A Day In Yamaguchi Prefecture

Posted on January 23, 2017 by tokyofox

The bordering prefecture of Hiroshima is a sizeable one covering a vast area consisting of some fine places that I have earmarked as future travel destinations. Without a car though some of them are very difficult to get to but not these ones although the first place was certainly further away than I originally anticipated.

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On my arrival at Shinnan-yō station mid-morning I quickly glanced at the map outside the exit and promptly set out to locate my prime destination which was Kawasaki Kannon a.k.a. the breast temple. That quirky place was located at the top of some steep steps and as I looked out across the city there were some fine views including Continue reading →

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Simply The Breast Temple In Japan

Posted on January 19, 2017 by tokyofox

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The female body form is one that understandably attracts great attention and many are prepared to go to great lengths to just see a pair of boobies! Tokyo Fox is no stranger to breasts (Haha! Never thought I’d say that!) following previous notable posts in the past on this theme including Oppai Purin (breast pudding) and the magical F-Cup cookie!

This time I went on an epic journey to see some mammaries but it’s probably not what you think although the title of this post does give it away a bit! This trip into Yamaguchi prefecture (from Hiroshima) took a little over two hours by train and then there was a 30 minute walk on top of that! Rather excessive I’m sure you’ll agree but my wife had already returned to Tokyo for work so I needed to do something with my extra day though god knows what her parents must’ve thought when I said I was going all that way to see this unique temple!!

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The breast temple is in an area called Kawasaki which as it turns out is also the name of the city in Kanagawa where the Penis Festival takes place on the first Sunday of April each and every year. Such great symmetry!

On the face of it, the temple comes across as a normal place of worship but once you’ve Continue reading →

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Hiroshima 2016-17 Pt II: Away Days

Posted on January 16, 2017 by tokyofox

Miyajima-guchi station is the gateway to Miyajima and it’s World Heritage listed Itsukushima Shrine. Almost everyone arriving at the station is about to visit the island but not Tokyo Fox though! One likes to do things differently and so I headed in the opposite direction on a fairly lengthy walk up into the hills just to see the exterior of an intriguing looking building which I’d read about in a magazine.

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When I arrived at Itsukaichi Station that morning my idea was to go eastwards towards the city but then I changed my mind completely. 12 minutes later I was at my destination station and set off on a forty minute journey to see the bizarrely named  Continue reading →

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Hiroshima 2016-17 Pt I: Local Life

Posted on January 13, 2017 by tokyofox

The food may be different but the Japanese New Year is quite similar to the British Christmas in that it’s spent mostly in the home with family eating and drinking. Despite staying in Tokyo for the Christmas period in Tokyo the lure of spending the New Years holiday with her family was always going to be difficult for my wife to resist so we returned to Western Japan for our fourth visit of the year. This time though we ventured over to Hiroshima closer to New Years Eve unlike the year before when we flew over on December 26th.

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We ate a wide variety of food during our stay with my in-laws and first up was fugu (above) which I haven’t eaten since Continue reading →

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Dining Out: Namja Town In Sunshine City (Ikebukuro)

Posted on January 9, 2017 by tokyofox

Not only can you eat an abundance of delectable cuisine in Japan but you can often experience creative themed restaurants and cafes offering interesting and unforgettable memories too. When I first arrived in Japan all those years ago I was always keen to visit such quirky places but the novelty wore off a bit as the years progressed.

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However, every now and again I am happy to visit such places and this was one such occasion. After our rabbit cafe experience back in November we popped a few doors along to the huge Sunshine City shopping complex in east Ikebukuro as I wanted to go to Namja Town which is a bit of a Continue reading →

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Tokyo Museum Grutto Pass

Posted on January 6, 2017 by tokyofox

You’d think having a special pass that entitles you to free (or discounted) entry to nearly 80 museums in Tokyo would be a fantastic privilege. Indeed it is. However, with this booklet of coupons comes two high-pressure months of trying to use every spare moment to visit places you’re maybe not even interested in! On the other side of the coin, some of these museums you didn’t realise would interest you, do spring a surprise or two!

Grutto Pass

One of my students told me about the pass last Summer and it sounded a wonderful idea. Two months where you can visit 79 museums (as well as zoo’s) in Tokyo for Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: Driving Across The Nullabor In Australia (2002)

Posted on January 3, 2017 by tokyofox

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One of the most common questions I get asked by students is why I came to Japan. I’ve talked on here countless times about World Cup 2002 being an influence but the main reason for my interest in this country is to do with my time in Australia, particularly Perth. Whilst spending ten weeks in Western Australia I met many Japanese Continue reading →

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TF Top 20……Tokyo Fox Hits Of 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by tokyofox

So 2017 has only just begun and already Tokyo Fox is looking back!! For about seven years now there have been exactly ten new posts on here each and every month and these are the twenty from 2016 which got the most hits. I have excluded all TF Top 10…….list entries from this feature so the TF Top 10……Tokyo Fox Posts Of All Time marking a decade of this website does not feature. Of course those entries from earlier in the year had more time to accumulate hits which may explain why so much of the top 20 is from the first half of 2016 as Leicester City were on the verge of achieving a miraculous Premier League title win. That may explain the inclusion of many foxes-related posts in this list. A couple of posts from the latter half have sneaked in though…

1. On The Trail Of John Rain (雨) Part X – Paris – With the help of the author himself these posts often do well in the wake of him tweeting the link to his thousands and thousands of followers on that particular social media platform. More details here

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2. Leicester City Supporters Night In Tokyo Bar – What a time to have our first Continue reading →

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TF Top 10……Filming Location Trips For 2016

Posted on December 30, 2016 by tokyofox

Last year was a feast of filming locations and it was always going to be difficult to better that but that’s not to say that Tokyo Fox hasn’t brought you anything in the way of location blog posts this year too.

This 8th proper full year of filming locations may be a little 007-centric at times and certainly includes topping up pre-existing entries but there are some completely all-new Japanese locations as well as a Thailand one.

Here then, in no particular order, is the TF Top 10……filming location trips for 2016…

1. Babel, 2006 (Click here)

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2. Kamichu!, 2005 (Click here) Continue reading →

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Countdown to Christmas 2016 in Tokyo

Posted on December 26, 2016 by tokyofox

For the second year running I was in Tokyo for Christmas but it was a little different this time as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day both fell on the weekend with the 23rd a national holiday too. That meant my wife was not at work and around to spend it all with me! Hmmm, I’m still wondering if that was good or not! Ha!

It seems to have been picked up by the UK media quite a bit in recent years and indeed it is true that eating fried chicken, particularly that of Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a big thing at Christmas in Japan. I first blogged about it back in December 2007 in a post about Japanese festive traditions.

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Turkey is very scarce in Japan so back in the 1970’s KFC promoted itself as Continue reading →

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