7 Nights In Izu: Is The Picture Postcard Cinder-Cone Mountain Becoming Too Touristy? Plus Japan’s Best Zoo & Over-Eating!

Posted on March 6, 2025 by tokyofox

Whilst some people love the variety of a different place and activities for their holiday each year, there are also many others who are more than content to just the do the same every time. I’ve long been of the attitude that change is best. I still am but situation and circumstances change and so that is why the the first few days of this latest trip to our holiday home pretty much mirrored exactly what we had done 12 months earlier.

Not too much of note happened on the first couple of days but the first morning of 2025  began (as it did last year!) with a short bus ride to Continue reading →

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#WeStopAtNothing! Visiting All The Platform Zero Stations In Fukuoka

Posted on March 2, 2025 by tokyofox

There’s something slightly mystical and Harry Potter-like about these platforms and one has to wonder why some stations have them whether it be because it’s been added on that particular side of platform 1 or just because they began their numbering from zero! I’m not sure if I’ll ever visit all of them but certainly hope to tick a few more off as the years go by! The challenge continues with a visit to all the platform 0 stations in Fukuoka!

1. Haruda Continue reading →

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Inside The Castle Grounds Which Featured In Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

Posted on February 27, 2025 by tokyofox

When it comes to movie history, Himeji-jo in Hyogo Prefecture is probably the most famous castle in Japan as it featured in the James Bond film ‘You Only Live Twice‘ (1967) as well as two Japanese movies by legendary director Akira Kurosawa; ‘Kagemusha‘ (1980) and ‘Ran’ (1985). A few years ago I blew the trumpet for Hikone-jo in Shiga Prefecture which was used for two lesser movies by way of ‘3 Ninjas Kick Back‘ (1994 and ‘The Hunted‘ (1995) and now it is time to rave about another hidden gem.

Admittedly, I had never heard of this castle until I watched ‘Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins‘ (2021) in the year of its release. I was most surprised to discover that Continue reading →

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My 1st Time At The Golf Driving Range Went By With A Swing!

Posted on February 23, 2025 by tokyofox

Over the last few years I’ve been to watch about 25 different sports but the one major omission is probably golf. I don’t really have anything against it but it’s just not something I’ve ever really got into or watched for more than a few minutes here and there. Also, I’ve never conducted any business meetings on golf courses which, if I’m to believe TV and film, seems to be quite common.

When I was a kid, I would often do some putting in our back garden or play the likes of mini-golf and crazy golf at various parks from time to time. That was a long time ago, and having never Continue reading →

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Modern Architecture Outside of Tokyo #8 – Kyoto

Posted on February 19, 2025 by tokyofox

 

For over a decade Tokyo Fox has focused on the modern architecture of Tokyo with a long-running ten part series featuring over 100 interesting-looking buildings. During that time I have also taken photos of some unique structures outside of the capital city but had no place to showcase them until now. This is Volume 8 which includes some weird and wonderful buildings in the Kyoto region.

5. Kyoto Continue reading →

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What The Remains of The Only National Coal Mine In Japan Look Like Nowadays

Posted on February 16, 2025 by tokyofox

My time in Fukuoka may have been very limited but I still decided to spend a major chunk of it going in search of a large, strangely-shaped sci-fi-like concrete tower that appears to look like it’s still in the process of being built.

This uniquely-shaped structure suddenly appears in the middle of a local town which I visited back in Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: Bourne & 007 Trails Plus The Majestic Blue City In Morocco (2010)

Posted on February 12, 2025 by tokyofox

Having been in northern Africa four months earlier I guess I wasn’t expecting to return there so soon after especially when based in Japan! However, just a few months after my once-in-a-lifetime trip to Tunisia I was planning a short trip to Seville in Spain, and the possibility of taking a little side quest to Morocco was too good an opportunity to turn down.

I had been on my way to Algeciras in Southern Spain before I met an Australian couple who said that I could Continue reading →

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We Had A Zoo-perb Day Out Getting Up Close With Many Cute Animals At This Place!

Posted on February 8, 2025 by tokyofox

The subject of zoos is one that can be extremely divisive at times. Many are critical of them for turning animals into a sideshow rather than being free to live their lives naturally in the wild. Putting animals in cages takes away the dignity according to some but there is of course a reason zoos exist. That is because they are popular and do give people the chance to see and learn about the animals. I can see it from both points of view and very much sit on the fence when it comes to deciding which camp I’m in!

Many Japanese zoos are managed by their local governments which means they are very affordable if not just down right cheap! However, the one which we went to at the start of the year cost 4-5 times more than that. It was somewhere I’d been aware of for a long time but was always Continue reading →

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TF Top 12……Football Match Day Experiences In 2024 (Part 3)

Posted on February 4, 2025 by tokyofox

The ever changing poses of Tokyo Fox!!

This third and final compilation of the year is a bumper edition featuring 12 matches (rather than the usual 10!) at a total of 10 different grounds in four prefectures including a few I’d never watched football at before.

A couple of these have had their own blog posts but the majority of them weren’t really considered to be worthy of a solitary post so I have collated them into this rankings list. As ever, it’s certainly not one to be taken too seriously as it’s based on a mixture of Continue reading →

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20 Hours In Oita: A Samurai District, An Iconic Tower, Modern Architecture, A Taste of America & A Few Quirky Sights!

Posted on February 1, 2025 by tokyofox

Of the 47 prefectures in Japan I have now been to 41 of them with the most recent new addition being Oita in the north-eastern part of Kyushu; Japan’s most southerly main island. I’m sure I’ll vist them all eventually but Oita was the one remaining prefecture I had something of a desire to visit and that was finally realised last year when I took a one-way flight there.

A flight being just 20 minutes late is not usually a problem but on this occasion it meant that I Continue reading →

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