[from Wikipedia.com]Tokyo Tower (東京タワー) is a tower in Shiba Park. It is 332.6 m (1,091 ft) tall, making it the world's highest self-supporting steel tower and the tallest man-made structure in Japan.
The design of the tower is based on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Despite being 8.6 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower (32.6 if the tower's TV antenna is included), Tokyo Tower only weighs about 4,000 tons, whereas the Eiffel Tower weighs about 7,300 tons.
The design of the tower is based on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Despite being 8.6 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower (32.6 if the tower's TV antenna is included), Tokyo Tower only weighs about 4,000 tons, whereas the Eiffel Tower weighs about 7,300 tons.
It is painted in white and international orange according to air safety regulations. From dusk to midnight, the tower is brilliantly illuminated in orange (warm color) during the winter and spring and in silver/white (cool color) during the summer and fall. The lighting is occasionally changed for special events: for the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) is is lit pink, for the first World Diabetes Day on November 14, 2007 it was lit blue, and for the Japan premiere of the movie The Matrix Reloaded, for instance, the Tower was lit in neon green.
In the postwar boom of the 1950s, Japan was looking for a monument to symbolize its ascendancy as a global economic powerhouse. Looking to the Western world for inspiration, the Tokyo Government decided to erect its own Eiffel Tower. The tower was completed by the Takenaka Corporation in 1958 (69 years after the Eiffel Tower) at a total cost of ¥2.8 billion.
The planned opening of the taller Sumida Tower in 2011 is expected to further depress Tokyo Tower's profits and prestige.
Check out the official Tokyo Tower website: http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/english/
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