Watching J-League Football On A Very Rainy Night Up In Yamagata

Posted on July 4, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The rainy season in Japan is well underway and for many people it can be a frustrating time with constant wet conditions for weeks on end. Certainly not ideal for watching or playing football, especially when many grounds in this country are municipal stadiums meaning that they often have no covered seating (assuming there are even seats!) and can also be far from the pitch with a running track in between too.

The ND Soft Stadium Yamagata, built in 1991, is home to current J2 leaders Montedio Yamagata. It holds 20,315 people, has a running track and pretty much non-existent Continue reading →

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Australia Filming Locations #6 – The Wolverine (2013)

Posted on June 30, 2019 by tokyofox

“The Nakagin Capsule Tower featured as the love hotel in ‘The Wolverine‘ right?”

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people utter words to that effect. To an extent, they are all correct as the famous building is of course seen on screen around the 45 minute mark. However, Hugh Jackman and Co never went to this particular area of Ginza (8-10-6 Ginza, Chūō-ku) as the tower was added digitally. Those street scenes around the “tower” were actually shot in Sydney.

Australia actually substitutes for Japan for the first time when the Chinese Garden of Friendship appears. I covered that in a previous Tokyo Fox post entitled ‘Australia 2019 Pt IX: The “Tokyo” Temple In The Wolverine Movie‘ but will re-cap it all later. A kilometre walk (15 minutes on foot) eastwards from those gardens takes you into the Surry Hills area and that is where a street scene was shot.

 

Brisbane Street was transformed to look like a Tokyo street with Japanese Continue reading →

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Hidden Treasures Along The Keio Line #8 – Mind Wa A Building

Posted on June 27, 2019 by tokyofox

The Keio Line principally connects Shinjuku to the western side of Tokyo with seven different lines running through to the likes of suburban city Hachiōji and the mountainous area at Takaosanguchi. All of it’s stations actually lie within the boundaries of Tokyo and, thanks to regular free tickets, Tokyo Fox has dug deep to come up with a few places worthy of visit beyond perennial favourites like Mount Takao and Tama Zoo……

#8 – Mind Wa A, Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Cove (2009)

Posted on June 24, 2019 by tokyofox

There have been many films over the years which have focused on negative aspects of Japanese society. The majority of them have been war-related ones but this movie is arguably the one which caused the biggest outcry. It’s a fascinating and hard hitting documentary which plays out like a suspense thriller over the 90 minute duration.

In Japan there is a little town with a big secret. Well, that was the case up until the release of this 2009 film when the majority of Japanese people weren’t even aware of the atrocities of this secluded cove in Taiji, and if it wasn’t for this film, I seriously doubt many of them would have ever known. The film was only given a quite limited release in Japan due to the nature of the content but there was a fair bit of media coverage surrounding it so I guess many people found out that way.

 

The hunting of these beautiful, intelligent creatures really is a difficult topic to breach with too much balance. Of course in the western world cows, pigs, chickens and so on are also killed to provide meat for humans so one could ask Continue reading →

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Nagoya – This City Is Fast Becoming My Favourite One In Japan!

Posted on June 21, 2019 by tokyofox

Japan’s fourth biggest city is one that is often forgotten about by tourists and Japanese residents alike. It’s rarely anything more than just passing through or a quick stop to see the castle but in the last few years I have really enjoyed spending time exploring Nagoya. This post includes the best-of-the-rest of my trip to Nagoya with a passing reference to all the other places that have recently featured on Tokyo Fox.

The day began for us in Shizuoka city but whilst my wife returned to Izu I continued on west via local trains. There was a change at Toyohashi Station where I noticed this cool kitsune (fox) standing bar (below) serving quick udon and soba noodle dishes. Sadly my transit was still too short to be able to wolf down a bowl!

No sooner had I arrived in Nagoya and I was already on the Metro line to the Continue reading →

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A Huge Vivid Green Buddha With Gold Facial Features!

Posted on June 18, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The many, many Buddha statues of Japan come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but this one in Nagoya has to be the most unique in terms of its colour. Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #19 – Mini Mount Fuji Slide

Posted on June 15, 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: Mini Fuji-San Slide

Location: Continue reading →

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3 Unique Temples You Must Visit In Nagoya

Posted on June 12, 2019 by tokyofox

The likes of Osu Kannon, Nittaiji, Koshoji and Banshoji may be the more famous and popular temples of Nagoya but they didn’t really hold any interest for me. As per usual I was interested to locate some unique and slightly quirky ones in Japan’s fourth largest city and here are three of them…

1. Shugen-ji Temple @ 1-3 Wakakusadori, Kasugai – Walk down the old-fashioned shopping street north of the station and you will soon see a shop on your right with a life-size Spider-Man on it. There’s a Jack Sparrow mannequin too. Take the side street next to that shop and an 18 metre statue, which has been around since 1955, will suddenly appear to your left down a very narrow lane.

    Continue reading →

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One Of The Best Views From Any Station In Japan

Posted on June 9, 2019 by tokyofox

 

There are many different types of densha otaku (train nerd) in Japan, and over the last year or two, having never had any interest in trains, I have come to realise that I am something of an eki-tetsu as I do like looking at station buildings but only if they are really unique so I’m not a full-blown train geek……yet!

The day began in Shizuoka city for my wife and I but whilst she headed back to Izu, I went to Nagoya for a couple of nights. I took a day trip to Gifu on day two but the first day was spent in Nagoya and one of the first places I visited on a baking hot afternoon was this station that’s north-east of the city.

Take the JR Chuo local line towards Tajimi (500 yen) for about 30 minutes and you’ll arrive at Continue reading →

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A Great Free View Of Shizuoka, The World’s Richest Matcha Ice Cream, A Gyoza Burger & Countdown To The Rugby World Cup

Posted on June 6, 2019 by tokyofox

One of the most popular things for visitors to do in Tokyo is go up the Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku for free views across the capital city and way beyond. It is also possible to do a similar thing 175 kilometres west in Shizuoka city but this one has the added bonus of having much better views of the iconic Mount Fuji which is always a welcome sight.

 

Our trip to Hamamatsu was admittedly the main focus of our day but that was bookended by spending the morning and evening in Shizuoka city which was our base for this short trip within the prefecture of the same name. Having stayed in the area for a couple of days in January 2018 we had already done much of what the city had to offer but one thing we never did before was Continue reading →

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