TOKYO - A SYMBOL of Japan's post-war economic miracle, a favoured backdrop for film directors and a romantic spot for young lovers: the Tokyo Tower, one of the city's most beloved landmarks, turns 50 on Tuesday.

Modelled on Paris's Eiffel Tower, but painted in orange and white to make it more visible to aircraft, the world's tallest self-supporting steel structure has attracted 156 million visitors since it opened on December 23, 1958.

And while thousands still visit the imposing 333-metre landmark every day, after five decades beaming radio and television across the capital, the tower has been overtaken by technology and the rising city around it.

By 2012, months after Japanese networks are due to switch entirely to digital transmissions, the new 610-metre Tokyo Sky Tree tower is to take over broadcasts from the Tokyo Tower, which will become a substitute post.

But still the tower has a special place in the hearts of Tokyo's residents, many of whom see it as a symbol of the country's 20th century development.

Popular economist Takuro Morinaga described the structure - partly built with steel from scrapped US tanks used in the 1950-1953 Korean War - as a 'symbol of technology, growth and wealth'.

'The Tokyo Tower meant that we were getting richer and closer to Europe and America,' said Morinaga, one year older than the tower.

The number of visitors has been on a steady rise in recent years, with 3.3 million people touring last year.

On a peak day, some 20,000 people visit the tower, which has two observation decks and a four-storey annex featuring a wax museum, an aquarium, one 'Guinness World Record Museum', souvenir shops and restaurants.

It has glowed orange until midnight for 20 years, spawning a romantic urban legend, which has it that a couple will live happily together if they watch together when the lights go out.

As the tallest artificial structure in Japan, the tower has become the centrepiece of a dozen novels and movies as well as 20 songs.

'Always', a 2005 comedy set in the 1950s when Japan was emerging from the ruins of World War II, featured the tower being built as a backdrop.

Music lyricist Takashi Matsumoto, 59, was in primary school when he saw hopes of Japan's rebirth in the 15-month project to build the tower on a former temple graveyard in his neighbourhood.

'The tower grew metre by metre towards the blue sky. It looked as if some invisible, colossal hands were doing magic on a grand scale,' he wrote in an autobiographical work.

Hisakichi Maeda, who came up with the tower's concept, said: 'It would have been meaningless if ours is not taller than the 320-metre tall Eiffel Tower'.

The tower stood alone on Tokyo's skyline for 10 years until the 156-metre Kasumigaseki Building was built nearby. Now some 20 buildings rise above 200 metres in Tokyo's clustered business areas.

All will be dwarfed by the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is set to be the world's second tallest free-standing structure after the 818-metre Burj Dubai opening next year in the Gulf emirate.

The new mast will mean the Tokyo Tower's operator, Nippon Television City Corp, losing significant revenue, half of which comes from antenna leasing.

But while some have expressed concern about the tower's future, its operators insist the structure is here to stay.

'We are not considering scrapping the tower at all,' said planning director Masahiro Kawada. 'We take it upon ourselves to go on for 50 more years toward the 100th anniversary.' -- AFP