Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (12:58)
At around 2:48pm on the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th last year, I was watching the Sky Tree from the exterior stairs on the fourth floor of our building when the second wave of shaking hit. At the time, the Gain Tower was in the middle of being lifted up, so two large cranes were set up. The hoisting wires of the cranes, which normally never sway, were swaying violently from side to side. According to an article in the Yomiuri Shimbun on March 1st this year, "Anti-swaying devices that had been installed just in case prevented the accident." The magnitude of the shaking at the top of the tree was 4 to 6m. It seems that the force reached 100m. Prior inspections had revealed concerns about the strength of the tower crane, so a damper arm was installed between the tree body and the crane to reduce swaying by about 1/3 to 2/3, and the crane mast (support) was also reinforced 1.5 times, which fortunately prevented the accident from occurring. Henmi, the crane driver, says that when he saw the damper arm expand and contract violently at the time, he really felt that he had been saved by the damper.

Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (12:59)

Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (12:59)

Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (12:59)

Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (12:59)

Date and time of shooting: 20120314 (13:00)