Kyodo via Reuters

A view of Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest broadcasting tower at 2080 feet, in Tokyo. The tower opened to the public on May 22, with hundreds of people entering the tower and its large shopping mall.

Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images

This series of images shows the construction progression of the world's tallest radio tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo. The 2089 foot tall taower opened for the public on May 22.

Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

Visitors wearing their hand-made Tokyo Skytree like outfits celebrate the opening of the Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest tower, in Tokyo, Japan.

Franck Robichon / EPA

The 2080 foot high Tokyo Skytree is illuminated under heavy rain fall in Tokyo, Japan, on May 22. The Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest tower, opened to the public the same day after almost four years of construction.

From Arata Yamamoto, NBC News

TOKYO -- The world's second-tallest structure opened to the public on Tuesday.

The Tokyo Sky Tree is now the world's tallest broadcasting tower. It is expected to draw in 32 million visitors a year, more than Tokyo Disneyland.

Featuring two observation decks and an adjacent shopping arcade which includes a planetarium and an aquarium, it stands 2,080-feet high on the eastern side of city, away from the glitzy Shibuya and the Ginza districts.

Sky Tree overlooks Sumida and Arakawa rivers, the symbols of Old Tokyo area, and on a clear day provides a panoramic view beyond the capital including Mount Fuji. Click here to continue reading more about the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images

This trace of a moving light is made by Japan's H-IIA, launched from the Tanegashima space center in Kagoshima prefecture on Friday.

NHK reports: Japan's space agency, JAXA, successfully launched an H2A rocket carrying a foreign satellite early Friday.

It was the first commercial launch of a Japanese rocket based on a commission from overseas.

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Kyodo / Reuters

A tornado is seen in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, in this picture taken by a resident, May 6.

Firefighters and medical teams rushed to the area after the tornado struck about 40 miles from Tokyo. The city is a science center, with dozens of research and academic institutes, but the tornado appeared to be mostly in residential areas.

Officials say a 14-year-old boy died and more than 30 people were injured.

-- Reported by the Associated Press

Read the full story.

Kyodo / Reuters

People walk near debris and damaged vehicles in a residential area after a tornado struck Tsukuba, Japan.

Kei Hashimoto / Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images

This picture whows a tornado sweeping through Tsukuba, Japan.

Kyodo News via AP

A damaged residential area is seen after a tornado struck Tsukuba, Japan.

Kyodo / Reuters

A tornado is seen in Tsukuba, Japan.

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Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

A Moon Jellyfish swims in the water at a Tokyo aquarium, Japan, May 3. The Golden Week, a week-long national holiday period in Japan, takes place from April 28 to May 6.

Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

A mother and her baby watch Moon Jellyfish swimming in the water at a Tokyo aquarium, Japan, May 3.

Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

Moon Jellyfish swim in the water at a Tokyo aquarium, Japan, May 3.

Enjoy looking at jellyfish? Browse more pictures of them in PhotoBlog.

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Peter Mark / The Canadian Press via AP

The Vancouver Sun reports: A Langford motorcycle dealer is helping to return a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to its owner in Japan after it was washed out to sea by last year's tsunami and ended up on B.C.'s northwest coast. With the subsequent news that the owner had been found, the bike is to be taken to the dealer's shop and packed for shipping to Japan in its rusted state. Harley-Davidson has offered to restore the bike at one of its Japanese facilities so the owner can see the motorcycle before and after.

"I think it's going to be great that it actually goes back in its original condition. I think it's going to have a lot more meaning there," said Steve Drane, owner of the Langford dealership.

Related story:

• Harley-Davidson motorcycle swept away by Japan tsunami washes up on Canada coast

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Eight people died and nine more were hurt after a driver in the Japanese city of Kyoto plowed into pedestrians before smashing into a power pole, Mainichi Japan reported. Officials said the driver was among the dead. The incident occurred at lunchtime in an area crowded with tourists and cherry blossom viewers.

Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images

Police officers inspect a minivan which crashed into a telephone pole after hitting a crowd of pedestrians in Japan's temple-spotted ancient capital of Kyoto, western Japan, on April 12, 2012.

Kyodo via Reuters

People's belongings are scattered after the incident.

Kyodo via Reuters

Medical personnel tend to the injured.

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

Cherry blossom petals fall on a Japan Self-Defense Force member standing in the compound of the Defense Ministry where PAC-3 Patriot missile units are deployed for North Korea's rocket launch, expected to take place sometime between April 12-16, in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. North Korean space officials said Tuesday that all assembly and preparations for this week's planned satellite launch have been completed, and denied it is a cover for a missile test.

For more pretty photos of cherry blossoms and scenes of spring see our slideshows below.

Slideshow: Spring is in the air!

An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.

Launch slideshow

Slideshow: National Cherry Blossom Festival's 100th anniversary

Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images

This year marks 100 years since the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C.

Launch slideshow

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Franck Robichon / EPA

A couple in a boat passes beneath cherry blossom trees along Imperial Palace Chidorigafuchi moats in Tokyo, Japan, on April 6. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that blossoms of cherry trees are fully bloomed in Tokyo.

Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

Cherry blossoms in full bloom are seen in Kawasaki, near Tokyo on April 6. Spring has begun in Japan with the blooming of the country's beloved cherry trees, with revelers eager to use the occasion as a way to break from a year marked by crisis and disaster.

Franck Robichon / EPA

A cherry blossom is seen lying on a cherry tree roots at the Yasukuni Shrine precincts in Tokyo, Japan, on April 6. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that blossoms of cherry trees are fully bloomed in Tokyo.

Love cherry blossoms? Check out...

• Along with blossoms, a cacophony of cameras

Slideshow: National Cherry Blossom Festival's 100th anniversary

Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images

This year marks 100 years since the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C.

Launch slideshow

Handout photo / Department of National Defence

A Japanese fishing boat that was lost at sea after the 2011 tsunami has been found off the coast of B.C.

Vancouver Sun reports:  VANCOUVER -- After being flushed out to sea by last year’s massive tsunami and earthquake, a Japanese squid-fishing boat has drifted across the Pacific Ocean and was about 120 nautical miles off British Columbia’s north coast Friday evening. The 150-foot ship was found drifting right-side-up about 140 nautical miles (260 km) from Cape Saint James, on the southern tip of Haida Gwaii.

“It’s been drifting across the Pacific for a year, so it’s pretty beat up,” said marine search coordinator Jeff Olsson of Victoria’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

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