Chubu Electric Power MIRAI Tower

Japan's oldest broadcast tower, completed in 1954 and standing 180 meters in Hisaya Odori Park, central Nagoya. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 2022, it was designed by structural engineer Naitō Tachū and operates under naming rights held by Chubu Electric Power.

Use

Office tower

Area

Naka Ward, Nagoya

Completed

1954

Height

180 m

Developer

Nagoya TV Tower Corporation

Architect

Naitō Tachū · Nikken Sekkei

Japan’s Oldest Broadcast Tower

In the heart of Naka Ward, Nagoya, a steel-framed tower has stood at the center of Hisaya Odori Park since June 1954. At 180 meters, the Chubu Electric Power MIRAI Tower — long known as Nagoya TV Tower — is the oldest purpose-built broadcast tower in Japan, completed four years before Tokyo Tower and drawing on the same structural engineer for both.

That engineer was Naitō Tachū, whose career defined the appearance of Japan’s postwar towers. He would later design Tokyo Tower and the Sapporo TV Tower, but Nagoya was his first major steel observation tower, and the achievement shaped everything that followed. Alongside Nikken Sekkei as the architectural firm, the design produced a graceful latticed shaft that weighs 3,300 tons and rises in proportions that have proved enduringly elegant.

Cultural Heritage and a New Name

For the better part of seven decades the tower anchored Nagoya’s identity under its original name. In May 2021 Chubu Electric Power acquired the naming rights and the tower became the Chubu Electric Power MIRAI Tower — “MIRAI” meaning “future” in Japanese — a rebranding that prompted both celebration and debate in a city that had grown up with the original name.

The following year, in December 2022, the tower was designated an Important Cultural Property by the national government, an unusual honour for an industrial structure of the postwar era and a recognition that its engineering and symbolic value place it alongside far older landmarks. At ground level the park itself was redeveloped in 2020 as RAYARD Hisaya-odori Park, transforming the space beneath the tower into a lively outdoor commercial precinct. The observation decks — an indoor Sky Deck at 90 meters and an outdoor Sky Balcony at 100 meters — offer panoramas across the urban plain that surrounds Nagoya. Midland Square and the other towers of central Nagoya line up across the skyline from here.

Summary

The Chubu Electric Power MIRAI Tower was completed in June 1954, stands 180 meters tall, and was designed by structural engineer Naitō Tachū together with Nikken Sekkei. As Japan’s oldest broadcast tower and a nationally designated Important Cultural Property since 2022, it is one of the most historically layered structures in Nagoya. A visit to Hisaya Odori Park — whether to ride to the observation deck or simply to look up from the greenery below — is a reliable way to feel the depth of the city’s postwar history.