Look Up from Shiba-koen: A Lattice Tower You Can Actually Climb
You step out of Onarimon Station, turn a corner, and there it is: white and international orange, rising out of the Shiba-koen district in Minato. Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower completed in 1958, a lattice structure inspired by the Eiffel Tower and painted in those two colours to comply with air safety regulations. It is not merely scenery. The five-storey base building, FootTown, holds restaurants, gift shops and other attractions, and from it you ride up to two observation decks: the two-storey Main Deck and, higher up, the smaller Top Deck. The tower was built because Japan needed one large antenna capable of transmitting across the Kantō region after NHK began television broadcasting in 1953, and because the country was looking for a monument to its postwar recovery. That history is part of what you come for. The other part is the view.
Ride to the Main Deck, Then Climb to the Top Deck
Your visit starts in FootTown, where you can eat, shop and look around before taking the elevators from the first floor up to the Main Deck. There, city views open out around you, and a glass floor window lets you look straight down. If you want more, buy a second ticket and board another set of elevators from the second floor of the Main Deck to reach the Top Deck, the final observation deck. On a clear day the panorama from the top takes in the Tokyo Skytree and Mount Fuji.
- Main Deck: the two-storey deck reached directly from FootTown, with city views and a glass floor window.
- Top Deck: the smaller upper deck, reached by a separate elevator and a second ticket, with panoramic views.
- The stairs: a 600-step staircase to the Main Deck is open on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays as an alternative to the elevator.
- FootTown: the base complex of cafes, restaurants, shops and souvenir stores where you begin and end.
How to Make the Most of Your Visit
The observation decks are open daily from 9:00 to 23:00, which gives you real choices about timing. Come in the morning for the clearest chance of spotting Mount Fuji and the Skytree from the Top Deck; come after dark, when the tower is illuminated and the city below turns into a field of lights. The tower is repainted periodically, a process that takes about a year to complete, so the orange and white you see is maintained by hand. If you are able, take the staircase up on a weekend or holiday: it is a different way to arrive at the Main Deck, and it slows the experience down. Give yourself time in FootTown as well as on the decks. And if you want the tower itself in your photographs rather than the view from it, remember that Tokyo City View in Roppongi has an observation deck with great views of Tokyo Bay and downtown Tokyo, including the nearby Tokyo Tower.
What Else Is Close By
The tower sits near Zojoji Temple and Shiba Park, so you can pair a climb with a walk through the temple grounds and the park. The tower's setting in Minato also puts several rail lines within reach: the Mita Line to Onarimon Station, the Hibiya Line to Kamiyacho Station and the Oedo Line to Akabanebashi Station are each about a five-minute walk away, and the JR Yamanote Line to Hamamatsucho Station is about fifteen minutes on foot. If you are comparing viewing platforms across the city, note that the Tokyo Skytree in Sumida is Tokyo's newer tower, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Center in Shinjuku has twin towers with viewing platforms that are free.
Start With a Station and a Street Corner
The simplest way to begin planning is to pick your station: Onarimon, Kamiyacho, Akabanebashi or Hamamatsucho all put you within walking distance of the tower. Decide whether you want the morning clarity or the evening illumination, whether you will add the Top Deck to your Main Deck ticket, and whether you will take the stairs. Then leave room in your day for Zojoji Temple and Shiba Park next door. The tower has been a fixed point in Tokyo's skyline since 1958, and it is still one you can climb.