Tokyo Skytree, World's Tallest Tower, Opens In Japan (PHOTOS)

TOKYO -- The world's tallest tower and Japan's biggest new landmark, the Tokyo Skytree, opened to the public on Tuesday.

Nearly 8,000 visitors were expected to take high-speed elevators up to the observation decks of the 634-meter (2,080-foot) tower to mark its opening. Some reportedly waited in line more than a week to get the coveted tickets for a panoramic view, though Tuesday ended up being cloudy in Tokyo.

Skytree is recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest tower, beating out the Canton Tower in China, which is 600 meters (1,968 1/2 feet).

The world's tallest structure is Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 meters (2,717 feet). That's in a different category because it's a skyscraper, not a tower.

The Skytree will serve as a broadcast tower for television and radio, along with being a tourist attraction. It replaces the 333-meter-tall (1,092 1/2-foot-tall) Tokyo Tower – a symbol of Japan's capital since 1958 – as the broadcast hub.

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• This combo picture, taken on (L-R) October 13, 2009, April 14, 2010, August 17, 2010, December 1, 2010 and May 16, 2012 shows construction progression of the world's tallest radio tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/GettyImages)

• Emperor Akihito, left, and Empress Michiko are escorted by Yoshizumi Nezu, president of Tobu Railway Co. Ltd. during their visit at Tokyo Skytree Tower in Tokyo, Thursday, April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

• Visitors wait in front of the entrance of the Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. The world's tallest tower and Japan's biggest new landmark opened to the public on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

• Observation decks of the world's tallest radio tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree are covered in cloud in Tokyo on May 22, 2012 as it opens for the public. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages)

• The world's second highest building, the Tokyo Sky Tree (R), is pictured behind cherry blossoms at a Tokyo park on April 18, 2012. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

• Japanese Emperor Akihito (R) and Empress Michiko (C), accompanied by Yoshizumi Nezu (L), president of Tobu Railway, operator of Tokyo Sky Tree, enjoy the view from the 450m high air corridor of the 634m Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo on April 26, 2012. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages)

• The 634-metre-tall Tokyo Sky Tree tower stands in eastern Tokyo on November 17, 2011. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

• Some 450 colorful carp streamers fly before the world's highest radio tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree at a Tokyo park on May 2, 2012. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages)

• Some 450 colorful carp streamers fly before the world's highest radio tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree at a Tokyo park on May 2, 2012. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages)

Comments

[booger123]

04:05 PM on 05/25/2012

Sorry but the Skytree IS NOT the world's tallest tower...It is only second to the world’s tallest structure, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 metres. The Tokyo Skytree stands at 634m... Hmmmm. That makes the Skytree 194 meters SHORTER.

[Jessen Joseph]

08:57 PM on 05/23/2012

LoL.

Gotta love ignorance.

It is the year 2012; all this time I have been thinking that the CN Tower in Toronto was the tallest tower.

[mddunnington]

12:10 PM on 05/23/2012

Earthquake

[mww1017]

12:01 PM on 05/23/2012

Got a great idea guys; let's build a 2000 ft tower, then we'll have high ground to run to in the next tsunami! (If it doesn't collapse in the earthquake, that is!)

[smp276dp]

10:39 AM on 05/23/2012

Maybe it's me. They say the Japanese are very smart. But with the trouble Japan has with earth quakes. Was it the wises thing to open such a tall structure in Japan?

[David Amaya]

01:32 PM on 05/23/2012

I live in California, we like Japan, have SUBWAYS!

Not the place to be in when the ground shakes!

[smp276dp]

01:59 PM on 05/23/2012

The tallest structure in the world? In land that trembles more than most places.
I don't know not to damn smart in my opinion.

[mwood33333]

10:14 AM on 05/23/2012

to build that in the land of earthquakes is right smart

[jonny dipstick]

09:44 AM on 05/23/2012

Wow, that is tall. I want to dive off of it into Japan's whale free seas.

[gonro2]

09:15 AM on 05/23/2012

Yokohama, Asaka Machi and Atami are nice....Tokyo is a cesspool

[Fredricka Devega Waring]

08:17 AM on 05/23/2012

Until the next eartquake.

[Chef Gregory]

08:15 AM on 05/23/2012

Godzirra-San, he dead. towa lize rike rotus brossum flum glownd into sky. Velly taw.

[MaGrady]

08:12 AM on 05/23/2012

Yeah and a earthquake and sunami will take it away

[Savannah5]

07:50 AM on 05/23/2012

Is this a good idea in earthquake prone Tokyo?

[JimmySpyder]

09:37 AM on 05/23/2012

Herro!!!

[Elroy Jetson]

07:37 AM on 05/23/2012

Anxiously awaiting the next Godzilla movie. Surely he can climb that little ol' thing! LOL!

[Canefighter]

09:49 AM on 05/23/2012

Actually it was made so Mothra could spin his cocoon on it so he would morph into a butterfly.

[David Amaya]

01:34 PM on 05/23/2012

you're BOTH wrong!

Word on TMZ is King King has a travel Visa to visit Japan!

[whatsthatsound]

06:54 AM on 05/23/2012

I live in Tokyo, and the interesting thing about it is that when you look at it, it's amazing how much space there is on both sides of it and how the sky just keeps going up, up, up, above it. Humanity has many great achievements, but making tall things isn't one of them. We're pipsqueaks in that regard. All Hail Fuji-san!

[alavol]

09:12 AM on 05/23/2012

Well I didn't know that people in Japan could even get on this site? How's the weather in Japan today?

[whatsthatsound]

09:37 AM on 05/23/2012

ha, Japanese can get anywhere. This isn't China, after all；） Sunny spring day today; hope it was the same for you.

[gonro2]

09:17 AM on 05/23/2012

It used to be you couldn't build structures that would deny citizens exposure to the sun which is their icon

[whatsthatsound]

10:50 AM on 05/23/2012

Manhattan Island sort of changed all that.

[adika3z]

06:50 AM on 05/23/2012

not safety,
earthquake can destroy it