What Better Way To Spend Christmas Day Than Going To See A Football Match!

Posted on January 5, 2023 by tokyofox

Think of Christmas Day and the likes of roast turkey, crackers, mince pies, presents and family time may come to mind. Of course it all depends on where you’re from and what religion you are but for the first 24 years of my life growing up in the UK that was pretty much it for me.

Festive football meant a few presents relating to the sport (shirts, scarves, annuals, chocolate footballs etc) and going to a game on Boxing Day (December 26th). Up until 1965 football in England was actually played on the 25th but as that was way before my time I have never experienced watching a live game.

2022 was the first opportunity I can ever remember having to see a live match as December 25th in Japan really is just a normal day. Sure, there is all the build up (songs, decorations etc) but Continue reading →

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Celebrate The Year Of The Rabbit By Visiting This Shrine Just North of Tokyo Which Is Devoted To Those Fluffy Bunnies

Posted on January 3, 2023 by tokyofox

2023 is the year of the rabbit according to the Chinese Zodiac. This is something that pretty much every Japanese person will already be aware of after the Hatsumode (first visit to a shrine or temple at the start of the year) and New Years greeting card (nengajo) customs where the Twelve Animal Signs of the Chinese Zodiac are usually incorporated into the designs as well as the stamps.

The thousands and thousands of shrines in Japan often have the likes of Continue reading →

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TF Top 20……Tokyo Fox Hits Of 2022

Posted on January 1, 2023 by tokyofox

 

So 2023 has only just begun and already Tokyo Fox is looking back!! For just over a decade now there have been exactly ten new posts on here each and every month and these are the twenty from 2022 which got the most hits…excluding sponsored or TF Top 10 list posts! Of course those entries from earlier in the year had more time to accumulate hits so don’t Continue reading →

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TF Top 10…….Filming Location Trips For 2021 & 2022

Posted on December 29, 2022 by tokyofox

There was always the plan to have ten filming locations posts on Tokyo Fox this year but I ended up falling just short. As I was considering the idea of discarding this traditional end-of-year closing post, I then had the brainwave of including the two from 2021 to ensure a full top ten list.

1. Fast & Furious 6, 2013 (Click here)

 

2. The Continue reading →

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Countdown to Christmas 2022 in Tokyo

Posted on December 26, 2022 by tokyofox

 

The build-up to Christmas this year was fairly unique as the FIFA World Cup was right in the midst of it, and so that certainly interfered with festive activities, particularly the new Christmas movies (mostly from Hallmark) which I like to watch each year. Last year I watched a whopping 69 festive films during the countdown to Christmas season but this year was a far more modest number. The full list (*) is at the foot of this post for those who are interested! Why wouldn’t you be?!!

One of the symbols of Christmas is of course the tree and there are many elaborately decorated ones in and around Tokyo. Last year we went to see some Harry Potter-related trees in Marunouchi, and this time we saw a Continue reading →

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TF Top 22……Photos For 2022 (End Of Year Filler Post!)

Posted on December 22, 2022 by tokyofox

This lame and lazy half-assed compilation post idea was ushered in at the end of 2018 with an eye on permanently replacing the ‘TF Top 10……Filming Location Trips For (year)’ series which has been running out of steam over the last few years yet is incredibly back this year after a break 12 months ago.

Just to be clear, some of these pictures were indeed taken in 2021 but did not appear on the Tokyo Fox site until this year. They say a picture paints a thousand words so rather than write a load of words about these photos, I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

1. A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Prefecture. More details here

2. Devil Head Slide, Continue reading →

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Tokyo Fox’s World Cup 2022 Overview

Posted on December 19, 2022 by tokyofox

 

When the FIFA World Cup comes round every four years it always takes me back to when I was a child experiencing my first two tournaments in Mexico ’86 and Italia ’90 respectively. They were such different times when very few live games were shown on TV and the foreign teams and players were something of an unknown quantity.

Football, and indeed football on TV, has changed a lot over that time. Doing things like filling in a wall chart or collecting stickers cans help relive childhood memories but it’s Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: Waterfalls, Churches, Geysers, Geezers, High Costs, Blue Lagoon & A Memorable New Years Eve In Iceland (2007-2008)

Posted on December 16, 2022 by tokyofox

The idea of travelling to Iceland was never really on my radar but when a friend said he was going there with a mate for the New Year holiday and that I could join them, I didn’t hesitate in saying yes as such opportunities don’t present themselves too often.

Heavy rain in Reykjavik meant the plane was Continue reading →

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Cycling To All Inari Shrines In Tokyo’s 23 Wards – The Stats

Posted on December 13, 2022 by tokyofox

23 individual posts for each ward plus seven compilations (including this one) is one of the least interesting statistics for this overly-long series which has been limping on to this conclusion. This will indeed be the final post about this challenge as it is time to move on but lets bow out with some statistics from that time in the saddle… Continue reading →

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Coastal Adventures In Izu: Seaside Parks, Footbaths, Marine Towns, Lakes, Mountains & Big Ramen!

Posted on December 10, 2022 by tokyofox

Given the number of visits we make to to Izu each and every year, there will surely be a time when there is nothing blog-worthy to report. Unbelievably, that time is not now though! As soon as we got the dog’s travel bag out of the cupboard, he was excitedly wagging his tail and couldn’t wait to get inside and get on the road.

We disembarked at Atami station as my father-in-law said he’d pick us up from there but before his arrival we had a quick walk around the area in front of the station which is a Continue reading →

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