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: Fire Engine Slide
Location: Continue reading
Between late February and 4th July 2020 there was no football in Japan. The authorities were actually very quick to shut down the leagues after the Covid_19 outbreak but maybe a bit slow to get things restarted as other leagues around the world (Korea, Germany) got back up and running with extra interest from football-starved fans.
The first couple of rounds were played totally behind closed doors but two weeks ago fans were allowed back into grounds with a new set of measures and protocols such as Continue reading
‘Tokyo Daytripper: Top 10 Saitama Sights‘ in 2013 included some of the more impressive sights (Kawagoe, Chichibu etc) of the often maligned prefecture plus a few less-famous inclusions so this is kind of an expansion of those alternative places which could be worth your time. Here, in no particular order, is the TF Top 10……alternative Saitama sights…
1. Johnson Town, Irumashi – Under American occupation in 1945 and the Korean War five years later, U.S. forces gave birth to “Johnson Air Base” which became known as Johnson Town. American-style homes were built up until the late 1970’s but when the U.S. military evacuated the area Japanese people moved in and that’s basically why there’s the slightly bizarre situation today of an American town existing without any Americans in it! More details here
2. Seitenkyū, Sakado-shi – The largest Taoist temple in Japan is seemingly located in Continue reading
War settings for comedies have been aplenty over the years, especially for British TV audiences, with the likes of ‘Dad’s Army‘ (1968-1977), ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum‘ (1974-1981), ‘Allo Allo‘ (1982–1992), ‘Blackadder Goes Forth‘ (1989) and ‘Goodnight Sweetheart‘ (1993-1999) all taking place amidst the backdrop of a war.
With nostalgic memories of those classic comedies in mind, I was quite optimistic about this big screen Hollywood effort. The reality though is that it’s not exactly a laugh-out-loud 90 minutes but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have a charm of sorts. It came out just eight years after another film set in Japan with the word Joe in the title was released by way of ‘Tokyo Joe‘ (1949). However, the more common comparison would be the similarly-themed ‘Teahouse Of The August Moon‘ (1957) which was released about half a year before it.
‘Joe Butterfly‘ is a service comedy from an unproduced play that hasn’t aged well at all due to a Continue reading
#2. Toshima
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
“Do you want to go rafting?” is a question form used in one of the books I regularly teach higher elementary kids from with the word rafting being interchangeable with other exciting activities like snorkelling, climbing, surfing, rollerblading and so on. It’s one of my most preferable units in the book as such guessing game activities always seem to go down well with the kids.
The very same question was posed to me way back in the middle of July 2005 by my girlfriend of the time and I was keen so we drove on up into Saitama Prefecture one morning to experience a spot of rafting on the Arakawa River amidst the heat and humidity of a Japanese Summer. A 90 minute car-ride north-west of Ikebukuro takes you to the vast Chichibu-Tama Kai National Park area which is the fifth largest of its kind in Japan. It is famed for it’s mountains and waterfalls but you can also go out on a large, sturdy inflatable boat.
Check out the whacky guy on top of the raft!
There was some sort of safety preparation and dry paddle practice with the training crew (a fun bunch of people from my memory!) before we could hit the water. I really wanted to Continue reading
After countless trips to Ito on the Izu Peninsula there really aren’t that many local places which I haven’t been to but this time my father-in-law, on a whim, took us to a new location. The original plan at first though was just to head down to Kawana Dolphin Beach before breakfast to get the dogs out of the house. Admittedly, it’s not the best of beaches but it is always a nice tranquil place to spend some quiet moments.
Expecting to go home after that, my father-in-law then chose to take us all a couple of kilomeres further up the Izu coastline to Continue reading
When our beloved family dog “Momiji” (a chihuahua-poodle mix known in Japanese as a chipoo) went to heaven last year it left a huge void in our lives. Time does move on though and seven months later my wife and I had got our very own dog, and then in late March my parents-in-law got a brown poodle and called him Cocoa. You’d be forgiven for thinking that, between us, we were trying to create a new chipoo but that is not the case as they’re both male dogs!
We had been planning to go to Izu in Golden Week but the State of Emergency (the “soft” lockdown which Japan employed for most of April and May) put paid to that idea. Once it was over though we were able to finally get over that way in June so Continue reading
Parks became a very common place for me to visit during the lockdown period (known as State of Emergency in Japan and technically not even a lockdown!) as I sought a bit of greenery when getting some fresh air on my daily walks. Whilst nature may not be so prominent in this particular park (as is the case for many parks in Tokyo), the contents of it are pretty interesting.
How did I come across this place? That is due to the following Continue reading
This article was originally written in early 2019 for J-Soccer Magazine but due to a lack of issues last year it didn’t appear in Japan’s number one English language football publication until a few months ago. Since it’s release, a sufficient amount of time has passed so I feel its now ok to reproduce the contents of that article in it’s original form for those who maybe missed it!!
The name Gary Lineker will come to mind when most people think about the first British player to ply his trade in Japan. However, the former Nagoya Grampus, Tottenham, Barcelona, Everton and Leicester City striker actually came to the land of the rising sun seven years after the man in question here. Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 