The Shrine With A Sacred Tree Which Is Over 2000 Years Old

Posted on January 10, 2021 by tokyofox

Think of famous trees in Japan and many would probably come up with Jomonsugi on Yakushima island which possesses a giant cedar tree estimated to be 2000 to 7200 years old. That is said to be the oldest tree in Japan but getting to that subtropical island off the southern coast of Kyushu (as well as the 10 hour hiking round trip!) is not exactly easy.

 

A far less difficult option is this taller, thinner one which is just five minutes on foot from Kinomiya Station, one stop south of Continue reading →

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Foxed In The Head: Cycling To All Inari Shrines In Tokyo’s 23 Wards – #8 Nerima

Posted on January 7, 2021 by tokyofox

#8. Nerima

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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Dining Out: The Happy Rainbow Cheese Ramen Which Puts A Smile On Your Face!

Posted on January 4, 2021 by tokyofox

When it comes to ramen, there are many tastes and regional variations whether it be shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), tonkotsu (pork bone broth) in Kyushu or miso ramen  which is served up in Hokkaido. On top of that come the crazy novelty ones which include things like cheese, coffee, ice-cream, tequila, kiwi, ham, pizza, sake, pineapple and so on. The kind of things that the true ramen masters would most definitely turn their nose up at!

A few days after it’s December 8th release I cycled on down to this restaurant in Otemachi but didn’t realise the rainbow ramen was only available Continue reading →

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TF Top 20……Tokyo Fox Hits Of 2020

Posted on January 1, 2021 by tokyofox

 

So 2021 has only just begun and already Tokyo Fox is looking back!! For about a decade now there have been exactly ten new posts on here each and every month and these are the twenty from 2020 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 read too much into it all as it’s basically just another filler post to kick start the new year!

20. What Watching Continue reading →

Posted in Cycling, Japan Travel, London Film Locations, Review: Films Set In Japan, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

TF Top 10……Filming Location Trips For 2020

Posted on December 30, 2020 by tokyofox

For over a decade now Tokyo Fox has brought you a whole host of filming locations but it’s fair to say they have dwindled in recent years. I really did think a couple of years ago that the chances of being able to compile such a list for this traditional curtain closer were very slim. Thanks in large part to my trip back to the UK last Christmas/New Year I have managed it though. Here then, in no particular order, is the TF Top 10……filming location trips for 2020…

1. Hobbs & Shaw, 2019 (Click here)

 

2. Continue reading →

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Countdown to Christmas 2020 in Tokyo

Posted on December 27, 2020 by tokyofox

 

The whole Covid_19 business has meant that I am very grateful that we went back to the UK for the festive season twelve months ago. Admittedly I thought it would be better to go back this December but thankfully my wife persuaded me to go last year instead. Now that was lucky!

Due to the effects of coronavirus this year I, like many other people, were keen to get Christmas underway early this year. Halloween was pretty much cancelled but there were still a few signs of it existing. These days it blends seamlessly into the Christmas season anyway, and nowhere was that more apparent than outside this Continue reading →

Posted in English Teaching, Family, Films, Food & Drink, Japan Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

A 100km Return Bicycle Journey To Haneda Airport To See Tokyo’s Most Elusive Inari Shrine (+ Some Quirky Ota Ward Sights!)

Posted on December 23, 2020 by tokyofox

Earlier this year, when I came up with the ridiculous idea of cycling round every Inari Shrine (on Google Maps!) in all of Tokyo’s 23 wards the one I most dreaded doing was Ota-ku as it’s the furthest south and would be a mammoth task. I was not wrong!

This was going to be a long one so an early start was in order. I left the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre at 7:36 am and the 67 minute ride along Kanana-dori Street (Route 318) to my first shrine was cold, uneventful and fairly dull. This was the same route I took on the way to find the mystery drink dispensing vending machine so I didn’t feel the need to stop by some of the same places I went to on that ride such as the architectural wonder that is the Rissho Kosei-kai Headquarters in Nakano. For the record, the details of that first shrine and all the others won’t appear in a post on this site for at least another 12 months.

What?!! We have to wait a year to see this shrine!!

As I made my way deeper into Ota Ward I passed the Continue reading →

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TF Top 20……Photos For 2020 (End Of Year Filler Post!)

Posted on December 20, 2020 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 long been running out of steam and will surely need replacing in a year or two if I am unable to go on an overseas trip! 2020 has been a lean year in terms of travel so a fair number of these photos were taken much closer to home than was the case in 2018 and 2019 . 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. Tove Jansson Akebono Children’s Forest Park, Saitama Prefecture. More details here

2. Yokoshi Tomonokai Religious Continue reading →

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Tokyo’s Happiest Christmas Tree & The Corridor Of Glowing Lights

Posted on December 17, 2020 by tokyofox

To prevent the spread of Covid_19 many of Tokyo’s annual Christmas light festivals (more commonly known as illuminations in Japan) have been cancelled this year but there are still a few taking place, and this one in Bunkyo Ward may well have the happiest tree of this holiday season.

Coronavirus hasn’t prevented Tokyo Dome City from displaying winter illuminations for the 16th time. A total of two million LEDs have been used throughout the complex which features the baseball stadium, an amusement park, a sports arena, a spa, a fitness centre, a bowling centre, shops, cafes (including Moomin Bakery & Cafe), restaurants (Bubba Gump Shrimp is here and smiley-themed menus are supposedly available at some of them) and a hotel. For the record, it is completely free to wander around the area but of course the rides (including a roller-coaster that passes through both a hole in one of the buildings) have a fee.

Most of the above had closed for the day when I passed through the area a week ago on the way home from work. This year’s theme is Continue reading →

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TF Top 10……Alternative Star Wars Movies & TV Shows

Posted on December 14, 2020 by tokyofox

 

In the last five years it’s become custom to spend the Autumn and early Winter working my way back through all the theatrical Star Wars releases in anticipation of new films in December. However, ‘The Rise Of Skywalker‘ (2019) was the last one for now so wanting to find some kind of replacement this year I decided to finally watch or re-watch the lesser known releases.

Warning: Contains spoilers!

10. The Star Wars Continue reading →

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