Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo Skytree rises in Oshiage in Sumida ward, on the east bank of the Sumida River in the old shitamachi (low city) of Tokyo. It was built to broadcast digital terrestrial television and radio after the city's high-rise buildings had begun to interfere with signals from the 333-metre Tokyo Tower of 1958. Completed in February 2012 and opened to the public on 22 May that year, it was recognised as the world's tallest tower.

The height of 634 metres was chosen for its reading: the digits 6-3-4 can be read as mu-sa-shi, the name of the old province that included Tokyo. In plan the tower changes from a triangle at its base to a circle higher up, and its steel lattice is painted a pale bluish white derived from aijiro, the lightest shade of traditional indigo dyeing.

Inside, a reinforced-concrete central column stands free of the outer steel frame and is linked to it by oil dampers, a vibration-control system inspired by the central pillar (shinbashira) of traditional five-storey pagodas, which have long withstood earthquakes. At the foot of the tower lies Tokyo Skytree Town, with the Solamachi shopping complex, an aquarium and a planetarium.

In the early 2000s broadcasters sought a new tower of around 600 metres. Sumida ward and the Tobu Railway, which owned a freight yard at Oshiage, were chosen in 2006, and construction began in July 2008. The tower reached its final height in March 2011, days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, which it came through undamaged.

The tower opened in 2012 and took over the main broadcasting role from Tokyo Tower in 2013. Its arrival changed the image of the surrounding districts of Oshiage and Mukōjima, long among the quieter parts of central Tokyo.

Skytree quickly became a symbol of twenty-first-century Tokyo, appearing in films, anime and on souvenirs, much as Tokyo Tower did for the post-war city. Its design deliberately borrows from traditional crafts and architecture: the pale indigo white, the pagoda-like core and a silhouette whose slightly curved and tapered lines were meant to echo Japanese swords and temple roofs.

The tower also reshaped tourism on the east bank of the Sumida. Visitors combine it with Asakusa across the river, the canals of Sumida and the old neighbourhoods of Mukōjima, and the view of the tower from Asakusa's riverbanks, framed by the Sumida's bridges, has become one of the most photographed in the city.