Tokyo Daytripper: The Tsukuba Expo Center Has A Lot Of “Space” Devoted To It!

Posted on March 21, 2020 by tokyofox

Ibaraki Prefecture often gets forgotten about for day trips from Tokyo but thanks to the Tsukuba Express Line train it’s really easy and quick to get to Tsukuba. It’s not the cheapest of lines but it’s worth it for getting to this eastern outpost of the Kanto region. 42 minutes from Kita Senju is all it takes.

Mount Tsukuba is probably the biggest draw of the area but there’s plenty of other things to see and do in Japan’s science city. It’s home to a number of national research institutes but there’s only so much discovery and information that my brain can take, particularly when it comes to science which was always my weakest subject at school. I opted to go to Tsukuba Expo Center on this visit but a short distance north of there was something else I wanted to check out quickly. Matsumi Park has an observation tower jutting out of it’s lake which costs just ¥100 to go up.

 

I had already seen the twin peaks of Mount Tsukuba earlier that morning but it looked even more splendid from this look-out point. The Expo Center lies just Continue reading →

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#WeStopAtNothing! Platform Zeros In Japan, Z Stations In Tokyo & The Opening Of A New Yamanote Line Station

Posted on March 18, 2020 by tokyofox

For about a decade now I’ve always been impressed by the sight of a Platform 0. There’s something slightly mystical and Harry Potter-like about such platforms and one has to wonder why some stations have them whether it be because it’s been added on that particular side of Platform 1 or just because they began their numbering from zero!

Whenever I’ve come across one in Japan I’ve taken photos of it so was very interested to see Geoff Marshall’s tweets and YouTube video (Watch it here) late last year about the seven Platform Zeros in Britain. By contrast there are a whopping 37 in Japan across 24 prefectures so the idea of going round them all in a day (or three!) is definitely out of the question. Just two of them are in Tokyo and they are less than ten kilometres apart.

First up is Ayase Station on the Chiyoda Metro Line. Their Platform 0 is solely used for taking passengers from there to Kita Ayase Station which is the line terminus and seems to be out on a limb on the Subway route map. Ayase can also be accessed via the JR Joban Line which uses the same platforms for it’s trains.

 

If you’ve ever taken the Keisei Main Line from Narita Airport, then there’s a fair chance you have arrived on Platform 0 at Continue reading →

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Pilgrimage To Find A Religious Cult Building In Ibaraki Prefecture (+ Details Of 4 Others In Japan)

Posted on March 15, 2020 by tokyofox

Shinto (the ethnic religion of Japanese people) and Buddhism are the two major religions in Japan. Confucianism and Christianity have a fair few followers if I can be so vague. Religious organisations founded since the middle of the 19th century are considered to be “new religions” in Japan so it means there is a great diversity and number of them.

 

Back in August last year I made huge efforts in cycling to a Mahikari place on the Izu Peninsula. In response to that a subscriber told me of a similar one from the same kind of cult organisation in Ibaraki Prefecture so on a recent trip to Tsukuba City I took a slight detour to see if I could find it. For the record, Continue reading →

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TF Recipes #5 – Red Caviar On Toast

Posted on March 12, 2020 by tokyofox

The least regular series is back on Tokyo Fox for the first time in six years, and a decade on from the inaugural TF Recipes post! I actually had the idea to do this particular “dish” many, many years ago now but then forgot all about it until very recently.

No need to go to a galaxy far, far away to find these ingredients!

Red caviar a.k.a. salmon roe (ikura in Japanese – a word which is also used to ask how much something is which leads to a whole host of hilarious jokes every time the word is used!) is one of the more commonly less appealing types of sushi for those from abroad. I just hated it’s appearance during my initial years in Japan. I had tasted it a few times and did think it was ok but was just put-off by the look of it. Many years on and I Continue reading →

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A Nostalgic Outing Of Sorts To Bradgate Park In Leicester And My Local Town’s Hottest Healthy Food Cafe

Posted on March 9, 2020 by tokyofox

One of the first ever school excursions I have a vague memory of going on was to this vast park in the north-west of Leicestershire. That was way back in the mid-eighties (* a couple of photos are included at the bottom of this post!) but other than climbing over some rocks there’s very little else I can tell you about that day trip to Bradgate Park. However, I can remember some stuff from my return there earlier this year…

 

Usually I don’t go into Leicester too much but on this trip back to the UK I went four times including three consecutive days with this trip the meat in the sandwich of the Leicester City FA Cup match and appearing on BBC Radio Leicester to talk about it a couple of days later. In a way it’s actually down to Continue reading →

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TF Top 5……Watergates Within Day Trips From Tokyo!

