Around The Grounds

Posted on April 20, 2017 by tokyofox

Avid readers of JSoccer magazine (Japan’s number one quarterly football magazine in English!) have been following the ground hopping of Tokyo Fox for the last few issues which has taken in stadia from all over the country (Okinawa, Hiroshima, Kobe, Kashiwa,  Kashima, Sapporo etc). There have been three parts to the series so far and I’m keen for  a fourth one too. That will include Mito Hollyhock, the two featured in this post and hopefully I’ll visit a couple more during the Golden Week holiday coming up at the end of April.

At the end of last season and the start of this one, I have mostly been to lower league grounds but last Sunday myself and Jack (of Rambling Northerner fame!) ventured on over to Yamanashi prefecture to see a J1 side. Ventforet Kofu play at the Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium in Kofu which is a Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: Coachella Festival In The USA (2002)

Posted on April 16, 2017 by tokyofox

Music festivals don’t come any more glamorous than the annual Coachella Festival in southern California which has been going since 1999. As a huge Oasis fan, I became aware in the early months of 2002 that they would be headlining this festival on Sunday 28th April which was amazingly the day after I arrived in Los Angeles from Fiji! I bought my ticket online at an internet cafe on my last day in New Zealand mid-April for US$90 and then just had to hope that I’d be able to find my way to the festival site! Thanks to the journal that I kept at the time (available online at afoxdownunder.wordpress.com) we can now take a look back on all that happened 15 years ago on an epic 24 hour round trip……

 

“I didn’t sleep very well and had to get up at 7:30 am where I checked out (having put my bags in a locker) taking the hostel shuttle to the bus station in the process. I then had a long wait for the #439 metro bus which unbelievably took Continue reading →

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On The Fox Trail……In Haneda (Tokyo)

Posted on April 13, 2017 by tokyofox

Just a couple of stops from Haneda Airport is a major centre of Inari worship called Anamori Inari Shrine which I first visited in August last year. On that occasion I picked up a pamphlet about a shrine walking shrine tour of the Haneda area which gave me the inspiration for this latest instalment in the ‘On The Fox Trail’ series. People tend to do this eight gods of fortune tour around the New Year period as they pray for each type of luck that the shrines protect them against.

 

With rain imminent in the afternoon I made an early start and arrived at Kojiya station in Ota prefecture at 9am. I set off in the vague direction of the first place but Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #2 – Elephant Slide

Posted on April 10, 2017 by tokyofox

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: The Elephant Slide

Location:  Continue reading →

Posted in Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Music Videos Filmed In Japan #7 will.i.am Ft Justin Bieber – ‘#thatPOWER’ (2013)

Posted on April 7, 2017 by tokyofox

Admittedly, I wasn’t even aware of this will.i.am and Justin Bieber collaboration until someone left a comment on the ‘TF Top 10…Music Videos Filmed In Japan‘ post saying to check it out. Not only did I quite like the tune but I was happy to see a fair few locales which have never featured in music videos. There were a couple of places I wasn’t aware of which I have since featured in separate posts on Tokyo Fox and there were a few Tokyo architectural landmarks that I did recognise.

 

The scenes in Japan were shot in Continue reading →

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Tokyo Modern Architecture #2

Posted on April 4, 2017 by tokyofox

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.

 

This is the long awaited follow up to original ‘Tokyo Modern Architecture‘ post in July 2012 which included 10 different buildings including the two seen seen above. Here, in no particular order, is the next volume of Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: Johnson Town – A Taste Of America In Saitama

Posted on April 1, 2017 by tokyofox

One really doesn’t need to go too far in Tokyo these days to experience some kind of Americanism whether it be chain stores, slogans, music, movies or food and drink. However, just over the border in Saitama prefecture there is actually a small community known as Johnson Town which is a little piece of America in Japan… where all the residents are Japanese. Yes, really.

 

Just the name of the town is enough to bring a smile to my face but I was way more Continue reading →

Posted in Japan Travel, Quirky Japan, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #1 – Camel Slide

Posted on March 30, 2017 by tokyofox

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: The Camel Slide

Location:  Continue reading →

Posted in Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

London Filming Locations: Octopussy (1983)

Posted on March 27, 2017 by tokyofox

1983 was an interesting time for James Bond fans with the release of two films. Sean Connery was back in the role of Bond in the non-Eon release ‘Never Say Never Again‘ twelve years on from his last appearance in ‘Diamonds Are Forever‘ (1971) and Irvin Kirshner of ‘Empire Strikes Back‘ (1983) fame was the director. That came out in the Winter but in the Summer preceding that, there was the Eon produced ‘Octopussy‘ which was the 13th official release.

The Old War Office Building on Whitehall (below) is the MI6 HQ for ‘Octopussy‘ which was directed by John Glen. It appears on 13 minutes and would also be used as MI6 for ‘A View To A Kill‘ (1985) and ‘License To Kill‘ (1989) which he also directed.

Octopussy Mi6  Dec2010-Jan2011 060

The Department of Energy and Climate change at 55 Whitehall is alongside it, and where Bond and Continue reading →

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Dining Out: One Of A Kind In Tokyo!

Posted on March 24, 2017 by tokyofox

Tokyo may possess some of the world’s finest local delicacies but there’s also plenty of room for international restaurants to compete. Naturally there are dozens and dozens of Chinese, Italian, Indian and French restaurants serving up food which is famous all around the world but if you dig around a bit then you can find that many nations are represented. All continents are covered with at least 80 different countries featured but for some of them, there is (to the best of my knowledge!) just one of its kind but please let me know if otherwise! Here then, in no particular order, are the details for some of them……

1. Belarus @ Minsk No Daidokoro, 1-4-2 Azabudai, Minato-ku.

IMG_1667  IMG_1666

2. Bhutan @ Gatemo Tabum, 1-22-5 Uehara, Shibuya-ku. Continue reading →

Posted in Food & Drink, Japan Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments