Tokyo Tower
| Tokyo Tower | |
|---|---|
| 東京タワー | |
Tokyo Tower as seen in 2011
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type |
Communications tower Observation tower |
| Location | 4-2-8 Shiba-koen, Minato, Tokyo 105-0011 |
| Coordinates | 35°39′31″N 139°44′44″E / 35.65861°N 139.74556°ECoordinates: 35°39′31″N 139°44′44″E / 35.65861°N 139.74556°E |
| Construction started | June 1957 |
| Completed | 1958 |
| Opening | 23 December 1958 |
| Cost | ¥2.8 billion (US$8.4 million in 1958) |
| Owner | Nihon Denpatō (Nippon Television City Corp.) |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 333 m (1,093 ft) |
| Antenna spire | 332.9 m (1,092 ft) |
| Top floor | 249.6 m (819 ft) |
| Observatory | 249.6 m (819 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 16+ |
| Lifts/elevators | 4 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Tachū Naitō |
| Structural engineer | Nikken Sekkei Ltd. |
| Main contractor | Takenaka Corporation |
Tokyo Tower (東京タワー Tōkyō tawā?) is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 metres (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations.
Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower. FootTown, a four-story building directly under the tower, houses museums, restaurants and shops. Departing from there, guests can visit two observation decks. The two-story Main Observatory is at 150 metres (490 ft), while the smaller Special Observatory reaches a height of 249.6 metres (819 ft).
The tower acts as a support structure for an antenna. Intended for television broadcasting, radio antennas were installed in 1961, but the tower now broadcasts signals for Japanese media outlets such as NHK, TBS and Fuji TV. Japan's planned digital television transition by July 2011 was problematic, however; Tokyo Tower's height, 332.9 m (1,092 ft) was not high enough to support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting to the area. A taller digital broadcasting tower, known as Tokyo Skytree, was completed on 29 February 2012.
A large broadcasting tower was needed in the Kantō region after NHK, Japan's public broadcasting station, began television broadcasting in 1953. Private broadcasting companies began operating in the months following the construction of NHK's own transmission tower. This communications boom led the Japanese government to believe that transmission towers would soon be built all over Tokyo, eventually overrunning the city. The proposed solution was the construction of one large tower capable of transmitting to the entire region. Furthermore, because of the country's postwar boom in the 1950s, Japan was searching for a monument to symbolize its ascendancy as a global economic powerhouse.
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Wikipedia