Ask John: Why is Tokyo Tower so Common in Anime?

Question:
I have watch 3 series by CLAMP: Magic Knight Rayearth, CLAMP Campus Detectives and Card Captor Sakura, and I noticed that the plot or an episode would involve the Tokyo Tower, why?

On a question not restricted to Clamp, in a lot of the anime I watch, I would hear in the background, an animal sound, like a duck or an insect. Is there a bird or insect that is common in Japan that is heard in the background?

Answer:
I’m not certain what the fascination CLAMP has with the Tokyo Tower is exactly. It also appears in the CLAMP in Wonderland music video and the X movie. I think, though, that the reason for the common inclusion of the Tokyo Tower in anime is its recognition factor. While CLAMP seems to always fit Tokyo Tower into their stories, anime including Kodomo no Omocha and Yugen Kaisha, and live action films including the Godzilla and new Gamera films also use Tokyo Tower as a landmark the way films of the 1950s, 60s and 70s used Osaka Castle as a common landmark and backdrop for Japan. In fact, the shift in visual presence from Osaka Castle to Tokyo Tower in contemporary Japanese cinema may be a subtle paradigm shift from the traditional, historical Japan to the post-modern, contemporary Japan, but that’s a different discussion entirely.

Especially for Japanese people, there’s little that signifies Tokyo better than the Tokyo Tower. Tall buildings and masses of people are simply too common in Japan nowadays to immediately generate an image of Tokyo. The hachiko dog statue in Shibuya is also an immediately recognizable symbol of Tokyo (and is used in Adventures of Kotetsu, for example) but is too small to have the same visual impact as Tokyo Tower. Using Tokyo Tower in the background of a film reminds viewers of the contemporary Tokyo setting and everything that carries with it: modernization, urbanization, urban sprawl and the towering modern-ness of Tokyo.

Furthermore, as shown by Kodomo no Omocha, Rayearth and Card Captor Sakura, Tokyo Tower is a common destination for school field trips, so the inclusion of Tokyo Tower in anime can create a personal connection between the anime and its young viewers.

The “weird sound” you’re referring to is the sound made by cicada insects. Tokyo Tower is actually located in an area of downtown Tokyo filled with several large wooded parks, so especially during summer the sound of cicadas is genuinely as loud and distinct in the neighborhood of Tokyo Tower as it is in anime.