Inside the station a staircase of 171 steps climbs 35 metres to an open roof.
The building you pass through to catch the train is by the architect Hara Hiroshi, winner of the 1991 competition, and it opened on 11 September 1997: sixteen storeys above ground and three below. From the atrium a staircase of 171 steps climbs 35 metres to the terrace at the top, at 59.8 metres; when there is a concert below, the audience sits on the steps. On the tenth floor the Skyway cuts across the void for 185 metres, at a height of 45 metres.
Kyoto's central station: the main front is the one on the Karasuma side. The building dates from 1997, designed by the architect Hara Hiroshi (sixteen storeys above ground and three underground, steel and glass), and its profile has caused debate in a city of low buildings.
🚉 Kyoto · 9 min walk
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Class 3-E gets off the shinkansen here when the school trip arrives, and splits into sightseeing groups.
Sword Art Online
The arrival in Kyoto in the opening sequence of the last episode of ‘Sword Art Online II’: the shot is of the central exit on the Karasuma side. Asuna's family comes from the area.
Sources: anime-tourism.jp · old.seichimap.jp · kyotreat.jp · furaba-animeseichi.blog.jp · kyoto-station-building.co.jp · kyoto-station-building.co.jp · ja.wikipedia.org
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