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New Tokyo Tower to be called Tokyo Sky Tree

June 16, 2008
By Ken Worsley


Tokyo Sky TreeYes, it’s official: The 610 meter world’s tallest tower1 will officially be called Tokyo Sky Tree.

As a friend pointed out this weekend: “They let the fans name the Nashville Predators and the Atlanta Thrashers.”

1The debate is open on that, so fire away.

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Comments

13 Responses to “New Tokyo Tower to be called Tokyo Sky Tree”

  1. pawl on June 16th, 2008 3:13 pm

    The name seems to be getting roundly trounced in the blogosphere, but I doubt they care.

    The KVLY tower in North Dakota is taller, but supported by wires:

    http://www.kvlytv11.com/

  2. Contrarian on June 17th, 2008 7:36 am

    It doesn’t look much like a tree.

  3. Lars on June 17th, 2008 12:10 pm

    Any chance of getting a picture of it up?

  4. Joe Jones on June 17th, 2008 2:27 pm

    “Godzilla’s Toothpick.”

  5. Ken Worsley on June 17th, 2008 4:01 pm

    Any chance of getting a picture of it up?

    It hasn’t been built yet.

  6. Ken Worsley on June 19th, 2008 10:29 pm

    Ok, that was tongue-in-cheek. There’s a pic now.

  7. Joe Jones on June 20th, 2008 2:50 pm

    We could also call it 押し上げ上げ上げ, kind of like “Akasaka Sacas.”

  8. Ken Worsley on June 20th, 2008 4:38 pm

    I always thought a Man U theme bar called 赤サッカー would do well in that neighborhood.

  9. Garrett on June 23rd, 2008 2:41 pm

    Looking at the “official” explanation of the name’s meaning, I find myself baffled by how, exactly, this is an envirnmental project. As I see it, building a huge structure is behind only power plants and dumping waste in terms of being environmentally unfriendly, almost by definition.

    Fans named the Nippon Ham Fighters, too. So what we can establish is that fans lean toward brutally un-clever, redneck-sounding team names. “Sky Tree” is stupid, but at least it doesn’t sound like the Larry the Cable Guy Fan Club named it.

  10. Prius on June 24th, 2008 9:32 am

    I find myself baffled by how, exactly, this is an envirnmental project.

    Because it’s called a tree. End of story. You’re not supposed to think about it. My comment is eco friendly because my name is Prius. See? It’s that simple…swallow the medicine…nod off to sleep…

  11. David on July 3rd, 2008 9:33 pm

    Oh, it’s so beautiful. Is it a gubbermint project? I certainly hope so because I like to see that my tax yen are being put to the usual good use.

  12. Ken Worsley on July 3rd, 2008 10:08 pm

    Tobu Corporation. Not sure about subsidies though.

  13. Joe Jones on July 9th, 2008 10:31 am

    I just took a look on Wikipedia which says:

    事業主体は同社が全額出資する「東武タワースカイツリー株式会社」（タワー名称決定までは「新東京タワー株式会社」）であり、事業費約500億円を東武鉄道が出資する[2]。建設費は約400億円。総事業費は約650億円。テレビ局からの賃貸料および観光客からの入場料などで収益を得る見込みである。2006年5月に第一生命経済研究所が出した予測[3]によると、開業から1年で300万人が訪れると仮定、経済効果を473億円と試算している。

    So it looks like Tobu is fronting the money but expects to get significant fees from the broadcasters using the tower for transmission, as well as tourist admission and rent from commercial tenants in the bottom.

    There’s also a really interesting bit in the Tokyo Tower article discussing the future of Godzilla’s former toothpick (i.e., a bleak one):

    しばらくはFMラジオ波など、東京スカイツリーに移行しなくても電波を送信できるものについては、引き続き送信を続ける方針であり、一部放送施設はこれからも恒久的に存続する。しかし、放送施設としては主な役目は終わる。観光施設として残す場合は、老朽化や耐震問題を考慮し、補強や構成材の交換なども継続していかなければならないため、日本電波塔社も「放送局の電波料収入が途絶えた場合、観光収入だけでは経営は難しく、取り壊しもあり得る」と発言している。但し、パリのエッフェル塔のように観光施設として財政的援助を受けた場合は存続する可能性がある。また、京都タワーのように下層部分にホテル施設を新設するなどの案もあがっている。

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