Tokyo Tower

도쿄 타워

Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its official name is Japan Radio Tower. Completed in 1958, it stands 332.9 metres tall and was the tallest tower in Japan until Tokyo Skytree was built in 2012. It is a lattice tower inspired by the Eiffel Tower, painted white and international orange to meet air safety rules.

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At a glance

Country: Japan
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Built: 1958
Height: 333 m
Type: Tower

Quick answers

Where is Tokyo Tower?

Tokyo Tower is in Tokyo, Japan.

When was Tokyo Tower built?

Tokyo Tower was built in 1958.

How tall is Tokyo Tower?

Tokyo Tower is about 333 m tall.

An orange-and-white lattice tower inspired by the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of Japan's post-war revival.

It opened to the public on 23 December 1958. The tower earns money from renting antennas and from tourists, and it appears often in media set in Tokyo. Visitors enter through FootTown, a five-story building at its base with restaurants and shops, then ride elevators to a two-story Main Deck at 150 metres and a smaller Top Deck at about 250 metres.

Why Tokyo built a tower

After NHK began television broadcasting in 1953, private broadcasters followed and Japan feared the city would fill with separate towers. One big tower serving the whole Kanto region was the answer, and the country also wanted a monument to its recovery after World War II. The owner first hoped to build it taller than the Empire State Building, but money and materials ran short. The height was set by the distance, about 150 km, that TV signals needed to reach.

How it was built

Tachu Naito, a designer of tall buildings, based the design on the Eiffel Tower, working with the engineering firm Nikken Sekkei, and said it could resist earthquakes twice as strong as the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. Takenaka Corporation began building in June 1957, with at least 400 workers each day. A third of the steel was scrap from American tanks damaged in the Korean War. When the 90-metre antenna was bolted on in October 1958, the tower was 9 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower, yet it weighs only about 4,000 tons, 3,300 less.

Repainting and broadcasting

The tower is repainted about every five years, and the job takes around a year. A new coating in 2019 allowed the schedule to stretch to seven years. Radio antennas were added in 1961. Analog and digital television no longer broadcast from here, but two FM radio stations remain. The tower recorded its 190 millionth visitor in 2024.

Fun facts

It is painted white and 'international orange' to meet air-safety rules.
Tokyo Tower is 9 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower but weighs about 3,300 tons less.
About a third of its steel came from scrap, including damaged American tanks.
Repainting takes around a year.
It had its 190 millionth visitor in 2024.