Landmark Asia
Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower is a tall orange and white tower in Tokyo, Japan. It was built to send out TV signals. Visitors ride up to look out over the city.
Tokyo Tower is a 333-meter steel tower in Tokyo, Japan, painted international orange and white. It opened in 1958 to send television signals across the Kanto region around Tokyo. Visitors can go up to the Main Deck at 150 meters and the Top Deck at 250 meters.
Tokyo Tower, a 333 m lattice steel broadcasting tower in Tokyo, opened in 1958. Its height was set by radio engineers to cover the Kanto region; it has two observation levels at 150 m and 250 m, is painted in aviation-law international orange and white, and stands on deep foundations designed for Japan's earthquakes.
Photo: Akonnchiroll, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower is in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
It is a very tall tower made of steel. It is painted orange and white.
Tokyo Tower stands in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It is a steel tower 333 meters tall, built to send out television signals.
Visitors can ride up to two viewing levels: the Main Deck, 150 meters up, and the Top Deck, 250 meters up. The tower's company says it is a Tokyo landmark, and its lights shine over the city at night.
Tokyo Tower is a 333 m steel lattice tower whose company, TOKYO TOWER Co., Ltd., describes its business as managing comprehensive radio towers and running tourist facilities. It opened in 1958, and transmission of all television channels from it began in 1959, according to the company's timeline.
The tower has two public observation levels, the Main Deck at 150 m and the Top Deck at 250 m, and a building called Foot Town, from whose roof outdoor stairs climb to the Main Deck. Wikidata names Tachū Naitō as its architect and Takenaka Corporation as its builder.
- Where
- Tokyo, Japan
- Height
- 333 m
- Opened
- 1958
- Observation decks
- Main Deck 150 m, Top Deck 250 m
A tower for television
Long ago, Tokyo needed a tall tower to send TV signals.
The tower opened in 1958. Many millions of people have visited it.
The company behind the tower was set up in 1957, and Tokyo Tower opened in 1958. Experts on radio waves worked out how tall it needed to be to send TV signals to the whole Kanto region around Tokyo: 333 meters.
The tower's founder, Hisakichi Maeda, also seems to have wanted it to be taller than the Eiffel Tower. By 2018, the company had counted 180 million visitors.
The Nippon Television City Corporation was established in 1957 and the tower opened for business in 1958. According to Towerpedia, radio-wave experts set the 333 m height as what was needed to serve more than seven VHF stations, and planned UHF stations, across the whole Kanto district, from Mita in the north to Choshi in the east, Numazu in the south and Kofu in the west. That it opened in the year Showa 33 was, the company says, a coincidence.
The founder, Hisakichi Maeda, appears to have wanted to surpass the height of the Eiffel Tower with more advanced technology. Visitors peaked at about 5.2 million in 1959; the total reached 180 million in January 2018.
Built to sway, not break
Japan has many earthquakes.
Tokyo Tower was built to sway gently in a shake. Its legs go deep into the ground.
Japan has many earthquakes, so Tokyo Tower was designed to be flexible: it sways gently and slowly soaks up the shaking. Under each of its legs, 10 thick concrete pillars reach about 20 meters underground, and steel rods join the legs together underground.
The biggest sway ever recorded in a typhoon was about 90 centimeters, during Typhoon Vera in 1959.
Towerpedia explains that the tower has a flexible structure suited to Japan's earthquakes, designed to sway gently and gradually absorb shocks, and to endure earthquakes larger than the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Each leg's foundation has 10 reinforced concrete pillars 2 m in diameter reaching about 20 m down, to the level of Tokyo Bay; a single leg can bear 4,000 tons, and the legs are tied diagonally underground by 20 steel rods 5 cm across.
The largest sway on record in a typhoon, about 90 cm, came during Typhoon Vera in 1959, with gusts up to 52 m per second.
Orange, white and lights
A law for very tall buildings says the tower must be orange and white.
Painters paint it by hand with brushes! At night, lights make it glow.
The tower's colors are international orange and white. Japan's aviation law says buildings over a certain height must use these colors. About every 7 years, painters spend a year repainting the outside by hand with brushes, working from sunrise until the tower opens at 9 a.m.
At night, the Landmark Light, 180 lights, has lit the tower since 1989. Brave climbers can walk about 600 outdoor steps up to the Main Deck.
International orange and white are required for tall structures under aviation law. Above the Main Deck the tower is divided into 7 equal color bands, and it had 11 from its opening until 1986. Repainting runs on a cycle of about 7 years and takes a year: scaffolding covers the steel tower up to 270 m (not the antenna), old paint is scraped off, and three coats are brushed on by hand over a painting surface of 94,000 m², with about 4,200 workers in all.
The Landmark Light (since 1 January 1989) uses 180 lamps, orange high-pressure sodium in spring, fall and winter and silver metal halide in summer; the Infinity Diamond Veil, with 268 LEDs, was added in 2019.
- Colors
- international orange and white
- Repainting
- about every 7 years, by hand with brushes
- Landmark Light
- 180 lights, since 1 January 1989
- Open-air stairs to the Main Deck
- about 600 steps
The tower in the photo, and the decks today
In the photo, the orange and white tower rises above the city.
