Visible from pretty much everywhere in Tokyo, Skytree is a new attraction, having opened less than a year ago in May 2012. It stands at 634metres tall and is simply fabulous. I took many of my own pictures of it, but none can show you the sheer height of this building, so I've stolen one from the internet to help. Keep in mind that many of the surrounding buildings are skyscrapers.It is more expensive than Tokyo Tower, with tickets costing 2000yen to get to the first and second floor, the Tembo Deck, and a further 1000 yen to get to the top floor, the Tembo Galleria. However, as it is Japanese you can guess that it is very efficiently run. You can book in advance or you can arrive on the day and get given a number and time at which to come back, I went on a Friday afternoon in early December and I was told to come back in less than 2 hours. There is a shopping centre with shops and restaurants so there should be enough to keep you entertained. If your wait time is more than 2 hours you could probably have time to walk to Asakusa (famous shrine with giant lantern and tourist shopping street, 15min walk from Skytree).
I came back at my designated time and although there seemed to be a big crowd, I stood in line for just under an hour before I bought my ticket. Similarly, the line for the elevator only took a few minutes. The elevator to the Tembo Deck takes about a minute, which is amazing! Also from there, to buy a ticket and get the elevator to get to the top should only have taken about 10minutes (when I went to Tokyo Tower I had to buy a ticket and wait for an hour to get to the top).
To sum up: Skytree is definitely worth the money and the effort, it was dark by the time I went up and the lights of Tokyo are beautiful, and I imagine on a clear day you could see very far indeed. Japan you've done it again!
Note: The day I went to Skytree, I was unfortunate (or fortunate?) enough to experience a quite substantial earthquake. Just as I got out of the elevator and walked across the room, I thought I felt it was moving somewhat, a little like being on a ship - an invisible movement that can only be barely felt. I thought that maybe the building was designed with a little movement in it with many people on it. . .but after a few moments I really felt it was moving and I looked around at the Japanese tourists around me, many of who also seemed to be looking around in slight confusion. Again within a few seconds it began to noticeably shake and I found it a little difficult to keep my balance, and it was at this point I realised it was an earthquake. I was beside a group of old Japanese women, and I said (in Japanese) that it was scary and asked was it dangerous, and they replied it was fine! After a few seconds it was over and everyone went about their business again. There was absolutely no shred of panic among the Japanese - earthquakes are common and I had experienced them before, but not one that big or on a building that high up! There were very few (or none that I could see) foreign tourists - they all seemed to be Japanese. After the quake the elevators were out of service for about 40mins - and this is my only issue - many announcements were made, but all the announcements were in Japanese. I could understand the words "elevator and escalator...safety..." and an unknown verb that ended in "no". Teamed with the fact that there were big lines for the elevators I could guess that for safety reasons they weren't running. As a foreigner this could have been a very stressful experience, I didn't know when they would be running again or if it was a serious situation. As all the other information is in Japanese and English, I was disappointed that in a time of emergency they neglected the foreign tourists.
From the JMA website, it was a level 5 for most of Tokyo
It was a really exciting experience though.
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