Tokyo Tower

It was first built in 1958. It was once the tallest building in Japan, but has now been surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree. It is said to be 33m taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Approximately 4,000 tons of steel were used to build the tower, which was higher than the Eiffel Tower (7,000 tons) built in 1889, when technology was advanced and it was possible to build it taller with less steel. It underwent several repairs after its construction, and it is said that a significant amount of the steel used to expand the upper part of the observation deck was scrap metal from about 90 decommissioned tanks used in the Korean War. Just before its completion, a contest was held for the name, and 86,269 entries were ultimately received. The most common was Showa Tower (1,832 entries), followed by Japan Tower and Peace Tower. In addition, there were also applications for the name Prince Tower because the United States and the Soviet Union were competing to launch satellites at the time, and because it was close to the marriage of Crown Prince Akihito (1959). However, when Musei Tokugawa, who attended the naming committee, said, "There is no other name that stands out," and recommended it, the name Tokyo Tower was finally selected on October 9, 1958. Tokyo Tower is painted in red and white. This unique coloring is due to Japan's Aviation Law. Until 1986, the ratio of red and white was 1:1, but from 1986, the revision of the Aviation Law changed the ratio of red and white to 7, and the red part was painted more. The observatory was also painted from red to white in 1998. Therefore, if you look at old photos of Tokyo Tower, you can see that it is subtly different from the present. Now that Skytree has been completed, its luster has faded a lot, but because it has been recognized as a symbol of Tokyo for over 50 years, it is still recognized as a landmark symbolizing Japan and Tokyo. According to locals living in Tokyo, it is difficult to explain because it is a representative building of Japan that has been standing tall for a long time, but there is also a story that they love Tokyo Tower more than Skytree. #TokyoTravel #JapanTravel #TokyoTower