You can see a big white box partway up. That is the Main Deck!
The photo, taken from a high place in May 2023, shows the tower rising above Tokyo's buildings. Look for the wide white Main Deck partway up, the round Top Deck higher up, and the thin antenna at the very top. Its legs spread out at the bottom, partly hidden by buildings.
The Top Deck was first a work platform for looking after the antennas. It opened to visitors in 1967, and since 2018 visitors have reached it on the Top Deck Tour.
The photo (16 May 2023) looks at the tower from a high vantage point: the lattice of orange and white bands, the boxy Main Deck at 150 m, the round Top Deck at 250 m, the white and orange antenna mast above, and the spreading legs, whose feet are hidden behind buildings in the foreground.
The Top Deck began as a work platform for antenna maintenance and opened to the public in July 1967. In 2018 the Special and Main Observatories were renamed Top Deck and Main Deck and the Top Deck Tour began; the Main Deck reopened after renewal in 2019.
Amazing facts
-
Even young children can climb the outdoor stairs to the first deck.
About 600 outdoor steps lead up to the Main Deck, and the tower says even kindergarteners can climb them in about 15 minutes.
Towerpedia says the roughly 600 open-air steps from Foot Town's roof to the 150 m Main Deck can be climbed even by kindergarteners in about 15 minutes.
-
The tower's lights change color with the seasons.
The Landmark Light glows orange in spring, fall and winter and silver in summer.
The Landmark Light uses orange high-pressure sodium lamps in spring, fall and winter and silver metal halide lamps in summer.
-
The tower was made 333 meters tall so TV signals could reach far away.
Radio experts worked out that 333 meters was the height needed to send TV signals across the whole Kanto region.
The 333 m height was set by radio-wave experts for Kanto-wide coverage; that the tower opened in Showa 33 (1958) was a coincidence, the company says.
-
The higher deck was first a place for workers, not visitors.
The Top Deck, 250 meters up, started as a work platform for fixing the antennas and opened to visitors in 1967.
Originally a work platform for antenna maintenance, the 250 m level opened to the public as an observatory in July 1967.
Words to know
- antenna
- a rod or wire that sends out or picks up radio and TV signals
- lattice
- a pattern of crossing strips, like the steel bars of the tower
- observation deck
- a high floor where visitors look out at the view
- foundation
- the strong base under a building that holds it up
- typhoon
- a very strong storm with heavy wind and rain in the western Pacific
Discovery challenge
-
How tall is Tokyo Tower?
How tall is Tokyo Tower?
What height did radio-wave experts set for Tokyo Tower to cover the Kanto region?
- 333 meters
- 33 meters
- 3,333 meters
Show the answer
333 meters
333 meters, very tall!
333 meters.
333 m.
-
Why is the tower orange and white?
Why is Tokyo Tower painted international orange and white?
What requires Tokyo Tower's international orange and white color scheme?
- An aviation law for tall buildings
- To match a flag
- Because orange paint is cheapest
Show the answer
An aviation law for tall buildings
A law for very tall buildings says so!
Japan's aviation law says buildings over a certain height must use these colors.
Aviation law, which sets these colors for structures over a certain height.
-
How high is the big Main Deck?
How high up is the Main Deck?
At what height is Tokyo Tower's Main Deck?
- 150 meters
- 15 meters
- 333 meters
Show the answer
150 meters
150 meters up!
150 meters; the Top Deck is at 250 meters.
150 m; the Top Deck is at 250 m.
-
What does the tower do in an earthquake?
How is Tokyo Tower designed to handle earthquakes?
What design approach does Towerpedia describe for the tower's earthquake resistance?
- It sways gently to soak up the shaking
- It folds down flat
- It floats on water
Show the answer
It sways gently to soak up the shaking
It sways gently!
It is flexible, so it sways gently and slowly absorbs the shaking.
A flexible structure that sways gently and gradually absorbs the shock, on deep pillar foundations.
-
When did Tokyo Tower open?
In which year did Tokyo Tower open?
In which year did Tokyo Tower open for business?
- 1958
- 1889
- 2012
Show the answer
1958
In 1958!
In 1958.
1958, the year Showa 33.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Tokyo Tower in Tokyo and explain that it was built to broadcast television signals.
- Explain why tall structures are painted in bright colors such as international orange and white.
- Describe how a tall tower can be designed to sway safely in earthquakes.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why does a tower that sends TV signals need to be so tall?
- Why might a flexible tower be safer in an earthquake than a stiff one?
- Painters repaint the tower by hand about every 7 years. What other things need regular care to last a long time?
Try at home or in class
- Build two towers from straws and tape, one stiff and one with bendy joints, set them on a tray and shake it gently to compare.
- Draw a tower and color it in seven equal bands of orange and white, like the top part of Tokyo Tower.
Key vocabulary: antenna, lattice, observation deck, foundation, typhoon
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Towerpedia , TOKYO TOWER Co., Ltd.
- Company Profile , TOKYO TOWER Co., Ltd.
- Tokyo Tower (official site, home page) , TOKYO TOWER Co., Ltd.
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.