BG Report: Keihan cable car up “Man Mountain”

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(the article below accompanies this video)

Today was a good example of what exercise (and time) do to a high blood sugar. I rode a cable car up a mountain in southern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, and spent a while walking around the top. Blood sugar was high when I started; what would it be after walking around?

Actually, you aren’t supposed to exercise much if your blood sugar is currently high – it’s too hard on your system. On this day, my reading was 230 before I started. That is not crazily high – just high. And I wasn’t jogging or doing anything strenuous. In these situations, say if I’m in the low 200s, I don’t mind merely walking a bit.

The Keihan Cable Car dates from 1926 and is located in the city of Yawata. I rode the Keihan train from Osaka to the station called Iwashimizu-Hachimangu; the cable car station is a few hundred feet away.

I’d never heard of this cable car nor this mountain. It’s called Otokoyama (男山) which means man mountain. Cars leave frequently during the day. I actually let one go without me, because someone was already sitting in the front seat, and I wanted that so I could get the footage through the front window for my YouTube video.

This trip was in July, but on top of the mountain (three minutes up the cable car line) it was quite cool. That’s because, not the great height (it’s negligible, temperature-wise) but because of the gigantic leafy trees near the cable car station. It felt great.

On top there are some monuments – notably, one for Thomas Edison, who had an early breakthrough with his light bulb when he made a filament with bamboo from this mountain and it burned much longer than other things he’d tried. (I also saw an Edison Road down near the Keihan station at the bottom; Yawata loves Edison, I guess.)

The main thing on the mountain is Iwashimizu-Hachimangu, a large Shinto shrine. I strolled around the grounds (hotter without trees) and admired the amazing architecture and design touches.

After a couple hours I took the cable car back down and found that the only place for lunch seemed to be a convenience store. I got some simple food and sat at the long table in the back – and checked my BG. All that walking, plus the wait for my breakfast insulin to finish working, had brought me down to a perfect 113.

I took my insulin, ate, and got the train back to Osaka. Later, when I checked before dinner, my reading was 71. Nice day on top of a mountain, up an excellent cable car, and it all vanquished my high BG.

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