TOKYO: Japan’s new tallest building opened in Tokyo on Friday, taking the title from an Osaka skyscraper. The 330-metre-high Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower is not Japan’s highest structure, which is still the Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting and observation tower in the capital’s east, which stands at 634 meters.

But it does have a 30-metre advantage over the Abeno Harukas building in Osaka, previously Japan’s tallest building. The JP Tower and its surrounding facilities have an overall floor area of around 861,700 square meters, and include office space, green areas, residential units, hotel rooms, and shops and restaurants, its developer Mori Building said in a statement.

The development project in central Tokyo was aimed at renewing the area filled with small wooden houses and old buildings, while also offering “infrastructure such as roads and parks”, according to Mori Building’s website. The area “will host approximately 20,000 office workers and 3,500 residents when fully occupied and is expected to welcome 30 million visitors per year”, it said. It is scheduled to be surpassed in March 2028, with the completion of a 390-metre-high building by Mitsubishi Estate, also in Tokyo, the Asahi Shimbun reported. — AFP