Tourist bosses in Japan hope the completion of the 634-metre Tokyo Sky Tree will be a big draw for foreign visitors, whose numbers have plummeted in the wake of last year’s earthquake and the nuclear crisis it sparked.

Construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree, the world’s tallest communications tower and second-highest building, finished last Wednesday, two months late because of the quake and tsunami last March.

Construction of the tower, near the popular Asakusa traditional district on Tokyo’s eastern side, began in July 2008.

The Tokyo Sky Tree tops the 600-metre Canton Tower in China’s Guangzhou .

It is the world’s second-tallest manmade structure, beaten only by the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Some 580,000 workers were engaged in the construction, which cost 65 billion yen (€599 million) for the tower alone.

The Tokyo Sky Tree is expected to overshadow landmarks in the capital’s upscale western parts, including the 333-metre Tokyo Tower, which was built in 1958.

It hosts two observation decks – at 350 metres and 450 metres above ground – as well as restaurants and office space and sits at a former freight shunting yard along the Sumida river.