It wasn’t just the fox trail that I was on in Matsue!
Tracking down such temples and shrines has inadvertently became something of a passion for me. Naturally it started as a way of amusing my childish brain but I keep ending up at such places and have now been to a sizeable amount of them around the whole country. Yaegaki-jinja Shrine in Matsue was one of the easiest to get to thanks to a direct Continue reading
Other than a few major Inari Shrines in Kyushu and a possible return to Zao Fox Village when it’s snowy, the end is nigh for this ‘On The Fox Trail…’ series. Or so I thought!
Whilst searching for things to do in Matsue I came across this shrine which is located just beyond the castle but within the moat and it’s grounds. Beforehand I knew this shrine possessed a load of foxes but I just assumed it was only the small white ceramic figurine foxes that can be purchased as a token of good luck. However, it turned out to be a lot more than that and proved to be Continue reading
When sketching out this five day trip of western Japan I thought I’d spend a day in Hiroshima to recover from the epic 16 hour local train trip from Tokyo. Having been to Hiroshima countless times though, there was nowhere I really wanted to go other than the pizza vending machine, so I decided that I should move on and explore pastures new.
10 hours was all I actually spent at my in-laws apartment but Continue reading
Eating pizza in Japan is something of a rarity for me because the likes of Dominos and Pizza Hut are just so ridiculously expensive. For a long time now I’ve considered that there is something of a gap in the market for a more reasonably priced pizza and maybe, just maybe this vending machine in Hiroshima is trying to fill that void. Continue reading
Hiroshima has two of the most admired tourist attractions in all of Japan and is a very popular place for international travellers each year. It is four hours away from Tokyo via Shinkansen (bullet train) or just 90 minutes by plane. Given you have to get to the airport and check in an hour before they basically end up taking the same time. They are the most common ways to get between the two cities but there is another way of doing it and I don’t mean by car or bus! Continue reading
When feeling a little down on their luck the locals often try to restore their fortune via a pilgrimage to honour the seven lucky gods of Japanese folklore. There are over 20 of these fixed temple courses in Tokyo alone complete with stamps to collect along the way as nothing is complete without such a thing in Japan. Such trips are admittedly more popular around January when people want to get New Years off to a positive start.
These seven lucky gods have popped up in Tokyo Fox posts over the last few years whether it be in Yugawara (Kanagawa) or Maebashi (Gunma) but this time I’d be visiting them right up in the north of Saitama about 35 kilometres south of the latter. I can’t say I was full with too much excitement for seeing those guys again but I was quite interested in the mission of getting round the three areas and five temples to locate them. This actually all came about after I asked a friend about one of the temples and he provided me with this map (below)!
I should confess that I actually attempted this feat way back in August. The night before I had been to watch Kashiwa Resyol beat FC Tokyo 1-0 at Ajinomoto Stadium with Scottish Neil which was then followed by a few 9% alcoholic drinks outside a nearby convenience store. I ended up passing out Continue reading
When I went to HollyCon Tokyo #5 back in August 2015 I thought I’d be going to a load more events after that. However, I was never too enamoured by the guest list (mostly comprised of actors from American TV series which I don’t watch!) until I heard about who would be present at HollyCon #18.
Christopher Lloyd (Dr. Emmett-Brown) was back in Japan again and with him were Tom Wilson (Biff Tannen) and Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines McFly). The latter was originally going to be at HollyCon #5 but for whatever reason she cancelled it and was replaced with Claudia Wells (Jennifer). Getting your 30 seconds with the stars is a fairly Continue reading
So 2019 has only just begun and already Tokyo Fox is looking back!! For about nine years now there have been exactly ten new posts on here each and every month and these are the twenty from 2018 which got the most hits…excluding sponsored or TF Top 10 list posts! Of course those entries from earlier in the year had more time to accumulate hits so don’t read too much into it all as it’s basically just another filler post to kick start the new year!
1. On The Fox Trail……At The Oji Fox Parade – When I first checked 2018’s stats a few weeks ago this post was down in third position but on the day of the more recent Fox Pageant there were a few thousand hits on this article which propelled it towards the top spot. More details here
2. On The Fox Trail……At Tokyo’s Most Hidden Shrine – I don’t know who is googling words like “Tokyo hidden shrine” but there must be a sizeable number of people doing that for this post to be Continue reading
For a decade now Tokyo Fox has brought you a whole host of filming locations. ‘The Complete A-Z Of Filming Locations On Tokyo Fox’ post marked the tenth anniversary of it at the end of April but ultimately it’s been a slightly disappointing year locale-wise as I didn’t go abroad at all in 2018.
The ‘On The Trail Of Shin Godzilla’ series comprised seven parts and could thus fill the majority of the ten but I have selected just a few of them to pad out the list as this traditional curtain closer to the year limps over the finish line. As well as including posts that have been updated this year with new additions, I have also included a couple of “new” movie locations which were posted this year but backdated to 2008 and 2009 respectively. A trip or three overseas next year will certainly be needed if there is to be an eleventh year ‘best of’ post at the end of 2019! Here then, in no particular order, is the TF Top 10……filming location trips for 2018…
1. Shin Godzilla, 2016 (Click here)
2. To Continue reading
The word blog is one that I’ve wrestled with over the years and had a love-hate relationship with. Mostly hate to be fair as in my mind blogging means someone just describing what they’ve done in their day. Of course I’ve been very guilty of doing that in the past and still occasionally finish posts with blog-like material tacked on to the end. I’m not really a fan of such a style of writing but this post will completely contradict that!
These ‘Christmas In Tokyo’ posts used to just include stuff done in the last week or two leading up to the 25th but now basically include anything that happened in the 4-5 weeks building up to the big day. It’s still all part of the festive season anyway! It got underway in late November when my Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 