Tokyo Sky Tree

One km east of Asakusa, in “my” (and Rurousha’s too) beloved shitamachi; towers the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Its height of 634 meters tall doubles the height of the “merely” 333-meter tall Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Sky Tree is scheduled to open this month and is the world's tallest free-standing broadcast tower. Note the free standing broadcast tower mentioned. Tower. The tallest building is not this tower. Get over it.

The tower has two observatories: The First Observatory is at 350 meters level and the Second Observatory at 450 meters level, both of which command splendid wraparound views of Tokyo.

The SkyTree can be seen from many places and angles. Among them is a reflection of the tower on the water of the river seen from Jukken Bridge, which is located east side of the tower, as is the tower itself.

OK… so I have no idea whether this shots were taken on the bridge mentioned above, but there were sure plenty of photographers getting their perfect reflection shot when we were there!

To the west, you can see the real tower and a reflection of it in the gold wall of the Asahi Beer building.

This, taken from across the Sumida River. Zaini sure has an artsy eye because we found this same angle shot in a Japanese magazine recently! (If you must know the location: it’s between Shirahige Bridge and Azuma Bridge).

This and other spots around the tower have already been attracting many people who want to see and take photos of the Sky Tree. Travel agencies are conducting various tours to see the tower and, I guess for the very adventurous, you can take a tour by helicopter and see what it looks like from the sky at 600 meters. I suppose the shitamachi will be inundated with visitors from now on, if not before! Good for the neighbourhood’s economy but not good for selfish me who’d rather have the shitamachi all to myself! Heh!

I’m thinking of putting up a weekly Sky Tree post this month; on 1^st, 8^th, 15^th and 22^nd (if I can dig enough photos and ramble enough stories to accompany the photos, that is). What say you?

By the way, it IS opening on May 22^nd right?