking centerpiece of Expo ’70—the Japan World Exposition held in Osaka Prefecture in 1970—the "Tower of the Sun," an iconic work known throughout Japan.

The tower’s head dramatically pierced through the vast space-frame structure that covered the Symbol Zone, a central unifying area of the expo. This massive structure, called Grand Roof, was designed by renowned architect Kenzo Tange (1913-2005).

The tower’s bold and unexpected intrusion reportedly infuriated the master of modernist architecture.

Was it a challenge to established authority and values? Or rather—was it not, quite simply, that same nail sticking defiantly out from the floorboards?

Now, 55 years later, the Osaka Kansai Expo opened on April 13.

Many people have likely been looking forward to the event. And yet, I find it hard to share in the festive mood. Soaring construction costs raise concern, and doubts persist: is this expo merely a stepping-stone for casino development?

Beneath gray rain clouds, I walked the 2-kilometer stretch of the Grand Ring. Wooden walkways and pavilions stretched on in a monotonous loop—a seemingly endless repetition that left me disoriented, unsure of where I stood.

There was the “human washing machine,” a reimagined version of the original showcased at Expo ’70, and a Mars rock brought back in 2000 by a Japanese Antarctic expedition—artifacts meant to stir nostalgia.

But nowhere, in all this carefully curated memory, was the "Tower of the Sun."

At the site of the 1970 Expo, the original floorboards of the Grand Roof have all but vanished, save for a small surviving fragment.

And yet, the nail—the tower—with its lips still defiantly pursed, lives on, beloved by the people.

—The Asahi Shimbun, April 14

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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