Dark Tourist (Japan Special) Vol. 06

Posted on April 27, 2022 by tokyofox

The 2018 Netflix series ‘Dark Tourist‘ featured New Zealand journalist David Farrier visiting eight different countries (including Japan) on a mission to visit all manner of places relating to humans suffering in some sort of way whether it be victims of crime, tragic events or natural disasters. Of course, this kind of morbid traversing is nothing new, and people have been visiting these places for many decades but this TV show did help promote the idea of such tourism.

Having visited some famous dark historical sights in the likes of Poland, Germany, Australia, England and Cambodia (to name a few), I have to admit that I am slightly fascinated by such tourism. Japan has a fair number of places historically associated with death and tragedy, and Tokyo Fox has collated them into a series. Each volume will show a mix of relatively unknown places alongside the far more famous (or infamous in some cases!) ones.

1. The grave that just can’t be moved without Continue reading →

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Unstaffed Stations of Japan #8 – Higashi-Abiko

Posted on April 24, 2022 by tokyofox

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: Higashi-Abiko

Prefecture: Continue reading →

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Tokyo’s One & Only Windmill (+ Botanical Gardens, Lakes, Towers, A Gas Station, A Zoo & A Big Buddha Statue)

Posted on April 21, 2022 by tokyofox

It’s amazing what you can find by just scrolling through Google Maps in the search of something interesting. It’s a great way of discovering the likes of temples, parks or restaurants in local areas but I really did not expect to find a windmill in the capital city, let alone in Northern Tokyo relatively close to our home.

My wife and I headed about seven kilometres north of the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi-ku back in February. It was a fairly cloudy day then so I thought I’d return at the end of March by myself to try and Continue reading →

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Foxed In The Head: Cycling To All Inari Shrines In Tokyo’s 23 Wards – #22 Adachi

Posted on April 18, 2022 by tokyofox

#22. Adachi 

Cycling may be something that I love to do but I’m not really one who goes for a ride without some kind of aim whether it be to a restaurant, a sight or just my workplace. With that in mind, and desperate to get out on my new bike, I decided to cycle round ALL the Inari Shrines in Tokyo taking each of the 23 wards one at a time.

Inspired by recent interest in tiny shrines, this idea seemed like a good way of Continue reading →

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Tokyo Filming Locations #21 – Around The World In 80 Days (1956)

Posted on April 15, 2022 by tokyofox

It doesn’t take so long to circumnavigate the world these days, and young people seeing the title of this film may not think this is any kind of challenge. Even when the film was made in 1956, one could do it in a little less than two days but when Jules Verne wrote the story in the 19th century it needed a lot more effort. Thanks to new steamships and railways, a Victorian Englishman thought he could do it in 80 days.

There’s been a few incarnations of this classic story but the original one is an epic 167 minute film directed by Michael Anderson. It is set in 1872 where English gentleman Phileas Fogg (David Niven) claims he can travel Continue reading →

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Alphabet Dating In Japan With My Wife Who Was Completely Unaware Of The Task At Hand! (S01E03: K-O)

Posted on April 12, 2022 by tokyofox

 

When I heard this idea on the radio a few years ago I thought it might be something that I could try as a way of motivating myself to go to some places with my wife that I’m usually not too interested in. 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 I thought she would dismiss it as a silly idea straight away so decided to keep it secret.

If you haven’t seen part 2 (F-J) then please click here to read that

The rules are quite simple. Do something for each letter going in alphabetical order. It would be quite easy to do an A-Z of dining out experiences so I decided that should be limited to Continue reading →

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The Quickest Route For Passing Through All Tokyo Subway’s 13 Main Lines

Posted on April 9, 2022 by tokyofox

Changing trains on Tokyo’s Subway system can be a little hectic and stressful at the best of times so imagine what it’d be like to do it multiple times in the name of “fun”! Well as you can imagine that is exactly what I did. There are 13 main Metro and Toei Lines in Tokyo (the pedantic may be outraged that I have Continue reading →

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A Rainy 2-Hour Cycle Ride In The Hope Of Seeing An Appearance From The World’s Oldest Professional Footballer!

Posted on April 6, 2022 by tokyofox

There has been some debate in recent years about whether having a 55 year old playing in the J-League is good publicity for football in Japan or whether it makes people take it less seriously! The question of him playing and perhaps “devaluing the league” has  been a little less in question this season though as Continue reading →

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A Day In Osaka: The Hidden Marine Fortress, The “Other” Castle, Japan’s Cheapest Vending Machine, The Station Platform With A Giant Tree In It & Boob House!

Posted on April 3, 2022 by tokyofox

 

My visits to Osaka seem to be getting shorter and shorter each time I venture into Japan’s third biggest city. This time I didn’t even spend the night there and was in the area for only seven hours or so. It proved to be a fairly meticulously planned schedule as I ticked off about half a dozen things that I wanted to do.

The morning had began very early down in Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #38 – Snail Slide

Posted on March 31, 2022 by tokyofox

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: Snail Slide

Location: Continue reading →

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