聯合翻譯有限公司/聯合翻譯社

The Feb. 29 completion of Tokyo Sky Tree, the world's tallest free-standing broadcasting tower and Japan's newest landmark, came approximately eight years after the initial plan emerged and over 3 1/2 years after construction work began.

The tower, standing at 634 meters high in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, overseeing a vast part of the capital and its suburban areas, and combining a rare design of traditional Japanese culture and modern technology, has for many already become the landmark of Japan's urban design and a symbol of technological progress.

Plans to build Tokyo Sky Tree -- which originally was simply referred to as the New Tokyo Tower -- began in December 2003, when five commercial stations based in Tokyo and public broadcaster NHK began looking for areas to host a substitute site for Tokyo Tower as the country's next generation digital broadcasting facility.

The stations needed a new broadcasting tower to prevent skyscrapers in downtown Tokyo from adversely affecting radio waves. The current transmitting station, Tokyo Tower, built in 1958 at a height of 333 meters, was considered no longer tall enough to fully cover digital terrestrial television broadcasting.

Tokyo Sky Tree's location in Tokyo's Sumida Ward was chosen from among 15 sites in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tobu Railway Co. Ltd., a commuter railway company, was chosen as the project's main operator in March 2006, over two years before actual construction began in July 2008.

The tower, which stands in a triangular shape at its base, takes on a round form for its upper body parts, partially reminding people of the "sori" (concave curves) of Japanese swords and "mukuri" (convex curves) forms seen in pillars of Japanese temples and shrines.

Tokyo Sky Tree, also a symbol of Japan's newest earthquake resistant technology, features a 375-meter-high and an 8-meter diameter central internal pillar made of reinforced concrete, which is built to act as a cushion during earthquakes.

The Tokyo Sky Tree towers over the city on Nov. 17, 2011. Guinness World Records managing director Alistair Richards, center, presented a certificate recognizing the 634-meter-high Sky Tree as the world's highest tower at a ceremony in Tokyo on the same day, topping the 600-meter-high Canton Tower in China. (Mainichi)

When the tower officially opens on May 22, visitors will be able to enjoy a view from two observatories. The first, located at 350 meters above ground, will be able to hold up to 2,000 people at a time. To reach the spectacular height, guests have a choice of four elevators -- which will take no more than 50 seconds to reach the observatory from the tower's base floor.

Those who wish to go further will then ride for another 30 seconds to reach the second observatory -- located 450 meters above ground. The second observatory, which can hold up to 900 people, is built of glass, giving it almost a "sky walk" experience.

Featuring a number of restaurants, office buildings and shops, the tower's grand opening in May will also give birth to a brand new town in the area -- Tokyo Sky Tree Town, spreading over an area of some 230,000 square meters.

After its opening on May 22, Tokyo Sky Tree will be daily illuminated by some 1,995 LED lights in blue or purple, depending on the day. Both colors are inspired by the Sumida River -- running at the tower's feet.

資料來源: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120229p2a00m0na013000c.html