15 years of Tokyo Fox! Who’d have thought that would happen?! Not I! It began in February 2006 as a fun pun-based place to keep an online journal to let friends and family back home know what things were like for me living and working in Japan. It really has been a labour of love at times to have kept this site going for 15 years given that so many others have come and gone in that time. Furthermore, this blogging business all started in an era before social media and YouTube had become the beasts they are today.

It’s probably fair to say that the randomness of the Tokyo Fox blog hasn’t helped it grow as much as it would have had the focus been on just one of two of the topics covered in this A-Z post. That’s all down to the stubbornness of the writer though for wanting to write about various things of interest to him rather than chasing hits by producing more clickbait-like content.

A is for Architecture – The Tokyo Modern Architecture collection was only ever intended as one-time article but after nine years (with huge gaps between posts!) it’s still going.

B is for B-Grade sights – When it comes to the more common touristy sights, I really can’t compete with the multitude of Japan-based YouTubers but delving into the world of B-grade spots has opened up a whole new world to me. I have loved seeing all these sights but sadly they’re second rate for a reason meaning that the masses aren’t always so interested!

C is for Cycling – My favoured form of transport in Tokyo is bicycle and I love going round the city and finding some interesting hidden gems. Various cycling adventures have ensued over the years starting with the classic Yamanote Line loop and continuing on with rides relating to the likes of food, movies, haunted sights, stamp rallies and shrines.

D is for Daytripper – The one category of posts that could have been turned into a more successful spin-off site had I bothered to do so! As the years have gone by the trips have got longer and longer! Is a 4-5 hour one way trip really considered by anyone else to be a day trip?!! Still, there’s nothing that says readers have to do it the one day!

E is for English teaching – There are just under 100 posts under the English teaching tab which surprises me as I can barely remember any of them! There’s not been too many in recent years outside of the annual Christmas posts where I incorporate a festive song into the proceedings.

F is for Foxes – The name Tokyo Fox owes more to the nickname of Leicester City but I have pushed the foxes theme as far as I possibly can with dozens of fox-related posts. Most of them have related to the statues found at shrines but the highlights for me have been the encounters with real-life foxes!

G is for Ground Hopping – This particular hobby didn’t really begin till 2015 when I began to get back into the J-League scene. As I rediscovered my interest in Japanese football I began to scour the fixtures and find new grounds I could go to. I have been to 30+ so far but they sure have dried up recently!

H is for Halloween – Slim pickings for this letter so I’ll choose Halloween which was barely celebrated by anyone when this site was founded. Doing kids parties/lessons in late October has been fairly consistent throughout the Tokyo Fox era but in the early half of the 2010s some of the Shibuya cosplay posts got a fair bit of attention. 

I is for Interesting Japanese Playground Structures – To date there have been 30+ structures featured in this series which was first included as an easy way to fill one of the ten monthly slots each time. Other than finding the places, these are very easy posts to put together and show off the weird and wonderful playgrounds of Japan.

J is for James Bond – Scaramanga’s island lair from ‘The Man With The Golden Gun‘ (1974) was one of the first locations I did back in 2008 as I realised that I was more interested in such spectacles than regular sights themselves. I have done locales from 19 of the 24 Bond movies thus far.

K is for the Keio Line – This 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, I dug deep to come up with a few places worthy of visit beyond perennial favourites like Mount Takao and Tama Zoo.

L is for Leicester – The city where I was born is a place I’ve always been proud of and I’m ever keen to reference the city whenever such a tenuous opportunity arises. The city was well and truly put on the map in 2016 when the football team achieved the miraculous feat of becoming 5000-1 Premier League Champions. Having a Japanese player in the team did wonders, and supporters nights out and a few media interviews followed as tokyofox.net hit it’s peak.

M is for Movie Locations – The bread and butter for this site since with the earliest locales coming in 2008. Filming locations posts have generally been the most successful but sadly they are drying up. Destinations have included the USA, Britain, Tunisia, Morocco, Guatemala, Panama, Australia and a load of other European and Asian countries.

Click here to read ‘The A-Z Of Tokyo Fox Celebrating 15 Years of Blogging (Part 2)’ 

Click here to read ’15 Years Of Tokyo Fox: The Posts With The “Most” Hits For Each Year’

Click here to read ’15 Years Of Tokyo Fox: The Posts With The “Least” Hits For Each Year’