Tokyo Tower Under Construction

Above, Tokyo Tower in 2014. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Built in 1958, it took about a year to build Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo Tower made its first appearance in a kaiju movie in 1961's Mothra. It is spotlighted in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan on page 30

Before the Skytree was built, Tokyo Tower was the Tokyo area's prime broadcasting tower for radio and television. But, once Japan switched to digital broadcasting, Tokyo Tower's height (333 meters) was found to be inadequate for digital signal broadcasts. That is why the Skytree was built.

Tokyo Tower's main sources of revenue (before the Skytree was built) were tourism and broadcasting. There is some talk about adding 100 more meters to Tokyo Tower.

Here are a couple of photos of Tokyo Tower as it was being built in 1958.