Skytree and Stormtroopers
Just Another Day in Tokyo
Piercing the sky at a whopping 2080 feet (634 meters) high, Tokyo Skytree is the tallest tower in the world. Insanity comes in many different forms but surely one of them is building such a thing in a country renowned for earthquakes and typhoons. Another one must be paying to go up to the top of it and strolling around as if gravity does not apply to you.
If there is one country that can build a skyscraper in an earthquake zone though, it is Japan, and I put my faith in their architects and engineers.
The first time I lived and worked in Japan was in 1996, way before construction on the Skytree began. I lived on the 15th floor of a building that had at least 30 stories. It was across the street from the railway tracks which meant that every time a train passed, I had to stop doing anything that required using my ears, as that sense was temporarily consumed with sound.
Earthquakes were frequent at that time and people were understandably nervous as the Great Hanshin Earthquake had struck just the year before. The building I lived in withstood every tremor however and just swayed peacefully to a stop whenever it…
