Hakata Port Tower, Observation tower in Hakata Port, Japan
Hakata Port Tower is a 100-metre tower at the Bay Side Place Hakata pier in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, designed by Tachu Naito. Its lower part is an open lattice of red steel beams rising to a white, multi-sided observation cab with rows of windows at 70 metres, topped by an antenna mast. An elevator runs up the centre of the tower.
Hakata Port Tower opened on 17 October 1964 as the main attraction of the private leisure park Hakata Paradise, run by New Kyushu Panorama. After the park closed, the tower was transferred to Fukuoka City in 1975 and reopened in 1976 as the Hakata Port PR Center. It closed for renovation in June 2019 and reopened on 8 March 2022.
The tower belongs to a group of six communication and observation towers built across Japan in the 1960s, known together as the Six Tower Brothers. These towers hold special meaning for many Japanese people as symbols of that era and landmarks that shape their city skylines.
The observation deck is free and open from 10:00 to 20:00, with last entry at 19:40. The tower stands at the Bayside Place Hakata pier; Nishi-Nippon bus services stop at Hakata Wharf (Hakata-futō) bus stop. An elevator runs up the centre of the shaft to the deck.
Above the observation deck, the tower houses the Hakata Port Radio coastal station, run by Toyo Signal Communication. It operates around the clock, tracking ships entering and leaving Hakata Bay by radar and radio and relaying traffic, weather and pilotage information to vessels.
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