The massive Azabudai Hills real estate complex, which includes Japan’s new tallest skyscraper (330 meters), officially opened in Tokyo on Friday and its developer, Mori Building, hopes to attract more than 30 million visitors a year.
When fully occupied, this “city within the city” will accommodate 20,000 office workers and 3,500 residents, according to a press release from the Japanese real estate group Mori Building.
The complex, which includes three skyscrapers built amid green spaces, will also include 150 restaurants and shops as well as a new immersive digital art museum by Japanese collective teamLab, set to open next February.
Azabudai Hills exceeds the height of a skyscraper in Osaka, western Japan, but is not expected to remain the country’s tallest building for long: the 390-meter-tall Torch Tower is scheduled to be completed in Tokyo in 2027-2028.
In addition, the Japanese capital is also home to one of the tallest structures in the world, the Tokyo SkyTree (an uninhabited 634-meter-tall tower), which was inaugurated in 2012.
However, Japan is far from the heights achieved by skyscrapers elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East.
One of the reasons is the very high risk of earthquakes in the Japanese archipelago, which is why tall buildings in the country must adhere to extremely strict standards and, for example, have a wide base to ensure stability. Hence the often massive appearance of Japanese skyscrapers.