There’s something alluring and slightly fairytale-like about a train travelling along a coastline next to the ocean and, as an island country, Japan has a fair few stations which are located beside the seaside. Many years ago I read an article about stations with sea-views in Japan and I remember Continue reading
#20. Minato
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
If it hadn’t been for the latest G.I. Joe film being set in Japan, it’s fair to say that I probably wouldn’t have ever seen it. As it was, I ended up quite enjoying it as I went into the film without any preconceptions due to my non-existent knowledge of the character, his history and his background.
Anyone who read my ‘4 Castles in 4 Different Prefectures in 24 hours‘ post will be aware that I messed up as the day I went to Kishiwada Castle was a Monday, and in Japan this is the most common day for public places in the service industry to be closed. As the closest station was soon approaching when I discovered this, I had a quick decision to make so decided to Continue reading
Many people are no doubt surprised that I make a fair bit of effort to visit private parts places in an era where one can see so much naked imagery so freely online but it’s not quite the same is it! These are unique sights which I can’t imagine too many other countries having in such plentiful supply.
Of course the majority of them are Continue reading
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.
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
Within a year or two of completing our initial circuit of the Yamanote Line in 2009, my friend Michael mentioned doing the cycle ride again but in reverse! I immediately dismissed that idea and forgot about it for many, many years but when Takanawa Gateway opened in 2019 to become the 30th station on the line, I began to think about maybe doing it again. That idea was heightened by Continue reading
At the end of my last post on Gunma in October last year I said there were some other places I wanted to see just north of Takasaki. Naturally, they were all b-grade sights and I went to check them out at the start of this year. Continue reading
Japan is famed for it’s many, many vending machines. There are all manner of interesting ones but fact is that the vast majority of them are just drinks machines with prices generally ranging from 80-210 yen depending on which drink you purchase. I always thought the mystery Mr. X machines in Tokyo offered some of the country’s cheapest options but how wrong I was as there are some in another major city which sell them for a mere fraction of that price.
In a very unremarkable warehouse area of Continue reading
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: Demon Head Slide
Location: Continue reading
Whenever I see that a place has a castle I kind of get excited and always make an effort to see it. Why I do this, I really don’t know as I rarely bother going inside them anymore and I have begun to think they’re not all that different from each other.
Back in October last year I went on a very busy solo mini-trip for four days taking in quite a few different prefectures with many of them possessing some castles I’d never seen. First up was Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 