There is a Kannon statue of one-hundred-meter height on the north side of Awaji Island, Hyogo. This tall statue of the Goddess of Mercy was founded by Mr. Toyokichi Toyouchi, a real estate tycoon in Osaka. It was built in 1977 and was closed in 2006 because of the owner’s death. I visited there in the winter of 2003 so I could enter the inside of the statue. I recognized this high-rise goddess when I read a travelogues written by Tamaki Miyata. The title of the book was “When it is fine, let’s go and watch a big Buddha”, and he described this Kannon statue as a tall high school girl wearing a cervical collar because of a car accident. It was a really interesting description because there was an observation deck around the goddess’s neck and it looked like a fixture that’s worn after getting whiplash.
Additionally, Mr. Toyouchi built a ten-story pagoda, which was just for show, and the replica of the Statue of Liberty. I couldn’t enter either one of these two structures, so I decided to enter the main Kannon building. The first floor was full of Buddha statues, but I didn’t get a religious impression when I entered there. It was more like an antique shop. The suggested route was to the elevator to the top of the statue, and I took it to the top. I arrived at her collared neck, and I could enjoy the panoramic view of the Seto Inland Sea and Osaka City, but it was so windy and cold. I re-entered her neck and went downstairs. It was an old wall clock museum, so there were so many wall clocks, which were not so old. On the next floor, I could find many famous paintings like Joan Miro’s lithographs. I wasn’t sure that these were the real thing. At last, I reached the basement: the Classic Car Museum. From what I saw, this museum wasn’t “classic,” but rather, an “old beat-up” car museum because all of the vehicles were just old Japanese cars on the floor.
After the classic car museum, I returned to the parking lot and my exploration of this mysterious tower was over. Three years later, this attraction was closed, as I mentioned before; and the long–and tall statue and pagoda became older and older without maintenance. I’ve never been there since 2006, but many websites reported that this theme park was abandoned and looked like a ruin. Moreover, it was dangerous because the outer wall of the statue was broken and the roof of the pagoda was blown away. So the surrounding residents complained to the owner to take everything away, but they didn’t do anything. Finally, the local government enforced the removal of all of the structures by taxation. It will be done in 2023, so if you want to have a look at this statue, which has a strange history, go to Awaji Island immediately!
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