Skytree and Stormtroopers

Just Another Day in Tokyo

Piercing the sky at a whopping 2080 feet (634 meters) high, Tokyo Skytree is the tallest tower in the world. Insanity comes in many different forms but surely one of them is building such a thing in a country renowned for earthquakes and typhoons. Another one must be paying to go up to the top of it and strolling around as if gravity does not apply to you.

If there is one country that can build a skyscraper in an earthquake zone though, it is Japan, and I put my faith in their architects and engineers.

The first time I lived and worked in Japan was in 1996, way before construction on the Skytree began. I lived on the 15th floor of a building that had at least 30 stories. It was across the street from the railway tracks which meant that every time a train passed, I had to stop doing anything that required using my ears, as that sense was temporarily consumed with sound.

Earthquakes were frequent at that time and people were understandably nervous as the Great Hanshin Earthquake had struck just the year before. The building I lived in withstood every tremor however and just swayed peacefully to a stop whenever it was shaken.

The designers of the Tokyo Skytree needed the building to be tall, as its predecessor, Tokyo Tower (a replica of the Eiffel Tower only higher), was no longer an effective broadcast tower. The skyscrapers of Tokyo had risen above it so the signals were now blocked.

So, the number 634 was selected as the number of meters high, first because it had to be at least 604 meters high to beat the next tallest tower in the world which is located in China and was completed just 2 years before Tokyo Skytree. After all, if you are going to build a huge tower in the middle of your huge city, why make it second best?

Second, they wanted the number to be easy for people to remember. Personally, I don’t find 634 easy to remember as I had to look it up several times before starting to write this, but then again, I do not speak Japanese and I haven’t studied the historical-geographical terms of Japan. According to the Tokyo Skytree website, in old Japanese, 634 sounds like Mu-sa-shi and Musashi is the old name for the province that encompased Tokyo. Wha-la, easy to remember. I had to rely on my clunky math equation way of remembering numbers, 6 divided by 2 is 3 plus 1 is 4. I am sure you will agree, my way is so much easier!

Ten days after Skytree officially reached the height of 604 meters, making it the tallest tower in the world, but still 30 meters short of its final height, the next great earthquake hit triggering a tsunami and nuclear disaster. The tower remained standing and undamaged. It was finished in February 2012 and opened its doors in May.

So, how did I, a person who had been scared of heights since falling off of a waterfall at the tender age of 17, find myself on top of this record breaker?

Well, parenthood and nostalgia got me up there, not the view, which quite frankly is terrifying if you allow yourself to think about it for even a minute, so I didn’t allow myself to think about it. I just decided to check my phobia at the elevator door and have fun.

Nostalgia got me up into that new tower because they were having a Star Wars exhibition. Star Wars is the first movie I remember watching when I was a kid. Back in those days, my family lived in Hammel Valley, California on a dusty, remote farm devoid of even the smallest hint of television reception. The theater was a 40-minute drive, so we hardly ever got to go, but apparently, Star Wars was such a big deal that even my parents were aware that it was not to be missed.

I was 7 when Star Wars came out, just about the same age as my daughter was when we visited Tokyo Skytree. I wanted her to feel a little of the excitement I felt that day so I took her up there. What better place to experience stormtroopers than in a place that resembled a death star?

We finished off the day buying light saber chopsticks in the gift shop and sitting down to a meal in the Moomin Cafe where you can dine with a huge stuffed Moomintroll.

Tokyo is a city that offers up a combination of modern and ancient. It is a place that still uses delicate, ephemeral paper doors but is capable of building a structure that, defying all odds, offers a view that is usually only seen from an airplane.

If you want to take a vicarious ride up another of the world’s tallest buildings, join Adrienne Beaumont on her trip up the Burj Khalifa. It looks like a truly stunning place and this article might just get me to seek out extreme heights again!!

And, for another tall tower in Tokyo, (I know, it is hard to get enough), check out the Kabukicho Tower. The first skyscraper in Japan designed by a woman!! Aaron Paulson has written a great article with stunning photographs.