Tokyo Tower 2007

Probably the most obsessive Tokyo Tower souvenir

Some time ago, I grabbed this crazy toy model from a shop at Tokyo Tower’s Foot Town. Released in limited numbers back in 2007 to commemorate the tower’s 50th year anniversary, the Tokyo Tower 2007  is an accurate 1:500 scale model of Tokyo’s most iconic modern structure, complete with colorful LED lights.

Tokyo Tower 2007.

For staring at.

The tower is powered directly by an AC adapter that fits into the base of the miniature Foot Town. The buttons here switch between the tower’s different LED colors and also toggles which parts to light up. You can change between the fully lighted “golden hour” or the tower’s passive lights. Included in the package were a bunch of window seals to display the year (from 2007 to 2011, as they expect the towers to be sold out by then) or some other patterns like a heart or star.

The model's functions explained.

Tokyo Tower 2007 also includes a seemingly pointless “candle mode”, where the tower will change colors and flicker based on air being blown at it. I figured the cheapest means of implementing such a function was to actually use a microphone somewhere inside of the tower.

I was right! Which meant that you could actually put the tower next to a speaker and use it as a really cool music visualizer. I don’t have a video of it with me but here’s an example. Looks like a few other people caught on to the hidden feature too.

You can visit the official Sega Toys site for Tower Tower 2007 here.