A hilltop needle paired with one sleek tapered tower.
Seoul’s readable pair is an observation tower on a hill and a single tapered supertall. N Seoul Tower is a slim needle with a bulbous observation stack, often rising from a small mound of trees or ridge. Lotte World Tower is a very tall, gently tapering glass lance with a notched crown. The rest of the city is a mid-rise carpet, denser than Paris but less of a harbour cliff than Hong Kong. If you see one hilltop needle plus one modern supertall, and not a three-tower boat or a twin of radio masts, choose Seoul. Tokyo’s two towers are both communications structures; Seoul mixes a hill tower with a skyscraper.