Filming for this epic took place in eight different countries; the USA, England, France, Spain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Japan. Whilst multiple locations is fairly common place these days, it wasn’t at all back in the mid-1950s so it really is quite incredible that so many exterior locations and sets were used including a couple in Japan.
It really is a long wait for some Japanese scenery though. Mount Fuji is finally seen on Continue reading
The vast majority of the hundreds of shrines in Tokyo’s 23 wards are well-maintained and looking as good as is possible. However, there are some lacking in love and care where the weather has taken its toll on the torii gates or they have just been left unattended for a long time and have subsequently been Continue reading
Enter any one of the thousands and thousands of temples and shrines in Japan and it is likely that you’ll see at least one or two stone statues of animals in front of it. Lions, foxes and lion-dogs are the more traditional statues, and there are also ones with the likes of cats, frogs, horses, monkeys, elephants, tigers, rabbits and wolves on show but this one in eastern Tokyo has a guardian which has been extinct for millions of years!
This fairly nondescript wooden Buddhist temple is located on a quiet backstreet of Katsushika ward and was something I came across recently whilst on the trail of bronze Captain Tsubasa footballer statues. Maybe I shoud have sensed the presence of such a prehistoric creature after seeing Continue reading
Season one of this dating challenge wrapped earlier this year in March after about 13 months of working my way through the alphabet. It was mostly fun and hopefully resulted in me being a better husband by suggesting we go to some places that I’d never usually want to go to.
It would probably have been more enjoyable if my wife wasn’t in the dark as it’d have been good fun to discuss possibilities for each letter. I did think of suggesting it to her and then taking it in turns to come up with things to do for each letter but Continue reading
Think of Japanese footballers that have had an impact overseas and the likes of Hidetoshi Nakata, Junichi Inamoto, Shunsuke Nakamura, Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa or Leicester legend Shinji Okazaki might come to mind. However, it is arguably an animated character who has been a bigger influence with a cumulative worldwide circulation of 80 million manga. The manga series has inspired some very prominent footballers to play football and choose it as a career.
The character in question is the iconic Captain Tsubasa who has appeared in various comic book magazines, cartoons and video games since its creation in 1981. It became one of the most memorable manga and anime worldwide, and really helped Continue reading
Just scrolling through Google Maps and clicking on the sight icons is a slow but painful way of looking for interesting places to visit. That is exactly how I found out about this park though, and seeing that it was just 14 kilometres away from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi meant that it was ideal for a bike ride.
Back in April I took the 60 minute cycle ride up into Saitama Prefecture one warm Spring morning. The park is located between Continue reading
Japan is home to quite a few mythical folkloric creatures with one of the most famous ones being the bipedal, turtle-like aquatic goblins known as Kappa. If you’ve ever been to Kappa Zushi you may have noticed the creature on their logo and signage. Also, one of the most popular sushi rolls is kappamaki; a cucumber sushi roll which is available in all sushi places, and not just the aforementioned conveyor-belt sushi chain.
A decade ago I visited the small Kappa-dera Temple in Tokyo (details at the foot of this post) as part of my cycling Tokyo’s most haunted sights…in one day challenge, and when I saw that there was another Kappa Temple of sorts in Continue reading
Despite having travelled to a fair few countries before this trip, I was a little apprehensive about what lay ahead for India. I’d heard many horror stories beforehand but despite a 90 minute delay at Narita Airport, I arrived at my New Delhi hotel in the backpacker area of Paharganj relatively easily. That is apart from the pre-paid taxi getting a puncture on the way!!
My first full day began with a pre-paid rickshaw to Humayun’s Tomb (below) which was pretty interesting and after that was my first experience of being forced by the driver to visit a few shops. I wouldn’t actually have minded looking at a few things but it’s not so comfortable when the owners are following you throughout and giving the hard sell.
The driver eventually took me to Jama Masjid at a cheap price as he got paid for each customer he took to the shops. However I wasn’t Continue reading
The iconic Mount Fuji in all its snow-peaked glory is a sight to behold and one that never gets tiring. Seeing the 3,776 metre tall mountain wasn’t something I really expected to see whilst in Numazu for the day but it was a lovely bonus.
The best views of it came from Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 