Above, an artist's conception of what the finished Tokyo Sky Tree Tower will look like.by Armand Vaquer
A new tourist attraction is rising up in Tokyo, Japan.
The new Tokyo tower, dubbed recently as the Tokyo Sky Tree, is currently under construction in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo (below).
The new tower was made necessary due to the needs of digital broadcasting. The current Tokyo Tower just is too short to be sufficient for digital broadcasting.
The Sky Tree will be double the size of Tokyo Tower. Below, is a comparison of the sizes of the Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower. The Sky Tree will stand at 610 meters (2,013 feet) (some sources say 634 meters).
Over the past 49 years, starting with Mothra (1961), Tokyo Tower has been a favorite battleground for Japanese giant monsters. King Kong battled his mechanical counterpart atop it in King Kong Escapes, Gamera blasted it in Gamera, Guardian of the Universe (Gyaos built a nest on the Tower's ruins in the same movie) and Godzilla blasted it in Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
The Tokyo Sky Tree Tower is due to be completed in 2012, just in time for the expected return of Godzilla in 2014 (Toho put Godzilla on a ten-year hiatus in 2004 due to slumping boxoffice receipts). We can probably expect Toho Co., Ltd. to make good use of the new tower in their next new Godzilla epic.
I visited Tokyo Tower in 2004 and the views from its observation deck were spectacular. I can just imagine the views from this even taller tower!
The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan has a feature article on the current Tokyo Tower.
4 comments:
Incredibly impressive. Don't think I'd want to be up in that thing during an earthquake, though. Or even in the old one during a quake. Actually, pretty much anywhere in a quake.
Bet it falls mighty nicely in a future daikaiju pic, for sure.
I've been in Tokyo during an earthquake. It was...interesting.
Really cool post(and tower)!
In terms of stories, how many wood this be?
Stories? Good question. The tower will be over 2,000 feet tall. How many feet equals a story?
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