TOKYO — The Tokyo Skytree, twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower, opens this week as Japanese train operators counter an aging population by building malls, offices and tourist attractions.
TOKYO — The Tokyo Skytree, twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower, opens this week as Japanese train operators counter an aging population by building malls, offices and tourist attractions.
The 2,080-foot structure in eastern Tokyo sits in a retail complex housing more than 300 shops and restaurants, a planetarium and an aquarium. Developer Tobu Railway expects the project to draw 32 million visitors in its first year, surpassing the numbers at Tokyo Disney Resort. Tobu, whose revenue has fallen for five years, will also get a 28.3 billion yen ($352 million) sales boost in the year ending March 31, according to Kazuhiko Hirata, a general manager for finance.
The 143 billion yen development, which took four years to build, follows last month’s opening of Tokyu Corp.’s 34-story entertainment complex in the Shibuya shopping district and East Japan Railway Co.’s ongoing 50 billion-yen renovation of Tokyo Station. The companies are taking advantage of land they own around stations to generate new income and lure more travelers as Japan’s shrinking birthrate threatens commuter traffic.
“People will use the Tobu line to go to Tokyo Skytree and they will shop in Tobu shops when they get there,” said Masayuki Kubota, who oversees the equivalent of $2 billion in assets in Tokyo at Daiwa SB Investments. “It’s a very good investment.” He doesn’t own Tobu shares, he said.
The development will boost Tobu’s operating profit by 3.2 billion yen in the year ending March 31, according to Hirata. The company will have as many as eight trains an hour running from the Asakusa terminus to the development’s closest station, which has been renamed Tokyo Skytree.
Tobu, which operates routes to the north of the capital, carried 856 million passengers in the year ended March 31. The company is the third biggest by ticket sales among the 11 major train operators in Tokyo and surrounding cities, according to JR East. The region is home to 35 million people. By contrast, Amtrak carried 30 million passengers in the U.S. in the year ended September 2011.
The Skytree, opening about a year after a temblor and tsunami devastated parts of northern Japan, stands on three legs with a central column in the style of a pagoda to make it more earthquake-resistant. Its steel frame changes from a triangle at the base to a circle at the top, and its curves and arches reflect a traditional Samurai sword, according to Tobu’s website.
The tower surpassed the 600-meter Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China, as the world’s tallest, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Dubai’s 828-meter Burj Khalifa is the tallest building, according to the council.