The Keio Line principally connects Shinjuku to the western side of Tokyo with seven different lines running through to the likes of suburban city Hachiōji and the mountainous area at Takaosanguchi. All of it’s stations actually lie within the boundaries of Tokyo and, thanks to regular free tickets, Tokyo Fox has dug deep to come up with a few places worthy of visit beyond perennial favourites like Mount Takao and Tama Zoo……
#7 – Takahata Fudoson Kongo-ji Temple @ 733 Continue reading
Many of the parks and children’s playgrounds in Japan, particularly in Tokyo, are quite poor compared to other countries in terms of space, surroundings and a lack of grass. However, a handful of them do tend to possess extremely creative structures and they will be explored in this series.
Nickname: Demon Face Park
Location: Continue reading
For all its good points, Tokyo ain’t half one ugly looking city with buildings pretty much erected (and pulled down) willy nilly without any thought to the environment around it. However, amid all the chaos of such a concrete jungle there are a fair few examples of modern architecture which I am ever keen to photograph. Now, I am certainly no expert on such a topic but have enjoyed going around capturing the interesting and weird designs of some of these buildings.
It was a five year wait for the follow up to the original 2012 ‘Tokyo Modern Architecture‘ post and then ‘#2‘ and ‘#3‘ followed in 2017. ‘#4’ appeared last year and here, in no particular order, is the next volume of interesting looking Japanese buildings including the addresses:
1. Urban Prem Minami Aoyama, 3-8-5 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku.
2. Ao Continue reading
There really are two different sides to Chiba, the prefecture bordering Tokyo to the east. The north is pretty much just an extension of the Japanese capital but once you venture beneath Chiba city itself it’s very much countryside. No more was that apparent than the part of Kisarazu city I was in a few months ago.
Kisarazu is the gateway to Kawasaki in Kanagawa prefecture thanks to the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line which crosses the bay (there is even a floating service station area known as Umihotaru in the middle!) via a combination of bridge and tunnel. However, this time I ventured a little east of Kisarazu to Continue reading
When it comes to ramen, there are many tastes and regional variations whether it be shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), tonkotsu (pork bone broth) in Kyushu or miso ramen which is served up in Hokkaido. On top of that come the crazy novelty ones which include things like cheese, coffee, ice-cream, tequila, kiwi, ham, pizza, sake and so on. The kind of things that the true ramen masters would most definitely turn their nose up at!
As the title suggests (and the picture above shows), there are a couple of fruity ones which can be added to that list of quirky dishes. Just a couple of minutes walk from the west exit of Continue reading
What exactly could this tower be?
Japan’s largest lion-dog statue wasn’t the only thing I visited on my day-trip to Ibaraki prefecture back in December last year. It would be pretty sad to travel that far just to photograph one place wouldn’t it! Instead I did two!
Kurefushi-no-Sato Tumulus Park is about a Continue reading
Two years ago I came across the truly unique Namba Yasaka Shrine in Osaka which is basically a shrine with a huge lion-dog head containing a stage inside it’s mouth. The creatures eyes light up and there’s a speaker in its nose too! That mythical beast is in the west of Japan but there is another gigantic one to be seen over in the eastern part of the country.
Nearly 600 kilometres east in Ibaraki prefecture is a lovely, vast park that bizarrely features a huge Japanese lion-dog head on its lawn. What’s more, it looks over a children’s recreational area! Maybe that’s to intimidate the kids and scare them in to behaving better!
Such creatures were introduced to Japan from Continue reading
