For many residents of Kyoto, the Kyoto Tower brings to mind the story about the Parisian artist who railed to whomever would listen about how much he hated the Eiffel Tower.

One day a friend of the artist went to the restaurant atop the newly completed tower and, lo and behold, there was the artist sitting at a table reading a newspaper.

"Anton," said the man, "what on earth are you doing here? I thought you hated this structure!"