Tokyo Skytree Town

The Tokyo Skytree (東京スカイツリー) is a new television broadcasting tower and landmark of Tokyo. It is the centerpiece of the Tokyo Skytree Town in the Sumida City Ward, not far away from Asakusa. With a height of 634 meters (634 can be read as "Musashi", a historic name of the Tokyo Region), it is the tallest building in Japan and the second tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion. A large shopping complex with aquarium is located at its base.

The highlight of the Tokyo Skytree is its two observation decks which offer spectacular views out over Tokyo. The two enclosed decks are located at heights of 350 and 450 meters respectively, making them the highest observation decks in Japan and some of the highest in the world.

Tembo Deck, the lower of the two decks is 350 meters high and spans three levels with great views from all of its floors. The top floor features tall, broad windows that offer some of the best 360 degree panoramic views of the city. The middle floor has a souvenir shop and the Musashi Sky Restaurant, which serves French-Japanese fusion cuisine, while the lowest floor features a cafe and some glass panels on the ground from where you can look all the way down to the base of the tower.

A second set of elevators connects the Tembo Deck to the 450 meter high Tembo Gallery. Dubbed "the world's highest skywalk", the Tembo Gallery consists of a sloping spiral ramp that gains height as it circles the tower. The construction of the steel and glass tube allows visitors to look down from the dizzying height of the tower and out over the Kanto Region to spectacular distances.

At the top of the spiral ramp is a more conventional observation deck floor with lounging areas and tall windows from which to look out over Tokyo. This floor is officially located at 451.2 meters and constitutes the highest point of the observation decks.

Tokyo Solamachi (lit. "Tokyo Sky Town") is the large shopping, dining and entertainment complex at the base of the Tokyo Skytree. It features over 300 established and original shops and restaurants, and would be well worth a visit even without Japan's tallest tower on top of it.

Solamachi offers a wide variety of shops that include many unique establishments specialized in goods such as salt from across Japan and the world, food samples and traditional Tokyo crafts. An entire floor with original souvenir shops offering character goods, Japanese interior design and snacks, should be of particular interest to foreign tourists. Of course, there are also official Tokyo Skytree Shops.

The complex also houses a large food market, food court and four floors filled with interesting restaurants, including the two top floors of the Skytree East Building that enjoy nice views onto the Skytree. Additional time can be spent at the attractive Sumida Aquarium, the Tenku planetarium (no English provided) and in the multiple small green spaces and terraces found across the complex. The Postal Museum was newly opened in March 2014 on the ninth floor of Solamachi East. It has a wide collection of stamps from all over the world, as well as interactive displays and exhibits showing the history of the postal services in Japan.

he Sumida Aquarium (すみだ水族館, Sumida Suizokukan) is one of the main attractions of the Tokyo Skytree Town complex that was opened in May 2012 in Tokyo. The moderately sized, and beautifully designed modern aquarium houses over 10,000 sea creatures on the 5th and 6th floors of Tokyo Solamachi, a shopping and entertainment complex at the base of the Tokyo Skytree.

The centerpiece of the aquarium is its 350 thousand liter tank, the largest open indoor tank in Japan, which is home to dozens of penguins and several fur seals. The tank is designed with thick, clear glass walls with almost no visible supports to obscure your view, and allows visitors to see the animals from virtually any angle. The aquarium also features an excellent jellyfish display and research laboratory, as well as tanks representing the habitats around Tokyo Bay, the Izu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands.