"Tokyo Sky Tree" of 610 meters (2100 feet) high will appear in
the Nariherabashi/ Oshiage area of Sumida Ward in Tokyo toward the end
of 2011. The construction started in July, 2008 and is scheduled to complete
in December, 2011. Grand opening is planned on May 22, 2012.
The construction of the tower is for the purpose of transmitting digital
signals for digital broadcastsing which will begin in July 2011 and the
current analogue broadcasting will end as a result. The higher tower was
required to avoid the forest of super high-rise buildings that stand at
heights of around 200 meters in downtown Tokyo.
At the foot of the new tower will be a "town with a tower" which
spans about 400 meters (1312 feet) from east to west, connecting Oshiage
Station of Keisei Oshiage Line, Oshiage Station of Toei Asakusa Line and
Narihirabashi Station of Tobu Isezaki Line, encompassing an area of about
3.69 hectres. A networking plaza leading from Oshiage Station to the tower
lobby on level four of the facility, three plazas in front of the station
and along Kitajukken River, and Shinsui Park will form a community environment
where visitors and nearby residents will gather.
First observatory will be built at 350 meters high and the second observatory
at 450 meters high.
The tower is located about 1 km east of Asakusa across the Sumida River,
and about 2 km northeast of Ryogoku - a town famous for sumo wrestling.
The new tower stands in a major traditional international tourism zone
of Japan.
Address: part of Oshiage 1-chome and part of Mukojima 1-chome of Sumida
Ward in Tokyo.
Access: Narihirabashi Station on Tobu Isezaki Line from Asakusa, Oshiage
Station on Toei Asakusa Line and Keisei Oshiage Line.
(From Tokyo Sky Tree Home Page. http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/) |
