It is estimated that Japan once had 5000 castles but these days there are only about 200 of them with a good proportion of that number just partially remaining. I’ve said before that I am always interested to see castles when I discover that a city has one although I don’t really know why as I do think Continue reading
Even when I was a season ticket holder at Leicester City in the early-mid 1990s I doubt I went to as many football matches as I did in 2024. All league matches plus a few cup ties and the occasional away day would still not have resulted in over 30 matches back then but this year I managed to pass that number. I visited a total of 21 grounds/stadiums to watch football matches in a wide variety of different leagues and cups in both the mens and womens game.
The ever changing poses of Tokyo Fox!!
There were 11 places where I watched football for the first time which is just crying out for a rankings compilation post! This is just about the venue only without (too much!) influence from the location, occasion, atmosphere, journey, weather, on-the-field action or anything else that makes up the match day experience. It is of course Continue reading
The more casual tennis fan may not realise what a long and gruelling season it is for all those involved with tournaments running continuously from very early in January till December.
Prior to this year, I was someone who only really took note of the four Grand Slams and a few other tournaments but when the Australian Open began in Melbourne I Continue reading
The number of times I’ve now visited Hiroshima is something I’ve long lost count of but I do know that this was actually our first trip in the summer time for seven years! With my wife working that day in mid-August, it was my job to take our dog on the Shinkansen (bullet train) in the daytime (my wife would arrive at night) which wasn’t actually too bad as he seems to Continue reading
Star Wars was never really part of the Christmas season but that changed nine years ago when ‘The Force Awakens‘ (2015) was released mid-December. ‘Rogue One‘ (2016) and the other two sequel movies followed suit over the next few years, and with all the marketing and promotion that came with those films, there really was a big crossover between the festive season and Star Wars. However, without any theatrical release since then (as well as the global pandemic) the sci-fi saga has had less impact on the holiday season but that has changed this year with a themed celebration in Japan’s Continue reading
Hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022 put the little-but-loaded Gulf state of Qatar on the map for many people, and a decade ago I had the chance to see the capital city Doha for a short time on a layover on the way back to see my family at Christmas. Travelling to Qatar took me out of my way a fair bit and only saved a tiny amount of cash compared to a direct flight but I was keen to return to that part of the world whilst I had the chance. I had 12 hours in Doha to see and do as much as I could but was it enough time and was it all worth it?
Having arrived at Doha International Airport at 4:30 am, I paid QAR100 Continue reading
The recent announcement of Oasis reforming for a world tour has got many old and new fans of the Manchester band very excited. News in August of the Gallagher brothers reforming the band for a UK tour was followed by further dates in Ireland, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Australia, South Korea and Japan albeit not in that order.
By pure chance, the announcement of the two Japan concerts at Tokyo Dome on the weekend of October 25-26th next year, as well as the ticket lottery application commencing (22nd November), was the same day that a friend and I went to see the Oasis Live Forever exhibition on the penultumate day of its existence in Tokyo.
Aptly dressed in my Liam Gallagher-style green parka!
For some reason, news of this exhibition at Roppongi Museum (November 1st-23rd) had completely Continue reading
There’s something about nostalgia that many people have a great love and affection for, and there are of course lots of museums dedicated to preserving such important periods in a country’s history. This place certainly seems like a relic of the past but it is still open for business nearly 50 years after it first opened.
This old-fashioned game centre and sweet shop wasn’t somewhere I just found by accident as I saw an article about it in a Japanese magazine from last year which talked about the place exuding a mysterious aura whilst being popular with both young and old people.
Getting there involved a tram ride on the Continue reading
It’s been an incredible rise in fortunes for the Japanese men’s national rugby team over the last decade or so with the pinnacle being at the World Cup they hosted five years ago. However, the last few years have seen the Brave Blossoms struggle to progress or even maintain those spectacular heights of 2019. Given their recent form they could do with some extra help, and this shrine may offer the answer!
Shrines dedicated to sport are nothing too new in Japan as a baseball one can be found in Saitama, a generic sport one lies in Koto-ku (Tokyo) and there is also a rugby one in Continue reading
The closest mainland American city to Tokyo is Los Angeles at just under 9000 kilometres away but USA is actually much closer to Tokyo than you may think! In fact it is ten times closer to the Japanese capital city than L.A. but how is that so?
Japan’s most southern main island of Kyushu lies around 950 kilometres south-west of Tokyo with the closest prefecture being Oita in the north-east. It possesses a town with the most American of names. This is no American-style themed park though and neither is it anything like Johnson Town in Saitama!
Ever since hearing about Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 