A lot has been said in the last few years about overtourism in Japan as millions of people from overseas have taken advantage of the weak yen to visit the likes of Tokyo, Osaka and of course Kyoto. The latter in particular has felt the impact of the crowds but we managed to avoid that for the most part of our short time there.
After four nights in Hiroshima, we then dropped into Kyoto to spend a couple of days with my Continue reading
Sadly, I didn’t get to see Oasis on their reunion tour last year so am left to just reflect on the half dozen concerts of theirs I did see back in the day with the most monumental one being 30 years ago when they played in front of 250,000 people at Knebworth across two nights.
Hot on the heels of Euro ’96 it really was a memorable summer and the music scene at that time was at an all-time high in my opinion. Knebworth was mainly about Oasis of course but it shouldn’t be forgotten how Continue reading
The sight of a couple of matches in the recent FIFA World Cup being heavily disrupted by thunderstorms was something of a new experience for many sports fans outside certain parts of the United States. Lightning strikes quickly though and within two weeks of that tournament ending it happened in Japan too.
The sports venue in question was Continue reading
The relatively short time between the end of the FIFA World Cup and the start of the domestic league season this summer does seem to have meant fewer European clubs coming to Japan for money-spinning ties against local opposition. To my knowledge, the only teams to have made a journey to Japan have been a couple of German giants.
What usually happens with these matches is that when they’re first announced I Continue reading
As a Brit living in Japan, I really have mixed emotions when either Great Britain or England play against Japan in any sporting competition. It is admittedly not the biggest rivalry but for any sports fans in my situation it is one that matters but such meetings really have been infrequent during all the time I’ve lived in Tokyo.
In tennis, Great Britain defeated Japan 2-1 in the United Cup in January and 2-0 in the Billie Jean King Cup last year having lost 3-2 in the Davis Cup before that. England lost a Continue reading
Needing some original Sunday morning dog walking ideas, my wife and I decided to walk round the famous green train line which passes through most of Tokyo’s urban centres in a loop. I should point out that our little six-year-old chihuahua would do a mix of walking and being carried either in my arms or in his backpack.
The 35-kilometre route for the whole Yamanote line was broken down into Continue reading
It has been said that the most memorable World Cup for many football fans is the one they experience around the age of 11 (give or take a year or two!) so for me that fell between Mexico ’86 and Italia ’90. Both of those tournaments hold special memories for me and it really did feel special to have some matches taking place in Mexico this time.
The majority of matches were hosted in the USA (with some in Canada too) though and it was eventually Spain that reigned supreme. I only saw them in live action in the latter stages but hadn’t actually considered them for the top prize prior to that as they never really Continue reading
During all my time in Japan I’ve managed to see the majority of the top test-playing international rugby teams at some point but there have been a couple of notable absentees for a while.
The title of this post reveals that one of those teams was the current Continue reading
Late night or early morning flights in my experience tend be just after midnight or at about 6:00 am. On this occasion though my flight from Amman (Jordan) to Istanbul in Turkey was right in the middle of that time zone.
The 3:15 am flight might have saved me on a night’s accommodation, but I did Continue reading
12 months on from our last trip to Hiroshima and we were back but this time things were a bit different and not in a good way.
At the start of the year beloved family dog Cocoa Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 