Tokyo Tower
A third of its steel came from US tanks scrapped after the Korean War — Japan's postwar recovery, painted orange and bolted into the sky.
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Completed in December 1958 to replace a tangle of competing broadcast towers, it briefly held the title of world's tallest freestanding structure. At 332.9 m it weighs just 4,000 tons — 3,300 fewer than the Eiffel Tower it was modeled on. Two observation decks give you the city at 150 m and 249.6 m.
What to look for
- The white-and-international-orange paint, mandated by aviation law, not aesthetics
- Two distinct decks: the two-story Main Deck at 150 m and the smaller Top Deck at 249.6 m — each reached by separate elevators
- FootTown, the five-story base building directly beneath the tower, where elevators depart from the first floor
Two separate tickets required: one for the Main Deck (150 m), a second purchased on the second floor of the Main Deck to reach the Top Deck (249.6 m).
Tokyo Tower is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Tokyo, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Tokyo pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Tokyo
- Mode Gakuen Cocoon TowerA 50-story school curved like a cocoon — white aluminum and dark-blue glass, criss-crossed by diagonal white lines — that beat 150 rival proposals and won Skyscraper of the Year.
- Tokyo SkytreeAt 634 metres, the height isn't random — 6-3-4 spells "Musashi," the ancient name for this exact corner of Tokyo.
- National Diet LibraryBorn in 1948 as a "citadel of popular sovereignty," Japan's national library holds 12 million volumes — and anyone can walk in.
- Akihabara (Electric Town)The black market that outgrew itself and became Japan's otaku capital.
- Tokyo National MuseumOne in ten of every artwork Japan has ever officially designated a National Treasure lives here.
- Yasukuni ShrineKamikaze pilots swore they would "meet again at Yasukuni" — 2,466,532 names are enshrined here, fourteen of them convicted of Class A war crimes at the Tokyo Trial.