Hello, Little Fox readers. It’s Jake, and I have a new landmark to share with you. Mr. Fay taught us about Tokyo Tower yesterday, and he even created a virtual tour for us to take online!
The virtual tour is pretty awesome. I found out that Tokyo Tower is the world’s largest self-supporting steel tower. It's located right in the heart of Tokyo, Japan, the largest metropolitan area in the world.
Modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Tokyo Tower stands at 333 meters—that's 13 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower. And it has a pretty interesting history. Back in the late 1950s, Japan’s national broadcasting system was expanding, and an antenna was needed to transmit television signals. Architects designed Tokyo Tower to take care of that need, but the tower soon served a bigger purpose too. During World War II, Tokyo had been firebombed, destroying much of the city. With its bright orange-and-white stripes of paint, the tall tower rose up from the ruins like a shining beam of hope. It became a monument of Japanese pride, giving the citizens of Tokyo faith that Japan was strong enough to rebuild itself after the war.
Mr. Fay told us that the tower was painted in bright colors so that airplane pilots could easily spot it during the day. The entire tower must be repainted every five years, using 28,000 liters of paint. At night the tower’s 176 floodlights illuminate its steel beams, shining orange in winter and white in summer. This makes it an impressive sight in the city’s skyline.
I asked Mr. Fay why it’s called a "self-supporting" structure, and he explained that a lot of tall antenna towers need to be stabilized with steel wires anchored to the ground. But Tokyo Tower is incredibly sturdy and can stand on its own. Engineers designed it to be able to withstand Japan’s many earthquakes, along with winds of up to one hundred meters per second. Since the tower is now over fifty years old, those engineers must have done a very good job!
Mr. Fay's virtual tour started at FootTown, which is a four-story building directly under the tower. As I toured the first floor, I could see the first of many souvenir shops selling local cakes and pastries. There's also an aquarium, featuring over fifty thousand kinds of fish, from all over the world.
A food court occupies the second floor of FootTown, where you can eat anything from Japanese noodles to McDonald’s hamburgers. The third floor has a wax museum, with sculptures imported from London—including life-size statues of Japanese astronauts and the Beatles. (The statues looked a little weird, if you ask me!)
The fourth floor has a small arcade for kids, and tourists are allowed on FootTown's roof. Guess what's up there—an amusement park! There's also a space that features street performers, just like the performers you might see on the streets below. So there’s a lot for tourists to do here, and I haven’t even started telling you about the attractions within the tower itself yet!
Once you enter Tokyo Tower, you can either climb 590 stairs or take the elevator to the Main Observatory’s first floor. At 150 meters, you are only about halfway up the tower, but Mr. Fay said it feels like you're already pretty high up.
As you walk around to check out the 360-degree view of Tokyo, your eyes will probably be drawn outward to the busy city. But don’t forget to look down too! There's a window built into the floor that lets you see 150 meters below. It’s pretty neat to look down at the sidewalk so far below, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is afraid of heights!
While you're in the Main Observatory, you might get to meet Tawabo, the tower's most unique employee. Tawabo speaks four languages: Japanese, Korean, English, and Chinese. Do you want to know why Tawabo is unique? He's a robot!
And get this—there’s also a music lounge on the first floor. I guess it makes sense that the tower transmitting Tokyo’s television and radio stations would have some live performances of its own.
From the second floor of the Main Observatory, if it's a clear day, you might be able to see Mt. Fuji, Japan’s tallest and most sacred mountain. And you’ll surely see the Sumida River running through the city, along with the Imperial Palace. Tucked amid the concrete skyscrapers are the traditional clay-tile roofs of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. But the highest Shinto shrine of all sits right there in Tokyo Tower. With two claps and a bow, you can pray for love, safety, and even success on your exams at school! Then—if you want to climb even higher—you can go up to the tower's Special Observatory.
The Special Observatory lets you view the city from 250 meters in the sky. Mr. Fay said the night view from up there is pretty special. All the angles and architecture of the city disappear into the dark, and the headlights from moving cars turn roads into rivers of light.
In 2012 a new broadcast tower—Tokyo Skytree—was completed. The new tower is about twice as tall as Tokyo Tower, but Mr. Fay says he thinks the first tower will always have a special place in the hearts of Japanese people.
After taking the virtual tour, I agree with Mr. Fay. Tokyo Tower is a symbol of Japanese pride. And there's so much cool stuff to do there, people will probably continue to visit it for many years to come.
Hey! I’m going to log back in to the tour and revisit the hologram museum. Wait, did I forget to tell you about the tower's hologram museum? I guess you’ll have to check it out yourself. See you later!