When the steel tower was to be constructed, the authorities on radio wave science were brought together and after careful consideration of each one, if radio waves were to be sent out for the Tokyo area's more than 7 VHF television stations and the UHF television stations planned to be opened in the future, with a service area of the entire Kanto district and focused around Tokyo (Mita in the north, Choshi in the east, Numazu in the south and Kofu in the west) , it was determined that the necessary height was 333 meters tall. Thus, the fact that the 333 meter tall tower was opened for business in the Showa year 33 is just a coincidence.

On the other hand, Tokyo Tower's founder Hisakichi Maeda appears to have thought, "If we're going to make it, let's make it surpass the height of the Eiffel Tower. We can accomplish it with the more advanced technology currently available."

The lighting which has been turning on since January 1, 1989 is called "Landmark Light,"and is made up of a total of 180 lights. There are two types of lighting: orange lights (high-pressure sodium lamps) in the spring, fall and winter, and silver lights (metal halide lamps) in the summer. In addition to being changed by professional labor twice every year, work is done when individual lights go out as well.
Also, the "Diamond Veil" began being lit up from December 23, 2008, and is formed by 276 lights set in the steel tower.

The two-tone color is thought to be red and white, but actually, to be precise, the two colors are "international orange" and "white." It is decided by aviation law that buildings over a certain height must use these colors. The present Tokyo Tower's area even higher than the Main Observatory is separated into 7 equal parts, but this was 11 equal parts from when it was first built until 1986.

When the tower was first built, the part that is currently Top Deck was used as a work platform for antenna maintenance, but in July of 1967 it was opened to the public as an observatory. You can look down on Tokyo from a view 100 meters higher than Main Deck.

The tower is designed with a flexible structure to match the earthquake-prone environment of Japan, so it is built to gently sway over time and gradually absorb the shock. This comes from a difference in the foundation work, and in one leg of the tower-footing foundation 10 individual shinso pillars (reinforced concrete pillars with a diameter of 2 meters) reach deep underground to Tokyo Bay sea level (20m). Even only a single leg can withstand 4,000 tons of strong pressure, and furthermore, each leg is connected underground diagonally with 20 steel rods of a diameter of 5 cm. The steel tower can withstand a wind speed of about 90m, and is designed to endure even earthquakes larger than the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923.

The most was when it swayed a maximum distance of about 90 cm during Typhoon Vera in 1959 (with a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 52 m).

The highest past records of numbers of visitors to the tower are about 5,200,000 in one year (1959), about 710,000 in one month (August, 1959) and about 40,000 in one day (March 30, 1960). As for the total up to now, the number reached 170 million people in June, 2013. In other words, all Japanese people can be calculated as having gone up to an Observatory at least over the first floor.

Because of the public nature of Tokyo Tower as an institution, we cannot make public that kind of information related to the equipment in use. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Tokyo Tower is affiliated with the "All-Japan Tower Association" (19 towers as of 2024) and the "World Federation of Great Towers" (53 towers in 25 countries as of 2024), and is part of a network uniting many famous towers throughout the world. We also periodically hold meetings, share information, and conduct joint events with our affiliates. See the links below for details!