Abstract: A tape surface strain inspecting apparatus which optically inspects a surface of a tape and surface strain of the tape is characterized by being provided with a light emitting device emitting a light on the surface of the tape and forming a linear image which slants at a predetermined angle for a tape width direction of the tape, an image taking device taking the image formed on the surface of the tape, an image inspecting means investigating an edge linearity of an image taken by said image taking device, and a strain discriminating means discriminating largeness of surface strain of the tape based on an inspection result by the image inspecting means.