Tokyo Fox On BBC Radio Leicester Boot Room Special

Posted on February 23, 2016 by tokyofox

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In many ways February 6th really was a landmark day in the history of Leicester City Football Club as, following their crushing victory away at Manchester City, the world sat up and took notice of what has been happening to a club that 12 months ago were pretty much dead and buried at the foot of the Premier League.

It really has been a miraculous turnaround in fortunes and the aforementioned game just happened to coincide with the inaugural LCFC Japan supporters club meet-up. Ever since then the media have been lapping up just about everything concerned with the club. No stone has been left unturned and even a certain Tokyo Fox has been in demand. In the fortnight following that game (including the heartbreaking injury time defeat to Arsenal) I have done two radio interviews as well as Continue reading →

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10 Years Of Tokyo Fox

Posted on February 20, 2016 by tokyofox

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It’s hard to believe that the Tokyo Fox blog has been up and running for a decade now. 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.

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Forgive the pretentiousness of this post but to have kept this site going for a decade is no mean feat given that so many others have come and gone in that time. Furthermore, this blogging business all started in an era before social media had become the beast that it is today. Though it moved away from your typical online diary the person that it’s most aimed at is actually myself and if anyone else cares to read it then that’s just a bonus. Continue reading →

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TF Top 10……Tokyo Fox Posts Of All Time!

Posted on February 17, 2016 by tokyofox

Tokyo Fox is ten years old this month and here are the posts which have had the most number of hits during the last decade.

1. Tokyo Filming Locations #2 – Lost In Translation (2003): 29 November 2011

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This one just goes from strength to strength and is undoubtedly the most famous movie to have been made in Japan with some pretty famous filming locations in Shinjuku-ku and Shibuya-ku. More details here

2. TF Top 10……Music Videos Filmed In Japan: 10 June 2014

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Tokyo Daytripper: Mount Mitake

Posted on February 14, 2016 by tokyofox

Tokyo may seem like it’s a huge metropolis of never-ending concrete stretching as far as the eye can see but if you go far enough west then there are actually some mountains. Mount Takao (599m) is the most famous and just over 30km north of there is Mount Mitake (929m) which is similar in that it can be ascended via cable car thereby making it a good day-trip alternative to the world’s busiest mountain.

At the summit is a Shinto Shrine and there are many hiking courses stretching to the other mountains (Mt. Otake, Mt. Nabewari, Mt. Ohtsuka, Mt. Takamizu, Mt. Sougaku etc)  in the area and beyond. I have been meaning to go to Mount Mitake for quite some time but it is actually a place that I have visited before. That was back in 2005 and I probably would’ve included it in the TF Flashback series on Tokyo Fox except for the fact that I could hardly remember anything useful about that trip, and also I have no idea where the photos are! On that occasion I stubbornly refused to take the cable car and walked up the mountain but as it’s just a winding concrete road and not a hiking trail I decided to take the easy way up this time.

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A Fox Down Under – My 2001-02 Journal Is Now Online!

Posted on February 11, 2016 by tokyofox

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It was 15 years ago that I set off alone on a journey to a huge island country on the other side of the world with just a backpack to my name. Other than the Australian soaps, ‘Crocodile Dundee‘ and typical TV footage of Sydney Harbour I really didn’t know too much about the place and I certainly had no idea about backpacking!

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Leicester City Supporters Night In Tokyo Bar

Posted on February 7, 2016 by tokyofox

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After all these years in Tokyo I pretty much assumed I was the only Foxes fan around here and it was hard enough just trying to find a Japanese person who had even heard of the city of Leicester or Resuta (レスター) as they call it. Back in 2010, I thought the signing of Yuki Abe would make my home city known here but it never quite materialised. However, a few things in the recent years have helped to raise awareness of the place. First, there was the story of Richard III (King of England between 1483 and 1485), then Princess Mako (a member of the Japanese Imperial family) went to the University of Leicester to study museology and finally last June the Japanese international striker Shinji Okazaki signed for Leicester City in a £7m switch from Mainz in the Bundasliga. Continue reading →

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Snowboarding Trip To Hokkaido

Posted on February 4, 2016 by tokyofox

When it comes to snowboarding in Japan there are many good places but it is Hokkaido which is the place held in highest esteem by those in the know. As much as I enjoyed all my previous snowboarding trips to Nagano-ken there has always been that desire to partake in some action on the mountains in Niseko where the all-too-common icy slopes (in my experience!) give way to some fantastic snow in one of the worlds best ski resorts.

Last weekend I was back on Japan’s most northerly main island just over half a year since I last visited and yet again I was joined by my regular partner-in-crime Ethan……but we  only just made it though! On the Friday we travelled I was heavily delayed on the train and only just managed to check-in in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Ethan’s flight was delayed too and at the airport I had already told the bus company we’d take the next one an hour later……when suddenly Ethan and a bus staff member came sprinting through the terminal with just a couple of minutes to spare. Continue reading →

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Review: Films Inspired By Japan – American Yakuza (1993)

Posted on February 1, 2016 by tokyofox

On the back of re-watching and reviewing ‘The Yakuza‘ (1974) towards the end of last year, this was the obvious film to follow that up. Unlike that one though, this gets straight into the action from the offset as Viggo Mortensen, who later went on to play Aragorn in the ‘Lord Of The Rings‘ trilogy, goes about his business as a forklift driver in a factory warehouse owned by Yakuza.

Warning: Contains spoilers!

However, when the place comes under siege, Mortensen’s “Nick Davis” helps protect the workplace and saves the representative of Yakuza interests in America, Shuji Sawamoto (Ryo Ishibashi) who he helps rehabilitate. Some time later, Shuji thanks Nick and impressed by what he witnessed, offers him the chance to work for them. This part does seemingly all happen a bit too easily with very few questions asked by either party! In the wake of the attack on the Yakuza, a war develops between the two gangs with the FBI trying to keep them both at arms length. Continue reading →

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London Filming Locations: Quantum Of Solace (2008)

Posted on January 29, 2016 by tokyofox

It was always going to be a tough job following up ‘Casino Royale‘ (2006); the hugely successful reboot of the 007 franchise, but personally I don’t think ‘Quantum Of Solace‘ is as bad as many critics say. Sure, it’s not without flaws and really wasn’t helped by the writers’ strike that sent it into production with an unfinished script. Furthermore, they tried to copy some traits of the successful Jason Bourne films a bit too much and overall it undoubtedly ranks as everyone’s fourth favourite James Bond movie from the Daniel Craig era.

Following the opening scenes in Italy, London makes a brief appearance after 14 minutes with the rain lashing down as James Bond is driven into the entrance of a high rise apartment (below) belonging to a deceased double agent where he and M realise the extent of the mysterious organisation.

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Hiroshima-ken 2015/16 Pt V: A Day In Kure City

Posted on January 26, 2016 by tokyofox

The good thing about spending so long in Hiroshima on our latest visit was that there was plenty of time to do things at a leisurely pace whilst fitting them in with the more traditional New Years customs. We had intended to go to the naval port city of Kure after visiting Gensoboji temple on our third day in Hiroshima but as it took much longer than expected to locate that place we decided to postpone it till a later date. That happened to be our last full day and so we made an early start taking the train south from Hiroshima station.

Beforehand I actually had no idea what the Yamato Museum (below) was about but it was soon obvious on entering the place (500 yen) that it was a maritime museum.

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