Return To Sendai…But This Time To See A Live Match & Not Just The Stadium!

Posted on August 12, 2019 by tokyofox

On my first trip to Sendai a few years ago I actually went to check out the Yurtec Stadium early morning whilst my wife had a lie-in. I vowed that I’d return one day to actually see a game featuring the home side Vegalta Sendai. Three years later and that wish finally came true just one day after a very wet match for my Reysol boys up in Yamagata.

Local trains from Yamagata to Sendai only take about an hour so I decided to take a slight detour on my return to Tokyo to see a J1 game in a city which I visited a couple of times last Summer. Consadole Sapporo were the visitors for Sendai which gave me the chance to actually see an English Continue reading →

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The Star Wars Identities Interactive Exhibition Has Arrived In Tokyo

Posted on August 9, 2019 by tokyofox

 

A few months ago I heard that this interactive exhibition was coming to Tokyo and I was immediately excited without knowing too much about it. That was until I saw the price! It was over 3000 yen which is a little expensive to say the least. I needed to think carefully about whether I thought it would be worth it and inevitably I succumbed to the temptation and went on the opening day!

Tennozu Isle was the location and it was held in a warehouse just a stones throw from where I watched England lose on penalties to Argentina in the blind football World Cup Final last March. It was the first day of my school holidays and my birthday too so a treat was in order as I needed to do something with my time and better to go before most other people too.

Booking the tickets for my friend Matt and I was not so easy as the whole process was very technical. First I had to Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Teahouse Of The August Moon (1956)

Posted on August 6, 2019 by tokyofox

“All moons are good but an August moon is a little older and a little wiser”

So that’s what the latter part of the title was all about then! For many, many years I’ve been aware of this film but I had absolutely no idea what it was about until I finally got round to watching it a couple of months ago.

 

Opening with the twangy sound of the shamisen, the shōji (Japanese paper doors) opens to reveal post-WWII Okinawa in 1946. With no preconceptions of the movie contents, I was in for quite a surprise when I saw Marlon Brando portraying a Japanese interpreter as talks to the camera whilst sitting in front of a tree.

Warning: Contains Spoilers!

Of course this film is very much of it’s time and is probably now damned by political correctness. Rumour has it that Brando was so Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: A Shrine Dedicated To Feet & The Last Remnant Of A Former Haunted House In Gunma

Posted on August 3, 2019 by tokyofox

It was quite apt that I visited this shrine as I was suffering with a painful foot injury not that the walk to and from it will have helped at all! Those of a squeamish nature should probably skip ahead to the next paragraph! Just a couple of days before this day trip to Gunma Prefecture I stubbed my big toe and cracked it’s nail a bit which in turn led to me picking at it and subsequently tearing off a bit too much. This then resulted in walking in a strange way and putting extra pressure on my calf muscles as I tried to ease pressure on my toe.

Once I was done at the buddha statue made up of 20,000 insects, I took another bus for just under ten minutes to try and track down this shrine (Akoudacho, Tatebayashi) with a difference. It was around a dozen minutes on foot and not so surprisingly was completely devoid of any other people.

 

Whilst regular shrines possess wooden plaques known as ema, this place had Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: The Creepiest Buddha Statue In Japan!

Posted on July 31, 2019 by tokyofox

Just when I thought I’d seen about every possible variation of buddha in Japan, I came across this one. Whilst others have come in a variety of colours, materials, sizes and positions (standing, sitting, reclining…) nothing compares to this statue which is located just over an hour north of Tokyo.

Travel north from Ikebukuro to Kurihashi, transfer to the Tobu Nikko Line and a few stops later is the not-so-snappily-named Itakuratoyodai-Mae Station which isn’t too far beyond the Saitama border in Gunma Prefecture. For the record, it’s a far easier trip from Kita Senju Station in eastern Tokyo but it would’ve taken me longer to get to that starting point.

Buses travel west between Itakuratoyodai-Mae and Tatebayashi stations (200 yen per ride) but my first stop was just Continue reading →

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Australia Filming Locations #7 – Killer Elite (2011)

Posted on July 28, 2019 by tokyofox

 

One can always rely on a Jason Statham film to deliver an entertaining 90 minutes or so of the action and violence we’ve come to expect from a man who once represented England at diving in the Commonwealth Games! This particular one originally sparked my interest a few years ago when I was doing research for the ‘On Screen #8‘ which was all about movies and TV shows set in the Arabian Peninsula. ‘Killer Elite‘ (2011) was partly set in Oman with the likes of Continue reading →

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Abukumua Cave: A World Of Fantasy Beauty Created A Long Time Ago

Posted on July 25, 2019 by tokyofox

To the best of my knowledge, there are nine Stalactite caves in Japan and they are all fairly spread out. The limestone cave of Akiyoshidou in Yamaguchi Prefecture is the only one I’d visited before taking this trip deep into Fukushima. However, these caves were never actually part of my itinerary until a couple of days before when I realised I could squeeze them into my schedule.

 

As it was, I actually had a bit longer than expected in Kammata as my time at the area around the next station along (Onnonimachi Station) had been shorter than anticipated due to acquiring my own wheels and so I repeated that same trick here too. Yet again the Continue reading →

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An English Team Playing A Friendly In Japan! It’s Been A While…

Posted on July 22, 2019 by tokyofox

 

Back in the first half of the 2000’s, top English and European teams would seemingly come quite often to Japan to play some pre-season friendlies but then they dried up as the likes of America, China or even Australia took preference. Of course the UEFA Champions League winners have come to Japan when it has hosted the FIFA World Club Championship in December but the sight of such teams has been rather limited. Arsenal was something of an exception in 2013 though when they played Urawa Reds and Nagoya Grampus.

This year though Manchester City play against Yokohama Marinos (Saturday 27th July) and last Friday saw Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #20 – Panda Park

Posted on July 19, 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: Lonely Panda Park

Location: Kin Kin Park, 3-13-11 Kanda Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku

Nearest Station(s): Continue reading →

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An Epic Journey To See The Temple With Hundreds Of Unique Faced Statues And TV Cameras Were There To Film Me Too!

Posted on July 16, 2019 by tokyofox

Statues are common features of temples and shrines in Japan but this one, deep in Japanese countryside, has close to 500 where no two are the same.

The day began by taking the 8:00 am Ban’etsu East Line south-east of Koriyama to Ononiimachi Station. I had anticipated a 100 minute walk (one way!) to the temple I wanted to see. Many people will think that’s madness but I accepted it as the journey is all part of it for me. Sometimes you’ve gotta make the effort and being a resident of this country does mean that I am not constrained by time limits too much so in this case could devote a big part of my day to this place. However, I was still recovering from a calf problem so was keen to find an alternative way of getting there and inspiration hit me just moments after leaving the station.

In the car park by the station was a Continue reading →

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