The Tokyo Tower

 

Nicolette Jimenez

 

Driving down the inner circular route of the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo, the roads are tight and surrounded by gray, disinteresting buildings.  Then suddenly, the road curves to the right and in the distance an Eiffel-like orange and white tower appears in the midst of clusters of buildings (“Tokyo, Japan”).  It is the focal point of the city for Japanese locals and foreign tourists alike.  It is the Tokyo Tower, located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.  The Tokyo Tower is a communication tower and city observatory.  This tower has an incredible ability to influence people to visit the tower and to provide a novel tourist experience.  The tower’s architecture is able to use its intricate lattice work to resemble the Eiffel Tower.  The curiosity of the audience is drawn to the unique yet familiar experience that the Tokyo Tower may be able to provide to them. Once the tower gains tourist curiosity, the observatory’s architecture influences how the tourist should perceive their experience, through aspects like the elevator ride up to the wide windows.  Inside and out, the Tokyo Tower is aesthetically structured in a way that influences a novel tourist experience.

The Tokyo tower is a communication tower that transmits television and radio signals and also contains an observatory for tourism.  For the purpose of this analysis, the most important aspect of the tower is the way it influences tourists to visit the observatory.  When visiting the city of Tokyo, it is impossible to ignore the Tokyo Tower.  It exists as a prominent part of the Tokyo skyline, much like how the Space Needle frames the Seattle skyline or how the Golden Gate bridge frames San Francisco.  At the time, the Japanese government felt that a design similar to the popular Eiffel Tower in Paris would be an iconic design (Ito).  Tachu Naito, the project’s architect, recognized the Eiffel Tower as a powerful icon in France and he wanted to translate that meaning into a tower for Japan.  Built by the Takenaka Corporation, it was completed on December 23, 1958 as a television and radio broadcasting antenna to the Kanto Region ("Tokyo Tower, Tokyo" ). Since then, the early influence of the architect’s intention has transformed into a special meaning for tourism.  The Tokyo Tower has become an icon because of the importance it has gained with tourists.

The word “icon” or “iconic” is thrown around regularly in our everyday lives, especially when describing how something is special in a particular culture.  People usually say, “oh that architecture is iconic”.  Or they might also say that a certain music artist is an icon.  Nonetheless, an icon is distinguished by the way it represents something.  An icon is an object that represents a distinct aspect of another by resemblance.  Icons gain their importance by the reception of its audience.  A figure or symbol is not an icon simply by existing.  It must represent something distinct about a culture by resembling something important and can be easily referenced by an audience once its meaning is established.

Let us take the Tokyo Tower of Japan to explore the definition of icon.  It has been said by many tourists that the Tokyo Tower is iconic.  James Martinez states in his video blog that “no trip to Japan would be complete without a trip to the world famous Tokyo Tower”.  Blogger, Arti, says that the Tokyo Tower is the “iconic symbol of Tokyo” and Martinez says shouldn’t be missed (Martinez).  Arti also states that “one long look at the sparkling tower and you’ll realize why it must have been accorded the privileged iconic status by the city” (Arti).  However, it is a term that is commonly used but not so often explained.  It is assumed that fellow tourists understand why the Tokyo Tower is iconic.  When something is deemed to be iconic, it has a distinctive characteristic that makes it appealing to the audience who are part of the tourist culture.  In this context, the audience, or tourists, notice the difference in the architecture and presence of the tower that make it special compared to the other skyscrapers in the vicinity.  The Tokyo Tower is a large, man-made structure, created by intricate lattice work in the color orange.  Once a tourist notices the tower, they are drawn to its style.  This is because the Tokyo Tower becomes an icon as it represents the uniqueness of its architecture and resembles it to the likeness of the Eiffel Tower.  Tourists recognize the iconic meaning of the Tokyo Tower as a popular tourist destination, the same way the Eiffel Tower is a popular tourist destination in France.  The manner in which the Tokyo Tower utilizes its image as an icon allows tourists to identify the importance of the tower and visit it.

Exterior Architecture
Once the Tower establishes itself as an icon and it resonates with the tourists, they can identify with the experience it might provide them.  The Tokyo Tower is not an ordinary building in the Tokyo skyline.  An enormous orange and white, Eiffel Tower emerges amongst the monotony of gray vertical rectangle buildings.  Curiosity strikes the minds of passersby as they see it from the ground because there is no other structure like it in the surrounding area (Patrick).  The tower takes advantage of this curiosity by using the exterior architecture in a way that influences tourists to visit it.

