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: Octopus Park
Location: Tako Continue reading
Regular readers of Tokyo Fox will be aware that I love football, Star Wars, and unique toilets and restaurants so imagine how excited I was when I discovered a place catering for all of those things. Not only that but it was located right under my nose!
Despite countless trips to go and watch Kashiwa Reysol over the years I have never been to this restaurant located within a stones throw of the stadium. To be fair, it is a very Continue reading
After our short but eventful time in Myanmar we moved on to Bangkok in Thailand where things couldn’t have got off to a more un-cultured start! We met up with my friend Mostyn mid-afternoon and, after a spot of late-lunch, the plan was for Mostyn and I to go and see a famous tourist attraction but in the end we plumped for the Continue reading
There’s been a lot of hype in Japan recently about the 2023 film release which has been nominated for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards which take place on March 10th in Hollywood.
Starring Koji Yakusho and directed by Wim Wenders, the film is called ‘Perfect Days‘ and is admittedly one that I had never heard of until it was reviewed on the ‘Kermode & Mayo’s Take‘ podcast last week. I immediately looked up where I could watch it and was surprised to discover that it was already at my disposal so my wife and I Continue reading
The New Year was just around the corner by the time we finally went to Izu for our winter holiday. That was due to having a number of guests in Tokyo over the Christmas holiday as well as work, sickness and the need for some rest on my wife’s part. The trip didn’t get off to the best start though as when we arrived the electric wasn’t working at all. Luckily, a few calls later and the use of some candles helped us through those first few hours. In this day and age of modern technology everywhere it was a gentle reminder of Continue reading
Having only watched a single game in 2020 and 2021 respectively I really was not expecting to do too many more matches in 2022, especially with the strict Covid_19 measures still in place for much of the season. However, I ended up going to 12 live games at 11 different stadiums and so wanted to equal or better that in 2023.
Things went much better than planned and by the start of July I had already been to Continue reading
The chances are that if you come to Tokyo and your itinerary is in the hands of a Japanese person then this interactive art exhibition will not feature at all. There is, for better or worse, often something of a discrepancy between places that are really popular with tourists but are pretty much unknown by the locals. The Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku is one such example and teamLab Planets in Toyosu is another where the vast majority of visitors are from overseas.
For many years now I’ve seen articles and posts on social media about this place but I had never taken too much note of them or really had any interest in visiting it. However, that changed when my Continue reading
Watching the evening or morning weather forecast is such an important part of daily life for Japanese people (as indeed it is for many other nationalities around the world) who subsequently plan their day accordingly. It’s something of an obsession. Personally, I don’t always look so closely at the forecast details as I don’t want it to dictate my life or influence my mood. However, I did see it last Monday morning (February 5th) when heavy snow was forecast for later in the day. I feel it’s often wrong or exaggerated, and as it was dry and cloudy that morning I totally dismissed it and stubbornly cycled the 15 kilometres to work as usual. I don’t mind a challenge for going home but didn’t quite expect what was to come!
The moment I got off my bike around lunchtime it started to snow very, very lightly. As the hours passed whilst I slaved away I could see the snow Continue reading
The third and final season of this dating challenge wrapped late last year in December after about 12 months of working our way through the alphabet. This series is one that probably looks quite fun and exciting from the outside but behind the scenes it can be quite stressful as my wife still has no idea about any of this, and gently suggesting certain places or activities can often be met with fairly instant rejections! Plus, after three seasons it really is quite difficult Continue reading
Late last Summer I received an e-mail from a reader of this site who had seen a lot of my posts about sights in the Izu area of Shizuoka Prefecture. He wanted information on a very interesting heritage museum I’d never heard of, and one that the tourist information centre in Atami claims doesn’t exist.
The pagoda, which originally opened in 1970 and sits atop a mountain, supposedly features all sorts of military stuff with a basement containing some exhibits relating to history’s most controversial figures like Continue reading
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