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The first tower
The first tower was patterned after the Eiffel Tower
The original tower, patterned after the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, was built in 1912 and linked to the adjacent amusement park, Luna Park, by an aerial cable car. At 64 metres it was the second tallest structure in Asia.
64 metresheight of the first tower, 1912
The fire
A fire in 1943 ended the first tower
The original structure was severely damaged by a fire in 1943. Rather than being repaired, it was disassembled and the steel recycled for the war effort.
The rebuild
Citizens lobbied to rebuild it after the war
After World War II, citizens lobbied to rebuild the tower. A private company was established, and Tachū Naitō, Japan's Father of Towers, was selected to design it. The new, eight-sided structure opened in 1956.
Billiken
A copy of Billiken was made from an old photograph
Billiken, an American charm doll that came to Japan in about 1910, was enshrined in Luna Park. When the park closed in 1923, the wooden statue went missing. A copy was made from an old photograph and placed in the tower in 1979.
The lights
The lights on top of the tower give a weather forecast
The tower is known for its neon lights, which were shut off during the oil crisis of 1974 to 76. LED lighting now shows a different color set for every two months. The lights on top are a weather beacon for the next day's forecast.
Day 3, evening
It comes after Shinsekai.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Tsūtenkaku, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.