Tokyo unveils world`s 2nd-tallest building dubbed Skytree

“Give us hope back!”

Tokyo’s Skytree, a 634-meter-high tower that is the second-tallest building in the world behind Burj Khalifa (828 meters) in Dubai, was opened to the public Monday. Skytree is also the world`s highest steel tower and 90 percent higher than Tokyo Tower (332.6 meters) and 2.3 times taller than the Korea Life Insurance 63 Building (274 meters) in Korea.

On a clear day, Skytree can be seen from Fukushima Plant 1, which is some 200 kilometers away.

Admission for the first observatory (350 meters high) is 2,500 yen (31.48 U.S. dollars) and that of the second (450 meters) 3,500 yen (44.08 dollars). Both towers will be opened to the public Tuesday.

Despite the high ticket prices, more than a million people made reservations as of May 7. The place is fully booked for the next two months and considered an alternative tourist attraction to Tokyo’s Disney Land. If this trend continues, the tower is expected to attract 32 million people per year.

The main purpose of Skytree is to transmit ground waves for broadcast companies. Japanese broadcasters had been sending waves using Tokyo Tower but as tall buildings began to interrupt waves, they have built a new one.

Construction of Skytree started July 14, 2008, and took almost 43 months to complete at a cost of 40 billion yen (503.7 million dollars). The weight of the steel used to make the tower is five times that of the Eiffel Tower and nine times that of Tokyo Tower.

Skytree is not just about height and scale to the Japanese. It contains the hopes of a people who want to change their national fortune after suffering a series of misfortunes: a prolonged recession for two decades, last year`s massive earthquake, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The tower symbolizes hope of another renaissance in Japan.

Skytree has attracted crowds of people and high expectations. Tokyo Soramachi, a multi-shopping mall that spans 36,900 square meters near the tower, has emerged as the top tourist attraction in Tokyo. The mall has 321 high-end stores, an aquarium and amusement facilities, making the developer Tobu Group happy over the unexpected results.

Sumida-ku, a municipal government in charge of the new tower, expects Skytree to have a generating effect worth 334.6 billion yen (4.21 billion dollars) to the Japanese economy.

changkim@donga.com