The park built on the site of the 1970 World Exposition in Suita, north of Osaka — an event that symbolised Japan's post-war recovery and drew 64 million visitors over six months. The vast site retains the original layout of the Expo grounds, and the centrepiece sculpture remains: the Tower of the Sun by artist Taro Okamoto, a 70-metre abstract figure with three faces — one looking up (the future), one looking forward (the present), and one on the back of the head (the past) — that has become an icon of 1970s Japanese modernism.
The park contains several museums, Japanese and Western-style gardens, and large open lawns. The tower's interior, sealed for decades, was restored and reopened in 2018 — the original Tree of Life sculpture inside the central atrium is a remarkably psychedelic experience for a public park. The Japan Folk Crafts Museum and the National Museum of Ethnology (one of Japan's best) are also on the site.