Japanese Seismic Design, Tokyo Sky Tree

The huge Sendai earthquake that struck Japan two days ago caused, especially through the tsunami that followed, a big amount of casualties and devastation.
However, considering the enormous magnitude of the earthquake (700 times stronger than the earthquake that destroyed Haiti), the fact the numerous high-rise towers escaped undamaged is a proof that the exceptional Japanese seismic designs and the strict building codes truly created earthquake resistant buildings and literally saved thousands of lives!

An amazing fact is that some of the modern Japanese earthquake resistant techniques are inspired from old, specific Japanese architectural techniques. The five-story pagoda is designed with independent floors with a core central pillar. This kind of seismic design helps minimizing the size of tremors during the earthquake.
In fact, although there were pagodas destroyed by typhoons or fires, there are no records in the history of Japan of five-story pagodas collapsing due to an earthquake!
And even the new Tokyo Sky Tree is reproducing this traditional earthquake resistant design, Shimbashira-Seishin ("center column vibration control") using, of course, the latest technology.