Hill Of The Buddha – The Place To Go For The Instagram Generation!

Posted on November 14, 2019 by tokyofox

The main reason for going to this southern Sapporo cemetery was to see the life-size Moai statues but on the 25 minute bus journey my research told me that there was a pretty impressive buddha statue on site too. Nice. Two for the price of one. Not quite actually as there was another pleasant surprise in store at this interesting place.

Makomanai Takino Cemetery is located about 2.5 kilometres from the centre of Sapporo and is accessed by taking the train to Makomanai Subway Station at the end of the Namboku Line. When we arrived at the station we walked around for a bit trying to find where the bus would be going from. What we found was a monument (below) dedicated to the Sapporo 1972 Winter Olympics.

Typically we found that the bus we needed was Continue reading →

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Life-Size Moai Statues In Japan! Who Knew!!

Posted on November 11, 2019 by tokyofox

 

Given how remote Easter Island is I think it’s fair to say that I am unlikely to ever visit this Chilean territory. Luckily, Japan has a couple of places with replicas which are far easier to get to. Taiyo Koen (Sun Park) in Himeji has a few sizeable ones but the other place in Continue reading →

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Fun & Excitement Are Never Too Far Away When Watching This Non-League Japanese Team!

Posted on November 8, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The Japanese all seem to love Disney and pretty much every passenger who disembarks at the Maihama Station is heading to “the happiest place on earth.” Not me though!

Continue reading →

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Rugby World Cup Fever Grips Japan For Six Memorable Weeks Of Action

Posted on November 4, 2019 by tokyofox

For the last six weeks the Rugby World Cup (RWC) has never been too far away from TV, online, radio and newspaper headlines. For something which is considered a fairly minor sport in Japan it’s certainly made a splash over here. When the RFU announced 11 years ago that Japan would be hosts in 2019 it was considered a brave decision but one which was needed to take the game to new corners of the globe rather than the usual traditional rugby-playing nations. The streets were adorned with banners and flags advertising the RWC although I’m not sure how much people even notice such things in a city cluttered with advertising

 

For the final last Saturday I was working till 5:50 pm but within minutes of the final lesson ending I was in the nearest bar to see the teams come out on to the field in Yokohama. Sadly it was not to be for Continue reading →

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Doing The Star Wars Tokyo Metro Stamp Rally In One Day……By Bicycle!

Posted on November 2, 2019 by tokyofox

 

When I went to the Star Wars Identities interactive exhibition on it’s opening day in August I picked up a booklet in the station for a stamp rally. I didn’t even look at it for a couple of weeks but when I did I began to formulate a plan.

Stamp rallies are quite common and popular in Japan and I have to say that, even though I have no interest in the stamps part, I do like the idea of going round a load of stations on a mission of sorts. They are not postage stamps by the way but are the ones where you put the stamp handle thing into an ink pad and then print it onto your paper of choice.

I could easily have done this Star Wars one by train but that didn’t really appeal too much and would’ve cost me money as the stamping booths were outside the ticket barriers. The solution Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: Big Golden Buddha & Sandy Red Monkey Temples Plus A Non-Scandalous Watergate!

Posted on October 30, 2019 by tokyofox

Pretty much no stone has been unturned in Tokyo by the many, many YouTubers (and some bloggers too!) who either live in the capital or come to visit from further afield. Bordering prefectures have been covered far less though, especially Saitama to the north which gets something of a bad rep and is often called DaSai-tama which is a blending of the word for dull (dasai) and the place name itself.

Tokyo Fox is always keen to share (vaguely) interesting places from those prefectures and this post profiles a few largely unknown sights. Before taking in the Rugby World Cup warm-up match between Japan and South Africa in Kumagaya, I spent the daytime in some places just south of there. First up was Konosu Station which is just 50 minutes north of Ikebukuro. Outside the station I hopped on to a bus and took a 15 minute ride to find a golden god statue (3443-1 Kamitanadare, Kazo-Shi) which seemed like some kind of extension of the seven gods of Saitama trail I did a year ago.

After disembarking from the bus there was still the matter of a kilometre to walk on what was a hot day. The rear of it eventually came into sight and I wondered if it was even open to the public as it just looked like it was someone’s home in this peaceful rural area.

  

I couldn’t find a path leading to the temple so ended up Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #22 – Devil Park

Posted on October 27, 2019 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: Devil Park

Location: Nishiki Continue reading →

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Cycling In Izu #3 – A Giant Kannon Structure In The Mountains & A Religious Cult Building

Posted on October 24, 2019 by tokyofox

My bicycle was taken on this trip to Izu with the idea in mind of doing some rides on future weekends but I was quite keen to get this particular one out of the way in the knowledge that I’d have a couple of recovery days afterwards. Plus I didn’t quite know when I would next be in town.

An interesting exterior for a very dull place!

Whilst my other two major cycle rides on this trip had started by heading south, this one was going northwards. Route 135 took me to Continue reading →

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Cycling In Izu #2 – Route 135 Sights In Ito City

Posted on October 21, 2019 by tokyofox

A few days after I’d done the ‘Cycling In Izu #1‘ ride and I was itching to get out on my bike again. This post is all about what can be found along a particular stretch of Route 135, the main road which runs down the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. Of course I could have just gone straight down this road and then come back up but that’d be a bit boring so I turned off at the same point that I did for going to the Jogasaki Coast.

This time though I didn’t quite go as far as there but could just enjoy a quiet country road with hardly any other vehicles in sight. At the junction for Route 135 the plan was to basically turn right and just work my way back towards my in-law’s house stopping at points of note along the way.

However, there was a quick two kilometre detour in the other direction first. When travelling by car up and down this road I had noticed a tall kannon statue but had no idea where it was. I managed to locate it using Google Maps, and as it wasn’t too far beyond my original starting point I decided to head down to see it.

 

It’s called Continue reading →

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Cycling In Izu #1 – The Stunning Jogasaki Coast Plus Teddy Bear & Cat Museums

Posted on October 18, 2019 by tokyofox

Having made such an effort to get my bicycle to my parents-in-law’s house via local trains I was keen to get out on it at some point. The weather forecast for almost every day of the holiday in August was stormy and rainy though there would always be some sunshine too. It was just very unpredictable and one had to just take something of a risk when going out. My thought was that if I got rained on at some point then so be it.

The main focal point for this particular afternoon was to be Jogasaki Kaigan Coast which I had actually visited before but on that occasion it was quite overcast. This time it turned out to be a glorious day and getting to my first port of call was fairly simple. There was even a nice green cycling path for much of it that was clearly separated from the road. There were also some lovely Continue reading →

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