TELL Tokyo Tower Climb
By Serena Ogawa
One of Japan’s most iconic images
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Tokyo Tower (333m) played an important role as a TV tower starting in 1958 until Tokyo Skytree (634m) opened and supplanted it in 2012. Today, it still functions as a radio tower.
The people who participated in the construction of Tokyo Tower worked with deep affection for it, as if it was their beloved girlfriend. Hiraiwa Toso, the company that is contracted to paint Tokyo Tower, repaints it once every five years. Because the wind is very strong high up in the sky, the workers proceed carefully, painting by hand, in order to prevent the orange and white paint from blowing about. It takes about one year to complete the entire project. Those who serve by maintaining and repairing Tokyo Tower are very proud of their jobs.
Tokyo Tower must endure various environmental conditions: a continuous sea breeze from Tokyo Bay, an average of 13 lightning strikes per year, wind, rain and snow and of course earthquakes! But still, it stands firmly and strong as an iconic image of Japan that is known worldwide, protected by the warm hands of the many people who love her.
Find out more about Tokyo Tower.
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Japan is a small island nation, but we have a huge number of surprising things to discover here. Many of these delights can be found when you step off the main street onto small side paths. I really enjoy studying about and researching various aspects of traditional Japanese culture, and then sharing this information with visitors to Japan. I hope you will enjoy it, too! ARTICLE INDEX & PHOTOS: An index of most of my Japan Travel articles can be found at the entry page of my blog, and my photos are shown here. 日本はとても小さな国ですが、大通りから一本小道に入ればたくさんの発見があります。日本人が積み重ねてきた歴史を学びながら、古い建物や庭を訪ね、物語の舞台となった景色を眺めて、皆様といっしょに日本文化の奥深さを探求していきたいと思います。