Tokyo Tower - Appearance

Appearance

Tokyo Tower requires a total of 28,000 litres (7,400 USgal) of paint to completely paint the structure white and international orange, complying with air safety regulations. Every five years the tower undergoes a year-long makeover in which it is completely repainted. Before the tower's 30th anniversary in 1987, the only lighting on the tower were light bulbs located on the corner contours that extended from the base to the antenna. In the spring of 1987, Nihon Denpatō invited lighting designer Motoko Ishii to visit the tower. Since its opening 30 years earlier, the tower's annual ticket sales had dropped significantly, and in a bid to revitalize the tower and again establish it as an important tourist attraction and symbol of Tokyo, Ishii was hired to redesign Tokyo Tower's lighting arrangement.

Unveiled in 1989, the new lighting arrangement required the removal of the contour-outlining light bulbs and the installation of 176 floodlights in and around the tower's frame. From dusk to midnight, the floodlights illuminate the entire tower. Sodium vapor lamps are used from October 2 to July 6 to cover the tower in an orange color. From July 7 to October 1, the lights are changed to metal halide lamps to illuminate the tower with a white color. The reasoning behind the change is a seasonal one. Ishii reasoned that orange is a warmer color and helps to offset the cold winter months. Conversely, white is thought a cool color that helps during the hot summer months.

Occasionally, Tokyo Tower's lighting is changed to specific, unique arrangements for special events. The tower is specially lit for some annual events. Since 2000, the entire tower has been illuminated in a pink light on October 1 to highlight the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The tower has also had a variety of special lighting arrangements for Christmas since 1994. During New Year's Eve, the tower lights up at midnight with a year number displayed on one side of the observatory to mark the arrival of the new year. Special Japanese events have also been cause to light the tower in several nontraditional ways. In 2002, alternating sections of the tower were lit blue to help celebrate the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Japan. Alternating sections of the tower were lit green on Saint Patrick's Day in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Japanese-Irish relations. On a few occasions, Tokyo Tower has even been specially lit to correspond with corporate events. For example, the top half of the tower was lit green to correspond with the Japanese premiere of The Matrix Reloaded and different sections of the tower were lit red, white and black to commemorate the first day of sales of Coca-Cola C2. The tower was also uniquely lit for the new millennium in 2000 with Motoko Ishii again reprising her role as the designer. In December 2008, Nihon Denpatō spent $6.5 million to create a new nighttime illumination scheme—titled the "Diamond Veil"—to celebrate the tower's 50th anniversary. The arrangement featured 276 lights in seven colors equally distributed across the towers four faces.

When employing specialty lighting on the tower, the Main Observatory often plays an important role. During the second international "White Band Day" on September 10, 2005, the tower was completely unlit except for the Main Observatory, which was lit with a bright white light. The resulting white ring represented the White Band referenced in the day's name. The two floors of windows that make up the exterior of the Main Observatory are utilized to display words or numbers. When the tower employed unique lighting to commemorate terrestrial digital broadcasting first being available in the Kantō region on December 1, 2005, each side of the Main Observatory displayed the characters 地デジ (chi deji?)—an abbreviation for 地上デジタル放送 (chijō dejitaru hōsō, terrestrial digital broadcasting?). More recently, the observatory displayed both "TOKYO" and "2016" to stress Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid. Primitive images, such as hearts, have also been displayed using the observatory's windows.

  • Lighting pre-1989. This image is of Tokyo Tower in 1960.

  • White lighting

  • Orange lighting; Observatory displays "TOKYO" and "2016" to commemorate Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid

  • Portions of the tower lit blue for World Diabetes Day, 2007.

  • Tokyo Tower at night

  • Tokyo Tower at afterglow

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