Tempozan Ferris Wheel, Osaka

Wonderful ride on this wheel, one of highest in the world. You can have there a fantastic view of Osaka bay. The cabins are closed, and quiet despite the wind, and dipense some music for ambiance (I had some relaxing stuff). Two kinds of cabin are available : one standard and one "transparent" with everything but the floor made of acrylic glass panels, with a relative number of 5 to 1 : you pay the same price for either cabin, but expect five times the wait for the transparent one.

We decided to do the Ferris wheel since it’s right next to the Kaiyukan Aquarium. It was 800 yen each, and although there was no line up for the coloured carriages, there was a 15min wait for the clear carriages with a transparent bottom. We waited for the clear one (one between every 6 coloured carriages), but in hindsight, we would’ve just gone on the coloured one; the transparent one wasn’t all that special and the bottom was so scuffed it was hard to see through it. The ride was approx 15 min, and apart from being able to see Harry Potter world at Universal Studios, we quite honestly didn’t find it all that exciting. We rode the Ferris wheel in the afternoon on a cloudy day, perhaps it’s more exciting at nighttime!