“What the hell was that?!” were my thoughts as the my train speeded its way up into Saitama last year as I went to watch Urawa Reds Ladies play a home game one Sunday. There was a giant statue of something that caught my eye very briefly before becoming lost amongst all the grey, concrete buildings. Earlier this year I noticed it again and made sure to make a note (using my maps) of where it was on my return journey.
It turned out that the statue was a Continue reading
The surprisingly successful ‘On The Fox Trail…’ series is pretty much on it’s last legs. Sad times indeed but there’s still a few more places I want to check out. However, they’re mostly in Kyushu so with travel restrictions at the moment it might be a while until that trip is realised. Luckily, there’s always time for a compilation post or two so here are the best fox-related shrines in Japan that I’ve been to thus far…
10. Anamori Inari Shrine @ Haneda, Continue reading
For all its good points, Tokyo ain’t half one ugly looking city with buildings pretty much erected (and pulled down) willy nilly without any thought to the environment around it. However, amid all the chaos of such a concrete jungle there are a fair few examples of modern architecture which I am ever keen to photograph. Now, I am certainly no expert on such a topic but have enjoyed going around capturing the interesting and weird designs of some of these buildings.
That’s the generic opener out of the way and it should be noted that all these photographs were taken over five years ago so who knows if these buildings are even around!! 50+ examples have already been covered in this series and here, in no particular order, is the next volume of interesting looking Japanese buildings including the addresses:
1. Cartier, 5-3-2 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku.
2. Prada Aoyama Building, Continue reading
In terms of the total number of films ‘set’ in Japan, the decade 2000-2009 was the most productive by far and one that included some very famous movies. Hopefully, I’ve been fairly extensive and have reviewed every one of them from that era but no doubt one or two have slipped my attention! Let me know! The tension is probably killing you so lets get started as we count down to the all-important number one at the bottom of this post…
20. Monster (2008) – Read the review here
19. Enter The Void (2009) – Read the review here
18. Rain Fall (2009) – Read the review here
17. Jackass The Movie (2002) Continue reading
The majority of Tokyoites usually head on up to Tochigi Prefectures to see the majestic temples of Nikko, the onsen at Kinagawa or to eat gyoza in Utsunomiya. Over the last few years I’ve been off the beaten track a bit more when dipping in and out of the area and this time I explored a few places south-east of Utsunomiya.
The Mōka Railway is a small private rail line (17 stops) connecting Shimodate to Motegi and so back in early March (a few weeks before the State of Emergency began in Japan) I headed up that way to see some places of interest. It was a very early start as I left the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre at 6:30 am to cycle to Akabane for the 7:10 train to Shimodate via Oyama. From there it was a local line to Mashiko Station where I handed my ticket to the station attendant as I disembarked at 9:36 from the deserted single-car train.
There was no time to hang about in this pottery town as I needed to return to Continue reading
The train is always standing by for you at this station.
Waiting for a train can often be a nervy situation for many albeit less so in Japan where they often run on time to the second. Such precision means many people time their trips meticulously without too much leeway for any slight delays. As a British guy, I grew up wondering how late the train would be rather than expecting or hoping it’d be on time.
None of that is a problem though at Continue reading
Many people think of “Lost In Translation‘ (2003) as being the pioneer of the modern day film set in Japan but for people of a certain age it is this one from 15 years earlier which perhaps better encapsulates “the real Tokyo”!
When Fran Rubel Kuzui made ‘Tokyo Pop’ it was very much the height of the bubble era for the economy in Japan. It is a delightfully fluffy kitsch piece of ’80s nostalgia with a certain simple charm. On the face of it, it may seem like Continue reading
Before I set foot in Japan many, many years ago the idea of eating salted green soya beans (edamame in Japanese) would have been unimaginable for me as my vegetable intake was fairly limited. However, after continuously being given some as a starter dish at some Japanese izakayas I began to develop a taste for such a thing. These edamame beans, which are boiled in their pods, became a regular part of going out for me and sure are a great beer snack.
Everything you need to make this delicacy! (Star Wars figures are optional!)
Fact is that I hardly ever eat them nowadays though as I just don’t go out, and that was actually the case before Covid-19 came along! With so much time being spent inside the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre recently due to this pandemic it should’ve meant a bit more Continue reading
The synopsis of the excellent ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘ (2016) was basically the entire opening crawl from ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’ (1977) and it was the first Star Wars film to introduce locations with on-screen captions. The real filming locations were fairly alluring, and as diverse as Iceland, Jordan, Maldives and Guatemala but the one which features here is a lot less glamorous!
The Death Star plans are kept in a secure facility on Scarif, the planet where the Imperial Security Complex is located. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) infiltrate this complex, and on 91 minutes we see the latter two walking along the platform which is actually Canary Wharf Tube Station on the Jubilee Line in London. For the record, this platform is actually the widest ‘island’ one on the whole Underground system measuring at 17.2 metres.
The budget did not allow for creating this additional set, so director Gareth Edwards opted to use Continue reading
“Inspired” by Japan may be pushing it but this science fiction romance drama set in a futuristic utopian universe was mostly filmed in Japan so purely for that reason it will be reviewed here on Tokyo Fox! Whenever Japan has been used for filming it’s almost always played itself so this is a fairly unique situation.
‘Equals‘ is set in a future society where there’s no free thinking or decision making and all emotions are suppressed as they’re considered to be Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 