Posted on March 6, 2020 by tokyofox

This really is happening! All killer and no-filler here as Tokyo Fox presents some truly original content. Over the last few years I’ve gradually seen more and more of these constructions. There really is very little, if nothing, on the internet (in English) about watergates in Japan. That is probably for good reason as surely no one else is interested in such things! Only one way to find out so lets see how this fares. Do NOT expect this to be featured in the ‘TF Top 20……Tokyo Fox Hits of 2020’ post which will appear on January 1st next year!

1. Tamatsukuri Sluice Gate @ 3768 Tamatsukuri, Kumagaya, Saitama – Built in 2001 to prevent the floods from flowing back into the Arakawa and Yoshino Rivers, this water gate is 23.5 metres wide and 11.3 metres high making it one of the largest in all of Japan. It’s dome shaped roof, with three metallic balls on top, is supposed to look like floating balls or dango (a Japanese dumpling and sweet) when seen from distance. More details here

 

2. Rokugō Watergate Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: Free Moomin Park Less Than An Hour From Tokyo!

Posted on March 3, 2020 by tokyofox

 

Whilst looking at places to see Winter illuminations last Christmas I came across Moominvalley Park in Hanno City which is about 40 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. It actually only opened last March but I was a little put off by the entrance price. It’s not ridiculously expensive but for someone with very little knowledge of the Moomin universe I didn’t feel it was worth it.

However, in my research I came across another Moomin Park not so far from the main one. It’s called Continue reading →

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London Pt III: The Vagina Museum, A Phallic Building, The Famous Cock & A String Of Filming Locales

Posted on February 29, 2020 by tokyofox

With Rina having returned to Japan for work I was left to my own devices for a day and a bit in London. Camden Town was one of the areas I wanted to revisit as I’d come across a couple of quirky places whilst navigating my maps app. Camden is a cool and funky place but it is very touristy.

 

Amongst the loud, in-your-face, and slightly tacky High Street shop facades is the Stables Market which is a great place for street-food, and it was also a shooting location for Continue reading →

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London Pt II: Capital Sights, The New Years Day Parade, Phone Box Art & Quirky Platforms!

Posted on February 26, 2020 by tokyofox

It was a very early start to 2020 for me as I took a walk down to Canary Wharf Station and some other places before my wife got up. After checking out, we headed to the Tower Bridge area as that was the destination of our DLR Line and we didn’t really have much idea what to do on a day when most places were closed. In a way it was quite nice as places were nowhere near as busy as usual but that’s not to say the areas we went were deserted! There was still a few people milling around and some were enjoying the temporary ice-rink set up to the side of the Tower of London.

 

The nearby Tower Bridge (below) is one of the landmarks of London but so often Continue reading →

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London Pt I: Balancing Time With My Wife & Hunting Down Filming Locations!

Posted on February 23, 2020 by tokyofox

As we took a taxi direct from Heathrow Airport to my parents house in Leicestershire just before Christmas we didn’t actually see anything of London until we returned there for the New Years period. Due to maintenance work though it wasn’t quite so simple to get to London as we had to first take a bus to Bedford before changing to the train to St Pancras.

Rina’s main desire was to visit the British Museum but motion-sickness on the bus put paid to that idea and so once we got to our hotel near Blackwall Station in East London we didn’t rush back out as originally planned. She booked our hotel and I was very happy with the location as I am …(nerd alert!) … a fan of the driverless DLR Line which it’s on.

 

Piccadilly Circus (and not Piccadilly Circle as Rina said!) was our Continue reading →

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