Go up the tallest tower on Earth

634 metres, and the number is a pun

The only one on Earth

Looking upward at illuminated metal lattice tower framework against deepening twilight sky — Yoshio Kohara · CC BY 3.0

Tall steel broadcasting tower with TOKYO SKYTREE sign at base, photographed in daylight — Charles Deluvio charlesdeluvio · CC0

Geometric steel framework of tall tower tapering skyward, photographed against pale sky — Louis Kang looiekang · CC0

Dense urban landscape viewed from above, river threading through buildings toward distant haze — MiNe · CC BY 2.0

Expansive aerial cityscape of tightly packed Tokyo buildings stretching toward distant mountains — MiNe · CC BY 2.0

Tokyo Skytree stands in Sumida, east of the river. It is a broadcasting tower with two observation levels, at 350 and 450 metres.

Why it's unique

It is the tallest tower in the world, certified by Guinness World Records in November 2011 and unbeaten since. The category matters and is not a technicality: Guinness counts a structure as a tower when less than half its height is usable floor space, which is what separates it from a skyscraper. Burj Khalifa is taller and is a building.

The height is also a joke that only works in Japanese. 634 can be read mu-sa-shi, and Musashi is the old province this land belonged to. A structure that could have been any height was built to a pun.

Before you go

The two decks are priced and ticketed separately and most people buy only the lower one. The 450 metre Tembo Galleria is a sloping glass ramp that spirals upward, and it is the better of the two.

Buy timed tickets online. The same-day queue at the base regularly runs over an hour and there is no view worth that.

Clear winter mornings are the only reliable time to see Fuji from it. Summer haze hides it almost completely, whatever the forecast says.

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