TF Top 10……Most Interesting Japanese Playground Slides In Tokyo & Chiba

Posted on April 21, 2020 by tokyofox

Since early 2017, the ‘Interesting Japanese Playground Structures’ series has been up and running to a surprising rate of success and popularity on Tokyo Fox. All manner of animals, creatures and objects have been incorporated into a range of different playground structures dotted around Japan and I’ve tracked as many down as possible. The majority of them have been slides so here, in no particular order, are the top ten slides from Tokyo and neighbouring prefecture Chiba.

10. Ladybird Slide, Chiba. More details here

9. Octopus Park, Continue reading →

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Dining Out: Train Themed Curry Restaurant In Tokyo

Posted on April 18, 2020 by tokyofox

It’s been a while since I had regular curry in a restaurant as all recent ‘Dining Out’ posts have been about stranger curry tastes such as apple, sheep’s brain, miso milk and the mysterious Godzilla one! I came across this train-themed restaurant a couple of years ago and have been meaning to go ever since. On discovering late last year that my friends James and George had been to a train bar in Shibuya I told them about this one in Meguro Ward and they were both keen. After a couple of failed attempts, we finally met up there for lunch a couple of months ago.

 

The restaurant is close to Yutenji Station which for some reason I thought was two stops from Shibuya. However, it’s actually three as I found out the hard way! I exited both train and station and mailed James to ask which exit they were at. He said south east which kind of matched up with what I was seeing but I couldn’t find him. I walked around and was just about to mail him to confirm he knew it was Yutenji Station where we were meeting. To my horror I then noticed Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: My J-League Beginnings (2004)

Posted on April 15, 2020 by tokyofox

The J-League first caught my attention at it’s foundation in 1992 when former Leicester favourite Gary Lineker announced he’d be leaving Spurs to play in Japan. For over a decade the only Japanese team I’d heard of were Nagoya Grampus Eight (as they were known back then) until I arrived and saw a league table. Yokohama F. Marinos were top and all the way down at the foot of the table was a team called Continue reading →

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Urine For A Real Treat Should You Need To Go To The Toilet At This Park Just Outside Of Tokyo!

Posted on April 12, 2020 by tokyofox

Local train travel is very much how I like to travel when going around Japan but occasionally I actually do take the Shinkansen (bullet train) albeit usually only when travelling with my wife or time is of utmost importance. As much as I like the Shinkansen experience I just find the cost of using it so expensive. Price is definitely not an issue should you choose to board this one though!!

This is the 200 series Shinkansen for the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen high-speed rail lines which was in existence until 2013. Exit this one though and you’re not in Niigata but are actually in Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – Jackass: The Movie (2002)

Posted on April 9, 2020 by tokyofox

For a few years now I’ve been wondering whether to include ‘Jackass: The Movie‘ or not. Is it really a movie? Well, it does have the word in the title and was released in cinemas so I guess it will have to be reviewed here. It’s not at all that I have totally run out of films to cover in this ‘set’ in Japan series!!

There’s a tendency in these reviews to say films are of their time but that’s usually because they were set in 1950s Tokyo or whenever. Although less than two decades old, the whole crazy ‘Jackass‘ stunts seem Continue reading →

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TF Recipes #6 – Curry On Toast

Posted on April 6, 2020 by tokyofox

The last TF Recipes post put me off doing any more for a long time. Or so I thought! The Corona Virus then came along and so, with the fear of using up all of my saved-up material, I decided to pad things out do another toast taste test which was inspired by an ex-colleague who told me he’d had this ahead of a pay day when he was running very low of both funds and food supplies.

Star Wars bobble heads are optional!

With a weekend lockdown on the cards, the supermarket shelves empty and my wife Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: The Totem Pole Park Located Just Outside Of Tokyo

Posted on April 3, 2020 by tokyofox

 

Who knew that such a thing like a Totem Pole International Tournament ever took place?! Way back in 1991 there was one in Chiba Prefecture and 80 masterpieces were exhibited. Sadly Japan’s biggest totem pole at 21 metres high, which attracted a lot of attention in that tournament, has long been removed but the others are still there for the enjoyment of anyone visiting this suburban park.

Take the Tsukuba Express Main Line from Kita Senju heading towards Tsukuba and after Continue reading →

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Return To J1 Football Team’s Forgotten Secondary Stadium

Posted on March 30, 2020 by tokyofox

On the back of a hugely successful Rugby World Cup 2019, there was a lot of anticipation about this year’s Top League which began in January. Until the Corona Virus hit, I was planning on going to see some games and one club I was interested in watching was NEC Green Rockets just because I had seen them play in Tokyo against Johnny Wilkinson’s Newcastle Falcons way back in 2005. Little did I know that they were a Chiba-based team and occasionally play some home games at a stadium in Kashiwa. Not the Hitachi Stadium though!

NEC Green Rockets at the old National Stadium in 2005

Many J-League clubs have secondary stadiums which might be used for so-called lesser games such as friendlies, League Cup matches or in some cases because the Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – Stopover Tokyo (1957)

Posted on March 27, 2020 by tokyofox

An American intelligence agent is sent to Tokyo to track down a Communist spy ring is the blurb but if I hadn’t read that beforehand then I probably wouldn’t have been aware of such a thing! For an espionage film, there is very little action throughout the entirety of this 100 minute film.

 

Warning: Contains Spoilers!

Mark Fannon (Robert Wagner) is supposedly on his way from San Francisco to Seoul when he is told that he has to stay in Tokyo because he Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #24 – Rocket Park

Posted on March 24, 2020 by tokyofox

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: Rocket Park

Location: Continue reading →

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