Kyoto Tower opened in 1964, just before the Tokyo Olympics, and immediately became the most controversial building in the city — a 131-metre white spire on top of a department store, completed in defiance of a long-standing convention that nothing should rise above the rooflines of the temples. Critics objected at the time; locals have since become fond of it in the way that Parisians eventually became fond of the Eiffel Tower.
The view from the observation deck at 100 metres is the only place to see all of Kyoto at once — the grid of streets stretching west, the pagoda of Tō-ji to the south, the temple rooftops of the Higashiyama hills to the east. The deck is open until 9 p.m. and the lights of central Kyoto after dark are well worth the ticket. The downstairs complex holds restaurants, a small public bath, and souvenir shops.