A Manic Sunday As Wales & Australia Met At The Rugby World Cup

Posted on October 1, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The group stages of the Rugby World Cup throw up a mix of predictable one-sided games, some mammoth clashes and a few surprises too. Rugby giants New Zealand faced off against South Africa on the opening weekend, England will play France in the final Group C match and then there was this particular one between Australia and Wales.

This game was of course much bigger than the one I went to in Sapporo but I was probably less excited about it all in advance just because it was such a local match. They met last Sunday (29th September) at Tokyo Stadium, more commonly known as Ajinomoto Stadium when sponsorship is allowed to be used. It’s primarily used as a football ground for FC Tokyo and Tokyo Verdy but it has hosted rugby before. Indeed, I was there to see Continue reading →

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Manic Street Preachers Live In Tokyo 2019

Posted on September 28, 2019 by tokyofox

Following tours marking two decades since the release of ‘The Holy Bible‘ (1994) and ‘Everything Must Go‘ (1996) it was perhaps inevitable that the the Manic Street Preachers would do the same for ‘This Is my Truth Tell Me Yours‘ (1998). Now technically it’s 21 years since their biggest selling album was released but the Welsh trio were in Tokyo to play a couple of gigs in the build up to seeing their beloved Wales play against Australia in the Rugby World Cup.

Yes I know I’ve got the flag the wrong way round!

Toyosu Pit is a 3000 capacity venue about 15 minutes on foot from Toyosu Station on the Yurakucho Line. It was my debut at this place and also my first proper music concert for Continue reading →

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A Long & Steep Ride To Check Out The Cycle Racing Track Which Will Be Used At Tokyo 2020

Posted on September 26, 2019 by tokyofox

 

Tokyo may be the host city for next Summer’s Olympic Games but there are a few events taking place in other prefectures of Japan such as:

Shooting – Asaka (Saitama); Golf – Kasumigaseki Country Club (Saitama); Surfing – Tsurigasaki (Chiba); Fencing & Taekwondo – Makuhari Messe (Chiba); Sailing – Enoshima Yacht Harbour (Kanagawa); Baseball – Yokohama & Fukushima; Football – Sapporo, Sendai, Kashima, Saitama & Yokohama; Cycling – Fuji Speedway & Izu Velodrome (Shizuoka)

The latter is where I’ll be for some of the track cycling action assuming I can actually get there! I say that as this really is a difficult place to get to without a car. No train stations are close to the Velodrome so Continue reading →

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The Highs & Lows Of Watching England’s First Match At The Rugby World Cup In Sapporo

Posted on September 23, 2019 by tokyofox

 

In November 2003 it was only my second day in Japan when England beat Australia to win the Rugby World Cup Final. That night out in Roppongi proved to be a hugely memorable night. 16 years on and I now have another unforgettable experience of watching England in Japan but this time I was there to see it unfold in person in the same stadium where Beckham’s penalty defeated Argentina in 2002.

I really didn’t think Sapporo Dome was the kind of place I’d ever go to twice but after failing so often to get tickets in the pre-tournament ballots I had to set my sights much further afield. First I got a ticket for a later group match in Shizuoka and then I realised that it wouldn’t actually cost too much more to Continue reading →

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One Of Japan’s Most Beautiful Beaches Plus A Dilapidated Castle, A Loop Road & Shizuoka Cola

Posted on September 20, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The weather forecast for the August Obon holiday was rather unpredictable to say the least. Pretty much everyday was meant to be rainy or stormy if you believe what the apps tell you! I had to basically just wake up and see what it was like each day and then make a decision.

It was baking hot one morning so I decided to head down the line to Izukyu-Shimoda Station. There were a couple of places I wanted to see but as the sun was shining so brightly I thought it would be nice to spend a bit of time at what is often regarded as one of Japan’s most beautiful beaches.

Typically as the bus moved down the coast Continue reading →

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Dining Out: A Restaurant That Only Sells Canned Food!

