#5. Shinagawa
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
Travelling for a few hours just to see one little sight is something I’m usually happy to do so imagine my excitement when I heard about this town in Gunma Prefecture which has multiple interesting and quirky places of interest all within walking distance of each other and the station.
Kuki: this place really takes the biscuit!!
Head north from Ikebukuro on the Shonan Shinjuku Line up to Kuki (Saitama), change to the Tobu Isesaki Line and you’ll continue on into Gunma Prefecture. Follow that with a couple more changes at Continue reading
The words “theme park” tend to make me first think of a place with roller-coaster rides but of course that’s not always the way as was certainly the case with this one just a stone’s throw from Japan Snake Center.
I think the woman on the ticket gate must’ve thought I was a Covid risk as she raced off to get the temperature check thing which she hadn’t bothered using on the Japanese couple entering just ahead of me. I was only sweating because I’d Continue reading
Whilst I may not be keen on coming across a snake in the wild I don’t really have a problem with just looking at such limbless creatures …… or even touching and holding them! As I was already in the Ota area of Gunma Prefecture I thought I might as well visit this snake institute that’s been around since 1968 as it seemed like a quite unique attraction with 200 species from around the world.
Once I was done at the Ota Yabuzuka stone quarry I walked south for 13 minutes to Japan Snake Center (3118 Yabuzukacho, Ota, Gunma). My research beforehand did tell me that it would cost ¥1000 for entry which is a little Continue reading
Whilst Star Wars content is fairly common in this day and age, there were some very lean years between ‘Return Of The Jedi‘ in 1983 and the special editions in 1997. However, there were actually some cartoons in the mid-eighties which were only seen by a limited number of people at the time. Thanks to the internet and YouTube, that has changed and now pretty much everyone can access the animated shows. Many people have no interest in watching them though as the reviews were not so kind!
In 1985 two cartoons were part of ‘The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour‘ on morning TV at weekends in America. The former lasted two years and the latter ran for just one season of 13 episodes (broken down into three story arcs) as well as ‘The Great Heep‘ hour long special in 1986 which was set before the final cycle of episodes.
I never saw these shows at the time (they were later shown on Children’s BBC in the UK) so have no Continue reading
The main protagonist here is a girl who is lost but she is quite far removed from the Charlotte character in ‘Lost In Translation‘ (2003) as this 97 minute tale shows a far darker and grittier side of life in this country which is very different to the more clichéd aspects of society that have been shown in many other films set in Japan.
A young, blue-eyed American female called Margaret (Alexandra Daddario) lives on her own in Japan whilst teaching 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: Robot Park
Location: 6-2-60 Continue reading
For many decades now, international artists have often felt the need to put pen to paper and write some lyrics about their Japanese experience, particularly visiting Tokyo. Most of the songs are far from being their greatest work but for Japanophiles they can offer an interesting insight into a culture which used to be a mystery to many people in the western world. Without further ado, here is the Tokyo Fox top ten……songs about Japan from the 1960s and 1970s…
10. Tonight In Tokyo – Sandie Shaw (1967) – The English singer’s follow up to the Continue reading
If it hadn’t been for my trip to Yūkarigaoka I would never have bothered with these twin towers but as I was in the area, and had the time, I thought I should take advantage of being in such a location. Some people will no doubt think it wasn’t worth the effort but up for a bit of adventure I decided to go the extra mile…or in this case, the extra five miles!
First up though was the aforementioned Yūkarigaoka Station where I spent a few hours walking and then riding on the whole Yamaman Yūkarigaoka Line.
As a fan of Katakana-named stations (only in Tokyo usually though to keep it simple!) I was intrigued by Yūkarigaoka Station (ユーカリが丘). At first glance, it’d be easy to just think that Yūkarigaoka is a Japanese word but it actually derives from the Continue reading
For a lot of people the Keisei Main Line is only ever used for going to and from Narita Airport. However, about two-thirds of the way down the line from Keisei Ueno Station is a planned town that was built on farmland. This bedroom community, about an hour from Ueno, has it’s own racquet-shaped train line which I was completely unaware of until I saw the following tweet from @thetokyofiles.
As someone who has a lot of affection for Chiba Prefecture I was pretty excited by this very local monorail-style line and last month I took a trip to Sakura City to experience it. After being in denial for a few years I think I have to finally admit that I am a Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 