The sight of many red-orange torii gates at shrines is one of the most iconic Japanese images for many foreigners. Other styles maybe wooden or white and there is a golden torii gate shrine in Kyoto which has featured on Tokyo Fox a few times. I thought that was a one-off but it seems there is another shrine including multiple golden gates.
Travel around Japan has become rarer but wanting to get out of Tokyo for a bit and actually do something with my holiday back in Continue reading
Of the many trips I’ve undertaken around Japan one of the most memorable has to be the time when my parents visited the country for their second time. During their first trip I was living in a tiny shoebox, so a hotel was needed but about a decade later I was married and had just bought a house, so they came to stay at our place whilst embarking on a 10-day trip of Japan’s most worn-out tourist trail.
Day 1: Having arrived the day before (May 29), the first full day began with a longer than expected walk around the 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: Banana Park
Location: Banana Park, 5-3-7 Continue reading
The ever-changing poses of Tokyo Fox!
Japan migrating to the Euro-style calendar league season this year has resulted in a promotional push encompassing a fair few matches being played at the National Stadium which means this compilation post contains more top-flight action than is typical for the summer when I have tended to mainly watch lower league games.
The idea was to scale things back a bit this year but having been to Continue reading
Having flown to Kyushu for a three-day trip in June 2024 I didn’t anticipate returning so soon but with a day to myself (whilst in Hiroshima with family) I decided to treat myself to a day trip to Fukuoka Prefecture. It was built up around a football match at one of my bucket list stadiums and over time more and more things got added to my itinerary meaning that it was a very early start as I left Hiroshima station on the Shinkansen (bullet train) at 6:00 am.
About an hour later I was in Kitakyushu, the northern tip of Japan’s Continue reading
Collecting ink stamps has long been popular with both kids and adults alike in Japan but I always thought they were mainly just for promoting upcoming events on a temporary basis. Whilst that is very true, I never realised there were permanent stamping posts at many stations around Japan and they can make a nice, unique, personal souvenir of anyone’s time at that location.
Having done a few Star Wars stamp rallies in Tokyo and Yokohama over the last decade or so I am certainly no stranger to such events in Japan. However, I didn’t realise there were so many 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, lemon, pineapple, sake and so on. The kind of things that the true ramen masters would most definitely turn their nose up at!
Nothing really surprises me when it comes to ramen these days so when I saw a pink ramen dish on YouTube last year I wasn’t exactly shocked. I was interested though but sadly I hadn’t seen that video when it was released so the restaurant had already closed when I began to investigate. However, it did alert me to the rest of their unique south-east Asian fusion menu, and they still had Continue reading
One of the most favourable reviews for my self-created #OrangeDay in June was that it “broke all conventions and brought a new paradigm to sports watching.” High praise indeed and there was never a plan for a follow-up, but it was actually quite enjoyable and did heighten the occasion so my mind did start to create some other ideas that could tie in with a sporting spectacle of sorts.
It was a tough act to follow but I was keen to do another themed day whilst continuously posting updates on social media throughout the day. It’s what many people call “content” nowadays! The much anticipated and eagerly awaited follow up avoided doing just another colour-themed day (that might happen one day though!) and instead used the arrival in Japan of Continue reading
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
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 