Posted on September 17, 2019 by tokyofox

Think of canned food and the likes of spam, tuna, corned beef and sardines comes to mind but the ones on sale at this quirky bar are a far cry from those classics.

A few years ago the Rambling Northerner and I dined out in fine style at a vending machine stand in Shimbashi after our trip to see the horse racing in Fuchu. One of the comments on that post on social media recommended a restaurant/bar where they only served canned food.

It’s been on my “to do” list ever since then and three years on I finally got round to going there having managed to Continue reading →

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Taking A Bicycle On A Train In Japan – It It Actually Allowed?

Posted on September 14, 2019 by tokyofox

When I got a new bike (second-hand from a friend) last October I was aware that it could be folded in half and started to get excited about the possibility of taking it on a train which would open up more possibilities for me as the kind of places I often go to are sometimes very far from the nearest stations. Sadly the alum key just spun round and round as the groove had eroded away so that idea was soon killed off.

The idea of putting it in a bag and just taking it on the regular train then entered my mind. Unlike in London or Melbourne or wherever, you can’t just wheel your bike onto a train in Tokyo. No surprise really given how overly-packed they are. However, it seems you can take it on if you make it more compact and bag it up.

What could it be I wonder!!

I was told by my bikes previous owner Matt a few days before this trip that it’s fine to take it on the train as long as you get Continue reading →

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On the Fox Trail……at Sasuke Inari Shrine (Kanagawa)

Posted on September 11, 2019 by tokyofox

One of the comments in the last ‘On The Fox Trail…’ post alerted me to this wonderful shrine in Kanagawa Prefecture. Despite having been to Kamakura on numerous occasions over the years I was completely oblivious to the fox shrine so a big thanks to Mister Malcontent for introducing it to me. It seems that it’s quite famous but in an area littered with dozens and dozens (hundreds??) of shrines and temples it’s maybe all too easy to miss out on a few interesting ones.

Ever since finding out about it I have been wanting to go and see it with my own eyes but I didn’t really feel like making a trip to Kamakura just to see this one place. A trip to my parents-in-law’s place on the second day of my August holiday provided the opportunity to stop off en-route. Sasuke Inari Shrine is located between Continue reading →

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Japan & South Africa Meet For The First Time Since “That” Huge Shock In 2015

Posted on September 8, 2019 by tokyofox

 

It was one of the biggest upsets in sporting history and helped propel rugby into the consciousness of a nation where the game had often just been a footnote on sports bulletins. I am of course talking about Japan’s incredible last gasp 34-32 win over the mighty South Africa in their opening match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.

Yours truly watched the opening minutes of that game and saw Japan go 3-0 up and then tweeted something along the lines of enjoy this while it lasts as it’s gonna be a big defeat eventually. Ha! What a plonker and I woke up to quite a few replies the next morning making fun of me!

That was then though and this is now. I tried to get tickets for a couple of the Brave Blossoms’ games in the World Cup but Continue reading →

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Tokyo Filming Locations #18 – As The Moon, So Beautiful (2017-)

Posted on September 5, 2019 by tokyofox

Anime is one of those things which has really helped bring Japan and Japanese culture to the attention of many people overseas. I certainly wouldn’t call myself an anime fan as such but that’s not to say I haven’t had my moments. I’ve watched a handful of Japanese animation shows, mostly due to there being some location match-ups and recently managed to pick up an English map in Gunma prefecture giving details of about one hundred real animation backdrops around Japan.

The map only gives information regarding the main city used for the setting of each animation. Knowing that I was going to cycle to Kawagoe last month, I had a look at the map and saw that the city has played host to ‘Tsuki Ga Kirei‘ (2017 -), known in English by the name ‘As The Moon, So Beautiful‘. I thought I had better watch an episode or three of this original adolescent romance drama in anticipation of the bike ride. Of course Kawagoe is not in Tokyo but Continue reading →

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