The Tokyo government sought to create a structure that would represent Japan’s rise as a global economic power (Braun).  Tachu Naito built the Tokyo Tower to symbolize the power of Japan in the post-World War II reconstruction era.    They looked towards the western world for influence.  Not only did it play off of the appearance of the Eiffel tower, but it had an earthquake proof design, while being taller and lighter than the Eiffel Tower.  It was meant to catch the attention of the world to display Japan as a powerful and rehabilitated nation.  Though that was the original influence of the tower, it has transformed into an important icon in the tourist culture.
Today, people recognize the iconic resemblance of the Tokyo Tower to the Eiffel Tower.  Blogger, Arti, describes the Tokyo tower as a “tall spire rose from somewhere in the middle of the city like a phoenix…bearing a striking resemblance to the Eiffel Tower in Paris” (Arti).  The Tokyo Tower has become an effective icon due to its resemblance to media portrayals of tourist destinations like the Eiffel Tower.  People have been primed by images everywhere of a lattice tower that distinguishes France.  They have seen it in movies such as “Rush Hour 3” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” that simply show the Eiffel Tower as representative of France.  It is even seen in reality TV shows like “The Real World Paris”.  The same is true for the Tokyo Tower when people, have seen movies like Godzilla or other manga or anime that feature it.  People begin to associate the Eiffel Tower and Tokyo Tower together because of their similarity of portrayals in media and their replicated architecture.

An effective icon uses imagery to show distinction between two things.  That distinction is comprised of resemblances to create meaning.  Once the meaning of the icon is established, It can be easily referenced by an audience.  The Tokyo Tower is an effective icon due to its resemblance to the Eiffel Tower that has already established itself as unique and important to France.  In the same way, the Tokyo Tower establishes itself as unique and important to Tokyo.  Therefore, the Tokyo Tower is frequently referenced by tourists as an icon.  When an object tries to resemble distinct aspects of another object, it takes the imagery and attempts to become iconic based on the knowledge of its audience.  The absence of the audiences’ knowledge of these resemblances causes the icon to be ineffective.  The success of the resemblance the Tokyo Tower has to the Eiffel Tower, the Tokyo Tower has become an effective cultural icon that represents the Japan tourist experience.


The Tourist dilemma
Tourists are faced with a decision when identifying the Tokyo Tower as an icon; to visit or not visit the observatory?  The height of the tower’s observatory stands at 150 meters, providing grander views of the city than imaginable at ground level.  However, once the tourist approaches the tower, they quickly find that the experience of the observatory viewpoint is privileged to those who pay an entrance fee and will have to decide whether or not they are willing to pay.
It has become a tradition in American society for people to go sightseeing on vacations.  We learn to experience the world around us by tourist activities like sightseeing.  We learn that the world is grand and beautiful, especially when it is compared to the monotony of our normalized lives.  In order to experience something exciting and new, it is only natural that we go visit somewhere new.   Though we are made to believe that we should experience the world and admire its beauty, some experiences are limited by the capitalistic system, often without us realizing it.

Upon arriving at the Tokyo Tower, tourists will find that they will have to purchase tickets to enter the observatories.  The fee for the main observatory is 820 yen or $9, while going to the highest observatory costs an additional 600 yen or $6.50 (NOPPON333TOKYOTOWER).  In order to experience the entire tower, a tourist may very well pay $15 just to experience the beauty that view may grant them.  Tourist traffic also may be heavy during weekends, adding a possible wait time to visit the observatory.  It is up to the tourist to decide whether these costs will give them the experience that they desire.

The tower legitimizes the costs to visit the observatories because it is how all observatories work because they provide a great view to the city.  Those tourists that do decide to pay the fee and enter the observatory are privileged with the experience of panoramic views of skyscraper filled Tokyo, with Mt. Fuji sitting in the distant skyline.  The tourists who decide not to visit the observatory are excluded from the observatory experience, but are welcome to immerse themselves in the immensity of the tower from the outside.  A blogger from fantastic japan states that even though the Tokyo tower is a great landmark worth seeing, they don’t believe people need to go to the observation deck because it is overpriced (Fantastic Japan).  They can still embrace the iconic nature of the Tokyo Tower from ground level, but they will not be able to experience the beautiful view that the Tokyo Tower observatory may be able to provide.

