On Monday, October 1 2007,SKYCITY will lead the world in marking October asinternational Breast Cancer Awareness Month by turning theSky Tower hot pink as part of the Global IlluminationCampaign.

Plenty of blue sky left … Sky City's Auckland casino.

 

The Space Needle
"Come to SkyCity™ to partake of the natural taste treasures of the Pacific Northwest.

“Three other SKYCITYproperties - SKYCITY Hamilton, SKYCITY Darwin and SKYCITYAdelaide - are also lighting pink to highlight theimportance of regular checks.

Sky City, Auckland

“With breast cancerbeing one of the top causes of death among women, SKYCITYwants to show support for all those affected by breastcancer”.

Other than turning the tower pink, SKYCITYhas also purchased fundraising pink ribbons for all SKYCITYemployees and has made the SKYCITY properties in Auckland,Hamilton and Queenstown a central place for people to donateto The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

Sumida Tower (Tokyo)

The year 2011 will also see the completion of the Sumida Tower,which will stand 614 meters (2001 feet) tall. As the tallestfree-standing tower in the world and the tallest man-made structure inJapan, Sumida Tower will serve as a communications tower for sixtelevision stations.

The tower, which is also referred to as the New Tokyo Tower, isexpected to attract about 3 million people per year to Tokyo’s Sumidaward, replacing Tokyo’s other tower (Tokyo Tower) as the phallictourist trap of choice. The Sumida Tower will dwarf the aging 333-meterTokyo Tower, which was constructed in 1958 by the Takenaka Corporation.

No need for the Takenaka Corporation to feel envious, though. The company has bigger plans…

Sky City 1000 (Tokyo)

Since 1989, the Takenaka Corporation has been toying with the idea of constructing Sky City 1000,a 1 km (3281 feet) tall superstructure containing a virtual city of35,000 residents and 100,000 workers. Sky City’s 8 square kilometers(3.1 square miles) of floor space means there will be plenty of roomfor shops, schools, theaters, and all the other trappings of urban lifethat attract tourists.

Sky City 1000 will no doubt be a nice place to explore, and itshould relieve some of Tokyo’s congestion and free up some green spacein the city below — which will be great for the peons living on theoutside.

Space hotels (450 km over Tokyo)

For travelers seeking greater highs, there are space hotels. Since1989, Shimizu Construction has been developing plans to construct a 64-room space hotel, which the company hopes to put into operation in another 20 to 30 years.

At 450 kilometers (279 miles) above the planet surface, guests willenjoy fantastic views from their 7 x 4 meter rooms. The 7,500 tonfacility will rotate at 3 rpm, producing enough centrifugal force foran artificial gravity of 0.7 g.

For the traveler seeking a more colorful destination, there is Pon De Station,a 24-room low earth orbit hotel designed to resemble a stack of “Pon deRing” donuts from Mister Donut. The Pon De Station design comes fromthe Space page on the quirky SNTV site, and it appears to be a variation of the proposed “Space Love” hotel that also appears on the site.

The Space Love Project is seeking investors in its hotel, which willspecialize in offering intimate space weddings. The hotel plans tooffer rooms to couples for 10 million yen ($83,000), which includes theround-trip journey aboard a small space plane.

(For a glimpse of hyperactive web weirdness, visit the SNTV jump page, sit back and enjoy the ride.)

 

Martian settlement (Mars)

For the ultimate getaway, there is Mars. Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corporationhas been researching and developing plans for a Martian colony for over10 years. According to the company’s projections, the Martianpopulation will reach 500 in the year 2057. By 2090, the populationwill be 50,000 strong and the Martian economy will make up 5% of thesolar system’s GDP. By then, it should be an interesting touristoption. But the company believes Martians will declare independencefrom Earth in 2092, so you better hurry up and make those travelarrangements before things get sticky.