The tallest skyscraper in Japan opens in Tokyo

The massive Azabudai Hills real estate complex, which includes Japan’s tallest new skyscraper (330 metres), officially opened on Friday in Tokyo, and its developer, Mori Building, hopes to attract more than 30 million visitors annually.

This “city within a city” should accommodate 20,000 office workers and 3,500 residents once fully occupied, according to a press release from Japanese real estate group Mori Building.

The complex, which includes three skyscrapers built amidst green spaces, will include 150 restaurants and shops as well as a new immersive digital art museum from Japanese collective TeamLab, which is scheduled to open next February.

The height of Azabudai Hills exceeds the height of a skyscraper in Osaka (western Japan), but it is not expected to remain the tallest building in the country for long: the 390-meter-tall Torch Tower is scheduled for completion in 2027-2028 in Tokyo.

Furthermore, the Japanese capital is also home to one of the tallest buildings in the world, the Tokyo Skytree (a 634-meter-high uninhabited tower), which opened in 2012.

However, Japan is a far cry from the heights reached by skyscrapers elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East.

One reason is the high risk of earthquakes in the Japanese archipelago, which requires the country’s high-rise buildings to respect very strict standards and, for example, to have a wide base for stability. Hence the often massive appearance of Japanese skyscrapers.