Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo Skytree stands 634 metres tall. Guinness certified it as the world's tallest tower in 2011, and it opened to the public in May 2012. It is a broadcasting tower and observation deck, not an office building.

Guinness separates towers from buildings, which is why Burj Khalifa is taller but Skytree holds the tower title.

Context

Tokyo Skytree was built mainly to broadcast digital television and radio across the crowded Kanto region, where tall buildings had begun to interfere with signals from the older Tokyo Tower. Its height of 634 metres was chosen partly because the numbers can be read in Japanese as 'mu', 'sa' and 'shi', an old name for the region around Tokyo.

Guinness World Records recognised the tower as the tallest in the world in November 2011, a few months before the public opening in May 2012. The record covers towers, which are structures whose upper part is mostly not habitable space, so it does not conflict with Burj Khalifa being a taller building.

The tower has two public observation levels, at roughly 350 and 450 metres. Its design is often said to borrow from traditional Japanese pagodas, whose central pillar helps them ride out earthquakes; Skytree has a similar central reinforced shaft. Heights of tall towers can be quoted with or without antennas, so figures sometimes differ slightly between sources.