The phenomenon that is social media hadn’t really taken off in the early months of 2006 when I, along with the help of friend Gideon, set up this website. Tokyo Fox went online on February 20th with no real aim or focus other than keeping a record of things for myself and giving my parents the chance to actually know what I’ve been up to. Its never really caught on with too many of my actual friends but it has managed to find an audience with a few hundred people everyday, most of whom are usually just doing google searches of movie locations or whatever.

I was surprised as anyone else that Tokyo Fox made it past the first one or two entries but here we are eight years on and its still going strong despite social media having pretty much killed off most bloggers. To mark the occasion, I have handpicked the eight articles on here that have shaped the brand. Some people have said that Tokyo Fox is like the BBC sports show ‘Grandstand‘. No, not a dated format with no place in the modern world but a framework for showcasing many different things!! Of course the filming locations take most of the glory with the other stuff like film reviews, cycling trips and places in Japan holding up quite well too. However, when the site started with this entry (read it here, its pretty awful!) what followed for the first few months were observations of how customs and life are so different here. Of course I was fairly knew to it all back then so take what I said with a pinch of salt!

So to celebrate our 8th birthday I have dug deep into the Tokyo Fox archive to bring you eight articles from back when we were just getting started. I’d hate for you to miss any of the quality observations just because you recently stumbled upon our site. If you’re a devout Tokyo Fox reader, thanks for sticking around!

1. The great chopstick question – How many times can Japanese people ask you if you can use chopsticks? The answer is many many! More details here

2. White Day a.k.a. March 14th – What the hell’s this all about? Marketing!! That’s about the size of it! More details here

3. Getting caught short at work – A busy schedule doesn’t always allow time for toilet breaks but when you’ve gotta go you’ve gotta go! More details here

4. The only gaijin in the village – Who are these other foreigners doing here?! This is my patch and you’re not welcome!! More details here

5.  Show me the money – Japan is modern for many things but its attitude to credit cards isn’t one of them! More details here

6. Bumping into people – Don’t mind me!! More details here

7. Japanese people too honest for their own good – Honesty is not always the best policy is it?! More details here

8. Only in Japan – A nice moment to let one not get too frustrated by other things in this country. There are many positives and this is one such example! More details here