World welcomes Chinese New Year

Tokyo Tower to light up in red as highprofile guests take part

By Wang Xu in Tokyo

On Feb 4, the date of Lunar New Year's Eve this year, the landmark Tokyo Tower will be lit up in the lucky color red using 36 big spotlights, and the main deck of the tower will say "Happy Spring Festival" in Mandarin Chinese, a senior diplomat said.

"This will be the first time the Tokyo Tower has been lit up for China," said Zhan Kongchao, consul general of the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. "A lighting up festival will be held at the Place of Tokyo venue, just in front of the tower, and Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua will attend."

According to Zhan, a working group has been established to organize the event, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda and Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike are on the guest list.

The 333meter tall steel Tokyo Tower was built in 1958, and became a famous tourism site as it provides a spectacular view of the whole of the Japanese capital from its two observation decks, known as the 150-meter-high Main Deck and the 250-meter-high Top Deck.

Using spotlights and fixed bulbs, the tower sports different colors and themes for events and promotions. Landmark Light is the most frequently used theme, and is considered a namecard of Tokyo.