The Observatory (interior) Architecture
Regardless of such fees, many tourists accept the experience.  Many tourists place trust onto the tower’s ability to provide a unique tourist experience because they identify it as an icon.  It is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower, and it is only natural that tourists find interest in something similar.  Once the tower gains enough of the tourists’ curiosity to buy a ticket to visit the inside of the tower, the observatory’s architecture influences how the tourist should perceive their tourist experience.
As the tourists enter the structure, they proceed to the elevator.  An exhilarating and dramatic elevator ride up to the observatory hypes the tourist for an exciting experience.  During my own visit to the Tokyo Tower in 2010, I was able to experience the novelty.  Dramatic bass music and dim pink lighting encapsulates the tourists as they enter the elevator.  During the ride up, it primes the tourist experience with a short welcoming narration in English and Japanese.  The elevator is a closed in space with small vertical windows on the elevator door panels, showing the ascension from ground level to the main observatory.  As the elevator doors open, the lights turn to green create an opening and freeing effect as tourists enter the main observatory with enormous wall to wall, ceiling to floor windows that instantly display Tokyo’s skyline.

The attractions in the observatory invite tourists to emerge themselves on a journey of new views.  Tourists are not disappointed when they enter the main observatory, as they are welcomed by floor to ceiling, wall to wall glass panel windows that provide astonishing views of Tokyo.  The architecture invokes future movement throughout the observatory.  Tourists walk straight from the elevator to the closest window, mesmerized by the view of the skyline.  Buildings that were once massive and bunched up at the ground level are now perceived as smaller and a mere accessory to the skyline view of Tokyo.  Depending on the weather conditions and the time of day, a tourist may be able to see clear blue skies or gray overcast highlighting skyscraper.  During night time, bright city lights cascade the dark sky.  Craig, a blogger, went up to the observatory on a clear and sunny day and “could see all the way into Tokyo Bay on one side and Mount Fuji on the other.  It’s the kind of amazing view where your pictures just don’t do it justice” (Craig).


Once the tourists have a grasp of what view awaits them, they walk around the observatory, as it creates a panoramic 360 degree view of Tokyo.  The seemingly circular arrangement of the observatory windows invites tourists to walk around the whole observatory to experience the unexplored view in its entirety.  As the tourist walks around the observatory, they will find display touch screens, or guide boards, that allow them to simulate the view, from any time of day and angle.  The Tokyo Tower’s official YouTube video states that the guide board, that can help tourists to locate famous landmarks in the surrounding Kanto Region (NOPPON333TOKYOTOWER).  A tourist that visits the tower on a cloudy morning can still experience the city night without staying until after sunset.  Landmarks that can be seen from the observatory include: Mt. Fuji, Rainbow Bridge, the Tokyo Skytree, the Imperial Palace, and countless skyscrapers (Gillett).  Tourists will also find a “lookdown window”, a large transparent glass sectioned floor that provides a view of the ground 150 m below, allowing tourists to stand on the window and imitate the sensation of standing in midair.

The architecture of the observatory celebrates the glorious view that is available for tourists to enjoy.  The height of the tower’s observatory reveals magnificent views that can be experienced by tourists, while the circular shape layout of the observatory guides them to the windows and guide boards.  The lookdown window further emphasizes the height of the observatory’s view by reminding tourists that they are 150m above the ground, experiencing a view that is unachievable by a normal bystander in the city.  The height of the observatory combined with the placement of observatory attractions influence the tourists’ novel experience at the Tokyo Tower.
Conclusion
When tourists visit various attractions, they have an expectation of novelty.  They look for something new, exciting, and adventurous compared to the normality of their daily routine.  The Tokyo Tower fulfills expectations of a novel tourist experience by utilizing the structure’s aesthetics to draw on the iconic nature of the tower to influence new visitors and uses the interior architecture to create a unique experience.  All observatories, whether it is the Tokyo Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, or Chicago’s Sears Tower, aspire to be iconic and novel like the Eiffel Tower of France.  Due to their ambitions to become the best tourist destination, we can depend on all these observatories to deliver tourists’ excitement, a lasting memory, and a sense of accomplishment in their journeys; something which we all what seek to gain from a novel tourist experience.

                                                                        Work Cited
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Fantastic Japan.  “Tokyo Tower: To Go or Not To Go?”.  FantasticJapan.  Web.  20 February 2013.  http://www.fantasticjapan.com/tokyo-tower.html

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Tokyo Tower description and its role as an Icon

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