BG Report: Four ferris wheels in Osaka (plus hot sake)

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I rode four ferris wheels in one day around Osaka, Japan. Each ferris wheel had unique qualities about it, and the final one, which I rode after dark, was the capper: they served me a can of warm oden (wintertime snack food) and actual hot sake.

Blood sugars today were all between 100 and 200, so I consider it a diabetic success.

#1. Hep 5 ferris wheel

I left my house before lunch time and went to Umeda for the first ferris wheel. The Hep 5 wheel is built on top of the Hep 5 shopping center. You take an elevator up to the seventh floor, buy the ticket, and a few minutes later you’re moving slowly waaaay over the crowds below.

This was my first ferris wheel, ever in my life. It was thrilling and intimidating, but of course a lot of fun.

After the 15-minute ride, I found lunch at a restaurant in Hep 5. My BG was 199, a much more psychologically satisfying number than, say, 200.

#2. Ebisu Tower Ferris wheel

The next wheel was not actually round. It’s the Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel, attached to the Don Quixote store in the Dotnobori area. It’s the world’s first oblong ferris wheel. It also has an unusual mechanism that spins the gondola around 180º after you leave the platform, so you can look out over south Osaka. When you return, it spins back around 180º to let you out.

#3. Tempozan Ferris wheel

I raced to get to the next wheel before sunset: the Tempozan Ferris Wheel promises great views of the sun going down over Osaka Bay, weather permitting. I made it, got my ticket, and found a small local cafe to pass the time until sunset. The owner of the cafe seemed a bit standoffish to me at first – I think he may not really like hapless tourists in the quaint, quiet little local shop.

But when he realized that I could speak a bit of Japanese, knew how to order and keep quiet, and not be a problem, he opened up a bit. The coffee he made and the chocolate cake were great. My BG was 169 before this great afternoon snack.

The Tempozan Ferris Wheel was, at one time, the highest in the world: 112 meters. It’s still a frightening and gargantuan ride. The weather was a bit cloudy but the view was, despite that, fantastic. And the distance from me to the ground was best not to think too much about.

#4. Redhorse ferris wheel

The final ferris wheel was Redhorse, a.k.a. Osaka Wheel. It’s in the north part of Osaka, at Banpaku Kin-en Kouen, the site of Expo ’70. Redhorse is currently Japan’s highest ferris wheel, over ten meters higher than Tempozan.

And it has a unique service, which had just begun when I was there: you can pay extra and get hot oden and sake, plus a gondola with a warm kotatsu.

A kotatsu is a common piece of furniture in winter in Japan, a table with a blanket on its sides. You put your legs under the blanket, turn the kotatsu on, and it warms you up. Amazingly, the ferris wheel itself had this.

Quite different than the cold plastic I was sitting on in the other wheels this day.

While under the warm kotatsu, I ate oden and drank sake. Oden is a wintertime snack, various types of food soaked in water. The views over Osaka City at night from the 18-minute ferris wheel, with the oden and sake, made the whole thing quite an experience. Unlike anything else – something you have to do for yourself at least once.

Before my ride on Japan’s largest ferris wheel, my blood sugar was 142. After the oden and sake (not much carbs in the oden, and the sake was about the same as a large beer, alcohol-wise) it was a cool 113.

My relatively good BGs today were probably mostly thanks to the walking; the ferris wheel rides themselves didn’t affect anything but the walking from the stations to the wheels gave me over 16,000 steps for the day.

A very fun day getting views of four areas of Osaka unlike any others!

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