Top tourist draw Tokyo Skytree also a lab for lightning research

Structure's height makes it a lightning rod, and the world's scientists are taking notice

- Walter Sim

The Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest freestanding tower, is more than just one of the city's top tourist attractions: It is also a science laboratory for lightning and other research, and a disaster mitigation hub.

The 634m-tall structure - more than twice the height of Singapore's tallest building, the 290m-high Guoco Tower - towers over the bustling Japanese capital and has welcomed more than 50 million visitors since it opened in May 2012.

The main role of the Tokyo Skytree is to transmit digital terrestrial broadcasting for the Greater Tokyo region. Since 2012, it has taken over the transmission role from the 333m-tall Tokyo Tower, which was completed in 1958 and was increasingly unable to provide complete coverage as it came to be surrounded by high-rise buildings.

The Tokyo Skytree's height makes it a literal lightning rod, with at least 10 strikes a year - not a surprise considering the relatively flat terrain around it - effectively debunking the old saying that lightning never strikes the same place twice.

This makes the structure ripe for lightning research, and the world's scientists are taking notice - no other lightning measuring devices are installed on buildings at such heights anywhere else in the world.

The Straits Times was among a few media outlets to recently get a look at the lightning research apparatus located outdoors at 497m above ground. This is higher than the 450m-high observation deck accessible to the public.

Getting there required donning a helmet and a safety vest, before taking the service lift and navigating a labyrinth of steep staircases and ladders while facing strong winds. Reporters had to secure their belongings, including smartphones, pens and notebooks, to their bodies with string so that nothing fell through the steel gratings or was blown off.