Sky Tree in Tokyo set to open to public next month

Hundreds of journalists were let into Tokyo Sky Tree, the world’s second tallest building, on Tuesday ahead of its grand opening to the public on May 22.

The tower stands 634 metres tall, making it the world’s second-tallest building after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which stands at 829 metres.

Toronto’s CN Tower stands at 553.33 metres.

Tokyo Sky Tree however is now the world’s tallest free-standing broadcast tower ahead of the Canton Tower in China which scales 600 metres.

The Tower itself was completed in late February, but this marks the first time that most journalists have been allowed into the upper observation area, over 450 metres above the ground and now the tallest observation deck in Japan.

For Tobu Railway Co. which helps manage the tower and surrounding complex, they hope the completion of the tower and shopping centre will help kick-start Tokyo’s tourism again after the March 11th earthquake last year.

“There’s been a lot of people, including foreigners, who have left due to the earthquake and tourism in general has also seen a decline. So we hope that Sky Tree becomes a match that can light the fire to help bring people back,” said Tobu Railway’s Deputy manager ssecretariat of ppublic relations Yoshihito Imamura.

Imamura said that they expect over five million visitors to the tower in the first year and over 30 million for the entire complex including shopping areas.

For local residents faced such an overwhelming flood of people, some like 30-year-old Ryoko Maeda said she’d wait for a bit before trying to head up.

“Once everything calms down I’d like to go up and see exactly where my house is,” Maeda said.

Others however, such as 73-year-old Mamoru Nakazawa, who lives across from the tower and watched it as it was built, were happy to have such a famous object in their front yard.

“For someone who lives around here, I’m happy for what this is, second tallest? To have it in front of my house? Of course I’m happy about that,” Nakazawa.

The tower and surrounding shopping complex took nearly four years and nearly 65 billion yen (US$800 million) to complete and is scheduled to open to the public on May 22.

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