Technocosmos, later renamed Technostar, was an tall giant

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...

that was built for the

Expo '85 Expo '85, officially called the , was a world's fair held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan (Tsukuba Science City, a planned city focused on technology north of Tokyo) between Sunday, March 17 and Monday, September 16, 1985. The theme of the fair was " ...

World Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

Tsukuba, Ibaraki is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 244,528 in 108,669 households and a population density of 862 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 20.3%. The total ar ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It carried almost 3 million passengers during the exposition.Ferris wheels - an illustrated history, Norman D. Anderson
/ref> Technocosmos had an overall height of , a diameter of , and took 15 minutes to complete a revolution. Each of the 48 passenger cars could carry 8 people and was equipped with solar panels to power its air conditioning. When it began operating, Technocosmos was the World's tallest extant Ferris wheel. At that time, the tallest Ferris wheel ever built was the

Grande Roue de Paris The Grande Roue de Paris was a tall Ferris wheel built in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle world exhibition at Paris. Financing the "Grande Roue de Paris" happened by the creation of the "Paris Gigantic Wheel and Varieties Company" and s ...

(built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) which was demolished in 1920. In 1989 the

Cosmo Clock 21 Cosmo Clock 21 is a 112.5 metre tall ferris wheel at the Cosmo World amusement park in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama, Japan. When it first opened, it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel, until the completion of the Igosu 108 in Sh ...

opened for business in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

and succeeded both Technocosmos as tallest extant Ferris wheel and Grande Roue de Paris as tallest Ferris wheel ever built. After Expo '85, Technocosmos was relocated to the Expoland amusement park in

Suita is a city located in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 378,322 and a population density of 9,880 persons per km². The total area is 36.11 km². The city was founded on April 1, ...

Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...

, and renamed Technostar.Guide, map and view by satellite of Osaka
/ref> Expoland has since permanently closed. Work began on dismantling Technostar in November 2009, and it had been removed from the Osaka site by the end of the following month.

Coordinates

*Technocosmos,

Tsukuba is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 244,528 in 108,669 households and a population density of 862 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 20.3%. The total ar ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

: *Technostar, Expoland,

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

References

{{Ferris wheel Former Ferris wheels