Tokyo Tower was built in the late 1950s as both a useful communications center and as a national celebration of their rebuilt economy. Today it houses countless TV antennas and over 150 million people have toured it… including Godzilla and Mothra who managed to destroy the steel tower (which is taller than its inspiration in Paris). We visited the home of the Noppon Brothers (TV-MA looking mascots “born” in 1998) last year while on a night out in Tokyo. We saw the tower, which is the second tallest artificial structure in Japan, long before we got near it. Its flood lamps lit the orange paint making the iron structure stick out against the innumerous business and residential buildings that litter the Tokyo landscape.
After purchasing our tickets we had the option to take an elevator up to the main observation deck or go below to an adolescent themed wax museum and other odd attractions. We decided to go to the observation deck. From there we had a unique view of the city, with hundreds of red aviation safety lights blinking on the horizon. Considering the horizon, we realized how insanely huge the metropolis of Tokyo is as from every direction we turned was urban… there was no dark boundary marking the end of the city, at least from the naked eye. We took the elevator to the upper observation deck, but did not stay long as Angela gets motion sickness and the tower swayed in the wind.
The Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011 in fact bent the tip of the Tower, but otherwise the structure remains sound. We enjoyed being tourists but skipped the dinosaur wax museum. Today Tokyo Sky Tree Tower is nearly complete in northern Tokyo, taller than Tokyo Tower and built to house digital TV communications along with restaurants and other commercial ventures. I can only hope that Sky Tree will have a mascot as unique as Noppon!
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