I’ve featured the Tokyo Tower a few times before, mostly when relating it to my new years celebrations in Tokyo 2010/2011. However I did visit it prior to this and take a trip up the Eiffel Tower inspired design.
Tokyo Tower
I thought I took a video of me walking around it which would save a lot of time in posting, editing and your viewing time, but either a) I didn’t b) I can’t find it or c) I deleted it. Either way that now means I have to do this the old way and present a photo essay of the view.
Fortunately, that’s not a bad thing though. Although a few of these are hosted on FlickR not this site, hence some odd formatting on this post.
It really is quite big up close
Tokyo Tower was built in 1958 and is 6M taller than the Eiffel Tower which it is modelled on. It is painted in white and orange (something to do with air traffic regulations) and therefore is quite a bit more unattractive than it needs to be. It looks nice when lit up at night though.
The views however are outstanding at 145M above ground level (note it’s already on a raised area of land, so is higher than most buildings still). You can see Mount Fuji on a clear day, although it’s not often that clear, Of course at night you can’t see the mountain at all.
Tickets are sold for people to go up at a certain time, but I still found it very busy when I first arrived. You actually get access to 2 floors, so its worth skipping the first floor and going straight to the second, as it’s much less busy as people have already seen the view on the first floor.
It is however surprisingly cheap to go up for a Tokyo attraction, but I recommend you go early in your trip to Tokyo to really get one of the best views and scales of this vast and vibrant city.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
In that second photo it does kinda look like the Eiffel tower, I can definitely see the inspiration.
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Yeah, because of the colour it does seem a bit deceptive. But it’s pretty much a 100% replica from what I’ve seen in terms of build.
To me the orange/white colour makes it look like its a under construction cone.
I agree with your view that the tower looks way much better at night. Too bad about the regulation on using orange and white paint. It is still a majestic piece of architecture though.
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It certainly is quite impressive. But to me it doesn’t scream European style, just the old days when Japan copied a lot of western designs (a bit like what China is known for doing now). At least the Tokyo Sky Tree is a lot more unique looking.
Hi there,
It’s a great tower indeed. If it’s only 6 metre higher than the Eiffel Tower it should be pretty much the same size of our Sky Tower here in Auckland, New Zealand.