Think of train stations in Japan and the mighty Shinjuku station is sure to come to mind for many people. That is the world’s busiest train station, and Japan monopolises the top 50 list with only five of them not in this country. However, at the other end of the scale are some tiny stations which are usually unstaffed and used by very few commuters.
Station: Kamakurakōkōmae
Prefecture: Continue reading
Of all the British TV series to get the big screen treatment, it was something of a surprise that this niche show was ultimately chosen. Many TV shows have tried and failed to make the leap from the small screen but how did ‘People Just Do Nothing‘ fare?
With absolutely zero knowledge beforehand, I was able to see this 97 minute film shortly after its release back in 2021. I still enjoyed that first viewing, and indeed liked it enough to go back and binge watch all 27 episodes (five series) over a few weeks before re-watching the film with new eyes. All of that happened just over a year ago and much had been forgotten so I had to Continue reading
The arrival of a new ‘Mission: Impossible‘ movie this summer got me thinking of the filming locations I have been to from this franchise. I have tracked down locales from the first six films in the likes of England, Australia, Italy and the Czech Republic but perhaps the most exciting and challenging one for me was the small ancient Chinese town of Xitang which appeared in ‘Mission: Impossible III‘ (2006).
With zero knowledge of where exactly Xitang was or how to get there, it proved to be something of a struggle to reach this scenic town in Jiashan County. We found out we had to go to Continue reading
Last year I posted about riding on the suspended railway in Shonan (Kanagawa Prefecture) believing it to be just one of the world’s seven dangletrains. That story was probably the one that got the most attention on Twitter (yet it never made it into the Top 20 posts for 2022!) and there was one particular comment on social media which really made me sit up and take interest.
It seems that there was an eighth and it also happened to be in Japan. Whilst the two Japanese upside-down trains are both in reasonable close vicinity to Tokyo (in Chiba City and Kanagawa Prefecture respectively), the other is over 650 Continue reading
Season one (as well as the prequel season zero) of alphabet dating certainly pushed the boundaries of what a “date” is, and that continues in season two with some very tenuous examples for each letter of the alphabet. For the record, doing something together (no matter what it is!) counts as a date in this series which is not always about visiting glamorous places and doing exciting things but just getting out there and exploring locations we wouldn’t normally go to. Without further ado lets get season two up and running with what we did for the first set of letters…
A is for Continue reading
The middle day of my three days in Niigata Prefecture was pretty much all railway-related in some way so I needed a bit of respite from that and that place was nearby the station which just happens to be the closest one to the sea in all of Japan.
Just a guy looking out the window in a very natural way!
That was the main reason for stopping off at Omigawa station. The modern-style architectural station building design was another but one can’t Continue reading
Anyone who has ever read any of the Unstaffed Stations posts will know that I love a station that is located next to water, particularly the ocean. There’s something anime-like about such a thing and so when I was in Niigata Prefecture on a short trip in September 2022 I went to check out a couple of these places.
The first of this two-part series focused on Arimagawa station but 42 kilometres east of that is this more modern-looking building. The reason for it being built though only came about due to Continue reading
Think of Miyajima and thoughts immediately turn towards Itsukushima Shrine and it’s bright red torii gate in the sea. The deer roaming the island and oysters may get a mention. The quirky temple on the east of the island is unlikely to be spoken of and one of Japan’s gambling hotspots is also unlikely to come to mind!
I had barely heard of boat race until I went to watch a bit of Keirin cycling in 2019 in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka. That was when I first heard it mentioned as one of three gambling sports in Japan along with Continue reading
Miyoshi in the northern parts of Hiroshima Prefecture came to my attention back in 2020 when I compiled a list of every station in Japan with a platform zero. The only one in Hiroshima was at Miyoshi but when doing some preparation for our New Year trip I discovered that it was sadly no more.
Platform zero was used on the Sankō Line running for 108.1 kilometres between Miyoshi and Gōtsu in Shimane Prefecture. However, when that Continue reading
The main reason many people go to Echigo-Yuzawa in Niigata is because it is an easy Shinkansen (bullet-train) ride from Tokyo for people wanting to go skiing or snowboarding in the surrounding mountains. Outside of the winter season is a different matter though and far less tourists descend on the area. However, in the last few years one particular sight has emerged as a reason for visiting the area in any season.
Once I had consumed a load of sake from the vending machines in Niigata station, I took a bus to Kiyotsu Gorge which was about a 25 minute journey. That wasn’t quite the end of it as there was still the small matter of a Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 