Exploring Ishizu on the Hankai Tramway
Astonishing amount of history found at tiny Ishizu tram stop
Watch on YouTube (18:32)
I explored the area around a resolutely non-touristy, mundane tram stop called Ishizu on the Hankai Tramway in Sakai, Japan.
Ishizu was chosen because it’s near a couple of historical places, but ones that are relatively unknown, even to some people who actually live in the area. I wanted to see what an apparently unremarkable place had to offer.
Turns out it was very rewarding: a shrine that claims to be the oldest Ebisu shrine in Japan; a local legend explaining how a deity washed up on shore centuries ago and gave the area its name; an old highway still in use; and the site of a fierce battle that took place before the area became a quiet and serene residential neighborhood.
And my blood sugars during my two hours at Ishizu were largely pretty good. My post-breakfast spike reached about 202 before going back down, a spike I will gladly accept. By the end of the walk I was 117, and I rode the tram back home, back up to Ōsaka, having accomplished not only a successful wander but a nice morning of BGs.
Would that they were all like this.
