Zipline of the Heavens promises to be hell on earth for anyone with a fear of heights.

Japan is famous for its love of stylish yet nonsensical naming conventions, but the designers were in no way fooling around when it came to the Sunshine 60 building in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood. The building is indeed 60 stories tall, but you wouldn’t necessarily call it over-sized, since its packed with attractions including a shopping center with a Pokémon Center megastore, hotel, planetarium, and aquarium.

But in just a few days, Sunshine 60 will be adding yet another reason to visit, or, if you’re afraid of heights, to stay very, very far away: a zipline that starts 231 meters (758 feet) above the very hard concrete streets of Tokyo.

While Sunshine 60 does have an observation floor, the Zipline of the Heavens, as it’s being called, requires you to travel even higher and step out onto the roof. From there, you’ll walk to the top of a scaffolding, and strap in for an 18-meter-long ride that organizers describe with:

“From the start point, you can see all of downtown Tokyo, including the Shinjuku and Marunouchi districts, and even cars running along the streets, and you’ll enjoy even more of a thrill as you feel the rush of the wind!”

▼ You’ll notice they conveniently forgot to mention the possible screaming and peeing yourself. Also, the more we think about it, that helmet isn’t going to do anything at all to protect you in a 231-meter fall.


However, you won’t be riding the zipline all the way down to the ground. Instead, the 18-meter-long course drops you down about five meters (16.4 feet), which should still provide an exhilarating scare, before you land on another part of the roof. However, we should also point out that…

there are no railings or fences between you and the skyscraper’s edge, so you might want to pick a day to visit when there isn’t a particularly strong crosswind blowing. Oh, and by the way, intoxicated guests are forbidden from riding the zipline, so you’re going to have to do this sober, which seems like a mighty difficult hurdle to clear.

The Zipline of the Heavens will be open from July 24 to September 23, and costs 1,000 yen (US$9.25) to ride.

Related: Sunshine 60
Source, images: Press release
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