The tower's design was published on 24 November 2006, based on the following three concepts:
The exterior lattice is painted a colour officially called "Skytree White". This is an original colour based on a bluish-white traditional Japanese colour called aijiro (藍白).
The illumination design was published on 16 October 2009. Two illumination patterns alternate daily. One is the sky blue Iki (chic, stylish), and the other is the purple Miyabi (elegance, refinement). The tower is illuminated using LEDs.
From October to November 2007, suggestions were collected from the general public for the name to be given to the tower. On 19 March 2008, a committee chose six final candidate names: Tōkyō Sukaitsurī (東京スカイツリー, "Tokyo sky tree"), Tōkyō Edo Tawā (東京EDOタワー, "Tokyo Edo tower"), Raijingu Tawā (ライジングタワー, "Rising tower"), Mirai Tawā (みらいタワー, "Tower of the future"), Yumemi Yagura (ゆめみやぐら, "Dream lookout"), Raijingu Īsuto Tawā (ライジングイーストタワー, "Rising east tower"). The official name was decided in a nationwide vote, and was announced on 10 June 2008 as "Tokyo Skytree". The name received around 33,000 votes (30%) out of 110,000 cast, with the second most popular name being "Tokyo Edo Tower".
The height of 634 m (2,080 ft) was selected to be easily remembered. The figures 6 (mu), 3 (sa), 4 (shi) stand for "Musashi", an old name for the region where the Tokyo Skytree stands.
Tokyo Skytree is used as a radio/television broadcast and communications tower.
As the Skytree's opening approached, people reportedly waited in line for a week to get tickets. By the opening, trips up the tower were fully booked for the first two months of operation. The opening day drew a crowd of tens of thousands, despite rainy conditions which blocked the view from the tower's observation deck. Strong winds also forced two elevators to be shut down, leaving some visitors briefly stranded on the observation deck.
According to Tobu, 1.6 million people visited Skytree in its first week. Local residents reported that the influx of visitors disturbed the peace of their community and had, so far, generated little economic benefit for the local area.
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It was the second tallest structure in the world before the completion of Merdeka 118.[5]
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[1] Archived 13 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091110-00000463-yom-soci
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東京スカイツリー のつくり方「制振装置のあるゲイン塔頂部をつくる」 ["To make the tower tip with TMD installed", how to make Tokyo Skytree] (in Japanese). Obayashi Corporation. 25 November 2010. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010. 東京スカイツリー のつくり方「制振装置のあるゲイン塔頂部をつくる」
総重量は約100トン。制振装置が塔体の最頂部へ [Total weight 100 ton, TMD placed on tower tip.] (in Japanese). Blog from construction site, Obayashi Corporation. 25 November 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010. 総重量は約100トン。制振装置が塔体の最頂部へ
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東京スカイツリーへの放送局の無線設備の設置に向けた変更許可について [Approval of alteration to install the radio wave facility of broadcasting stations to Tokyo Skytree] (in Japanese). Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. 16 December 2010. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2010. 東京スカイツリーへの放送局の無線設備の設置に向けた変更許可について
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世界一ツリー604メートル到達 東京スカイツリー [Tokyo Skytree reaches 604 m] (in Japanese). Nikkei Inc. 2 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 March 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011. 世界一ツリー604メートル到達 東京スカイツリー
スカイツリー、634メートルに到達 完成時の高さに [Skytree reaches final height of 634 m]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Tokyo. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011. スカイツリー、634メートルに到達 完成時の高さに
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