Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower: The One That Started It All

Tokyo Tower opened in 1958, two years ahead of schedule and on a budget, to transmit television signals across the Kanto region. At 333 metres it was briefly the tallest structure in the world (it was surpassed almost immediately by the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota). It was modelled loosely on the Eiffel Tower, painted in red and white because aviation regulations required highly visible colouring, and has been a fixture of the Tokyo skyline ever since. One detail that surprises people: approximately 90 percent of the structural steel used to build the tower came from melted-down US military tanks left in Japan after the Korean War. The tower is, in that sense, a monument shaped partly by the aftermath of two wars.

It is not the tallest structure in Tokyo anymore – Tokyo Skytree at 634 metres took that distinction in 2012 – but the tower retains genuine appeal that Skytree, for all its height, lacks. The location is better: it sits in the Minato ward, surrounded by temples, embassies, and low-rise residential streets, close enough to the city that you feel embedded in it rather than elevated above it.

The Observation Decks

The Main Deck is at 150 metres. Adult tickets cost 1,200 yen for the Main Deck alone. On a clear day you can see across a remarkable expanse of Tokyo – the density of the city from this height is striking, the scale genuinely hard to absorb.

The Top Deck Tour is at 250 metres and costs 3,000 yen. The view is better, the crowds are smaller, and on clear days it is a significant upgrade. Tickets for the Top Deck should be booked in advance online; capacity is limited.

One useful tip: go at night at least once if you are in Tokyo for multiple days. The city lights are extraordinary from above, and the tower itself is lit up – white in general, gold for spring and autumn seasons. Evening visits are somewhat less crowded than midday.

Zojoji Temple

Zojoji Temple sits directly in the tower’s shadow – a large, active Buddhist temple with a main gate from 1605, one of the few structures in the area to survive the wartime bombing of Tokyo. The grounds are open daily from 6:00 AM to 5:30 PM, free to enter (the Tokugawa Shogunate cemetery and treasure exhibition cost a small additional fee). The juxtaposition of the 17th-century wooden gate with the red-and-white steel tower above it is the most photographed image in the Minato district, and it earns that status.

The grounds are often occupied by rows of small jizo statues – the guardian figures of children who died young, dressed by their families in knitted caps and bibs, each one placed by a specific bereaved family. This collection is not a tourist attraction in any conventional sense. You either walk past it or you stop and spend a few minutes with it.

Shiba Park

Shiba Park around the temple and tower has good cherry blossoms in late March to early April, with the tower as backdrop. This is one of the more photographed spots in Tokyo during sakura season. The park is pleasant without the blossoms too – quieter than the more famous cherry-viewing spots and genuinely local.

The Roppongi neighbourhood is a 15-minute walk north, worth visiting for the Mori Art Museum and the Roppongi Hills complex if you have an evening free.

Getting There

The most convenient stations are Akabanebashi on the Oedo Line (5-minute walk to the tower’s front entrance) and Kamiyacho on the Hibiya Line. The walk from either involves passing through the pleasant residential streets of Minato, which is reason enough to go on foot rather than by taxi.