Tokyo Skytree

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The need for a large broadcasting tower arose after NHK began television broadcasting in 1953. Private broadcasters followed, leading the government to fear a proliferation of towers across Tokyo. The solution was one large tower for the entire region. Japan also sought a monument symbolizing its post-World War II recovery. Hisakichi Maeda, founder of Nippon Denpatō, originally planned a tower taller than the Empire State Building, but lack of funds and materials forced a change. The final height was determined by the distance TV stations needed to transmit across the Kantō region, about 150 kilometers. Architect Tachū Naitō based his design on the Eiffel Tower, claiming it could withstand earthquakes twice as intense as the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and typhoons with winds up to 220 km/h. Construction began in June 1957 by Takenaka Corporation, with at least 400 laborers working daily. The steel included scrap from US tanks damaged in the Korean War. When the 90-meter antenna was bolted into place on 14 October 1958, Tokyo Tower became the tallest freestanding tower in the world, surpassing the Eiffel Tower by 9 meters. It opened to the public on 23 December 1958, costing ¥2.8 billion. It was mortgaged for ¥10 billion in 2000.

Reader's Guide

Visitors start at FootTown, a five-story building at the base with restaurants, shops, and attractions. From there, elevators go to the two-story Main Deck at 150 meters. A second set of elevators from the Main Deck's second floor leads to the Top Deck at 249.6 meters. The tower is repainted every five years, a process taking a year; a new coating applied in 2019 extended the timetable to seven years, with the next painting projected for 2026. The tower's main revenue comes from antenna leasing and tourism. It recorded its 190 millionth visitor in 2024, after visitor numbers had declined to 2.3 million in 2000. The tower's antenna was damaged on 11 March 2011 by the Tōhoku earthquake, and its height shrank to 315 meters during repairs from 19 July 2012. The tower was not suitable for Japan's planned terrestrial digital broadcasting, leading to the construction of the Tokyo Skytree, completed on 29 February 2012. As a result, only two FM radio stations remain: Tokyo FM (80.0 MHz) and InterFM (89.7 MHz). The tower's base building originally opened with a "modern science museum" and has since featured a wax museum (1970–2013), an aquarium (1978–2018), and a "trick art" gallery (1994–2012). The roof leads to an outside stairwell of about 660 steps to the Main Deck, open on weekends and holidays.

Did You Know?

• Tokyo Tower weighs about 4,000 tons, which is 3,300 tons less than the Eiffel Tower.
• The tower is repainted every five years, a process that takes one year to complete.
• A third of the tower's steel came from scrap metal taken from US tanks damaged in the Korean War.
• The tower's height shrank to 315 meters on 19 July 2012 while the top antenna was repaired for damage from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.
• The tower recorded its 190 millionth visitor in 2024.