Praying inside the belly of a great white whale at church in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture; architect Togo Murano’s legacy

Takarazuka Catholic Church looks like a white whale swimming through a residential area. - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun

TAKARAZUKA, (Japan): A giant white whale is swimming leisurely, its tail raised high, through a residential area in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, with the blue sky as the ocean and flowing clouds as white-capped waves.

This whale is a building, the Takarazuka Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Osaka-Takamatsu, designed by Togo Murano (1891-1984), who was one of Japan’s leading architects of the 20th century.