BG Report: Ikoma-sanjo Amusement Park

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(the article below accompanies this video)

The trip up Japan’s oldest cable car to the top of Ikoma Mountain in Nara Prefecture was quite an experience. Not only was the cable car great, but the amusement park on the mountain top was a lot of fun. Plus, I had an extremely low blood sugar up there – dangerous even.

But all’s well that ends well.

When I woke up in the morning, my first blood sugar of the day was 106, so I had a normal breakfast and things seemed to be on the way to stability. However, I think I overestimated the food I ate, and took too much insulin.

But I didn’t know that. I took a train to Ikoma from my home in Osaka next door, and waited around there for the cable car. Actually, there was a group of kindergarten kids there with their teachers, and I thought they might be going to the amusement park themselves as a class trip. I didn’t want to ride up with them, so I could take video and talk to the camera undisturbed, so I waited.

While wandering around I bought a can of hot coffee from the nearby 7-11, and then saw that the kids were not in fact going to the top. The class trip was merely to the station to see the dog and cat decorations and stuff. So, they left, I bought my tickets, and got on Japan’s oldest cable car.

The ride up actually involves two cars; you change halfway, at Hōzanji station. It took about 15 minutes.

On the top is an odd, desolate amusement park. It’s open, and the several attractions scattered around are in operation, but there were hardly any people. A few young mothers with little kids not yet in school. One or two families on vacation (perhaps not Japanese). And three or four small groups of friends or couples of various ages.

And me. I looked out over the view of smoggy Osaka city, and then bought a ticket for something called the Ikoma White House. It was a USA-themed group of rooms connected by corridors, with funny angles that make it hard to stand straight, or dark with sudden flashing lights and noises. Like a haunted house, but not quite. Very strange and, honestly, kind of fun.

After that I bought a ticket for something called Pukapuka Panda. It’s a kind of monorail thing, that goes in a big loop around the park. You get views to Osaka but also to the city of Nara, and the mountains scattered around the area.

Unfortunately, it was here that I checked my blood sugar and found that it was 39. That’s extremely low; my first reading in the 30s in who knows how many months or years. And, oddly for me, I didn’t even really feel it. (In the video from that day, I may seem fairly normal as the Pukapuka Panda starts out, but I assure you, the reading was accurate. You’re watching a low type 1 diabetic!)

I immediately ignored the view and dug around in my bag for some juice I’d brought, and gulped it down. When the ride was over I sat at a table and had some chocolate snacks I also brought, and then went looking for lunch.

I got fried shrimp and rice and curry at the only restaurant on the mountain top, and it was very tasty. A lot of rice, more than I usually eat. I ate the entire meal without taking any insulin – I’d just been quite low, and wanted to make sure it was level again.

After the meal, I had to do something that diabetics occasionally have to do, which feels extremely unnerving: take a rather large shot (I took 9 units) for the lunch, despite still “feeling” low. But time and math are what they are, and I knew I now needed insulin for the rice. I ducked into a nearby bathroom, went into the stall, and took the Humalog shot.

I rode one more ride, said my goodbyes to the camera for the YouTube video I wanted to make, and took the cable car back down and went home.

My next two readings over the next several hours were excellent – 143 and then 141. I’d done it! Guessed the right amount of insulin for that rice, and navigated through the low successfully. I twirled the insulin pen and stuck it in my pocket, wild west style. All’s well that ends well.

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