On the news today they said that the construction of the 東京スカイツリー (Tokyo Sky Tree) reached a height of 634 meters tall at 1:34PM this afternoon.
That means that they are finished building it upwards because it was designed to stand at 634 meters tall.
This height was decided upon for two reasons…first, it is now the world’s tallest free-standing tower, and also in Japanese “6-3-4” can be pronounced as “Mu-sa-shi” which sounds like 「武蔵の国」 (“Musashi“) which is the old name for the area of Tokyo that the towers stands in.
Even though the Tokyo Sky Tree now stands at it’s full height, there is still construction yet to be completed on the tower which isn’t scheduled to be completed until sometime in 2011 December.
The tower is due to open to the public in the spring of 2012.
Last October, they did a test of the tower’s lighting, so we had a preview of what the Tokyo Sky Tree will look like when it’s illuminated every evening.
It’s quite beautiful.
Click here to see the post I wrote with a few photos of the lighting test and a preview of what it’s expected to look like completed and illuminated.
Tokyo Five 
Looks great.
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Yes, the Tokyo Sky Tree is so gigantic!
Actually, I wrote a post today with photos that I took of the tower yesterday.
Click here:
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I don’t understand why a new tower is being built. What’s its function? I loved being in the Tokyo Tower when I was in your city in 2008. Very impressive.
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I wrote this post about two years ago before the construction on Tokyo Sky Tree began explaining why a “new Tokyo Tower” is needed.
In summary, Tokyo Tower was built over fifty years ago and it was considered tall back then but it’s dwarfed by many skyscrapers in Tokyo now…and therefore can’t perform it’s main function as a transmission tower.
So a tower that stands above the giant structures in Tokyo is needed.
I like the Tokyo Tower but I like the Tokyo Sky Tree more. Besides being unbelievably mammoth in size, the Tokyo Sky Tree has a more original design (the Tokyo Tower was modeled after France’s Eiffel Tower).
And the Tokyo Sky Tree‘s color is nicer (silver vs. orange and white).
Also, Tokyo Tower is in a uptown “white collar” area of Tokyo and the Sky Tree is downtown in a “blue collar” area.
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I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.
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Yeah, it’s impressive!
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