The iconic Mount Fuji in all its snow-peaked glory is a sight to behold and one that never gets tiring. Seeing the 3,776 metre tall mountain wasn’t something I really expected to see whilst in Numazu for the day but it was a lovely bonus.
The best views of it came from Continue reading
Think of train stations in Japan and the mighty Shinjuku station is sure to come to mind for many people. That is the world’s busiest train station, and Japan monopolises the top 50 list with only five of them not in this country. However, at the other end of the scale are some tiny stations which are usually unstaffed and used by very few commuters.
Station: Shin-Shibaura
Prefecture: Continue reading
If you’ve ever seen the end of ‘Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom‘ (1984) then you’ll know that suspension bridges can provide great fun and excitement with an element of danger too. Keep on reading to see if a similar incident happened to me on this adventure to see “the other” suspension bridge in Izu!!
This is Kadowakitsuri Suspension Bridge but there is a similar one a bit further down the coast
Many people visiting the Izu-Hantō Peninsula go to see the rugged coastline of Jogasaki which features some short hiking routes, a lighthouse and a suspension Bridge. It is a place I have visited numerous times but I never realised until quite recently that there was Continue reading
The idea of cycling around all the Inari shrines of Tokyo’s 23 wards came about during the first State of Emergency (a soft lockdown of sorts) in 2020 as a way of getting out on my new bike whilst keeping a safe distance from people as Coronavirus began to take effect on Japan.
Shrines are generally quiet places with very few people in them, and the tiny ones which interest me are barely capable of hosting more than a few people at a time, if that! All 23 of Tokyo’s wards have now been published on Tokyo Fox so it is time for the second part of the smallest Inari shrines I encountered. Please note that many of these shrines do not have a name!
1. Inari Shrine, Edogawa-ku. More details here
2. Inari Shrine, Continue reading
The trailer for the seventh Mission Impossible film; ‘Dead Reckoning Part One‘ (2023), reminded me that I still had these locales from ‘Rogue Nation‘ ready to go. Needless to say but they were done quite a few years ago, and I just never got round to compiling them in a post…until now!
N.B. The time codes given are approximate so please allow for a minute or two either way
After an exhilarating opening scene on an airplane in Belarus it’s on to London as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) wanders down Regent Street on 5 minutes to a tiny record shop complete with retro listening booths. In reality “The Vinyl Offer” is a Continue reading
When I heard this idea on the radio a few years ago I thought it might be something that I could try as a way of motivating myself to go to some places with my wife that I’m usually not too interested in. I did think of suggesting it to her and then taking it in turns to come up with things to do for each letter but I thought she would dismiss it as a silly idea straight away so decided to keep it secret.
If you haven’t seen part 4 (P-T) then please click here to read that
The rules are quite simple. Do something for each letter going in alphabetical order. It would be quite easy to do an A-Z of dining out experiences so I decided that should be limited to Continue reading
I didn’t even notice the huge dong on this guy when I was there!
Does any place really need two sex museums? One is surely enough for anyone but this place just a couple of hours north of Tokyo has two of them, and they are just 15 minutes apart on foot. I’m not sure what it says about me but I visited both of them back at the start of this year with the Toy, Doll & Car Museum sandwiched in between them for a bit of normality…if such an eclectic mix of random items could Continue reading
Head down to the coast from Izu-Ōkawa Station (a ten minute walk) and one of the first things you’ll see is an abandoned hotel with peeling beige walls surrounded by palm trees. I was not even aware of this place beforehand as I was just in that area to see Lion Rock. However, once I was done at the animal-shaped rock formation, I returned to the area outside the hotel and was quite surprised to see how completely open to the public it was. For those unaware, such abandoned buildings (and there are many in Japan!) are usually Continue reading
Chocomint is something of divisive taste in Japan. Whilst there are some big fans (I follow a couple of Japanese Instagram accounts purely devoted to chocomint products!!) I think the majority of people generally dislike it, and often say it’s like eating toothpaste! That does make me a little sad to hear as it is my favourite flavour but each to their own. Chocomint was fairly scarce in Japan until the last few years which have seen something of a boom in chocomint products, particularly in the Summer months.
Another food which polarises opinion is natto a.k.a. fermented soy beans. It is the one Japanese dish which can meet resistance from foreigners and Japanese alike due to its strong smell. On top of that, it’s also incredibly Continue reading
The FIFA World Cup came to Asia twenty years ago when it kicked off on May 31st. This particular tournament is one that I’ve reminisced about a fair few times with regard to the effect it had on my decision to eventually move to Japan. Over the years I have waxed lyrical about this World Cup each time I’ve visited stadiums in the likes of Yokohama, Saitama, Shizuoka, Sendai, Kobe, Kashima and Sapporo as well as the Japan Football Museum in Tokyo.
That tournament wasn’t just in Japan though as it was co-hosted with Korea and I sometimes forget that. Fact is that the first stadium I visited from that World Cup was in Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 